Preston — The Board of Education voted Monday to eliminate elementary school Spanish, all after-school sports and activities and to remove Ledyard High School as a high school option in making $311,815 in cuts ordered by the Board of Finance.

The board approved $308,842 in actual budget cuts, and expects the remaining $2,973 will be saved by eliminating sports transportation, Superintendent John Welch said Tuesday.

The cuts were made during a lengthy meeting Monday after much debate.

Board Chairwoman Jan Clancy said all the cuts were made “with heavy hearts,” including dismantling elementary school Spanish and to reverse a policy set recently that expanded high school choices for Preston students. “Even when it was unanimous, it was under protest,” she said of the votes.

The board hopes the final state budget will restore some funding to the town.

Under Gov. Dannel P. Malloy's proposed special education grant formula, Preston would come out $220,000 ahead of last year, but the money would go to the town general fund rather than the school board. School board officials hope the Board of Finance will increase the school budget by that amount, Clancy said.

But the finance board denied that request in April amid the state budget uncertainties.

“We're still hoping the state will come through with something,” Clancy said. “I'm really annoyed with the state, not that they care. How do they expect the towns to come up with their budgets when they can't get their act together?”

Faced with the need to meet the preliminary budget of $11.6 million prior to the March 25 budget public hearing, Welch presented the school board with proposed program, equipment and personnel cuts totaling $761,907.

The board quickly approved $91,000 in non-personnel cuts, including $33,018 saved because three students who had planned to attend Ledyard High School decided to attend Norwich Free Academy, the town's main designated high school.

But one student still had hoped to attend Ledyard High School, at a tuition cost of $11,128.

“That was very hard,” Clancy said. “All of us felt that students should have choices for high school. But we felt they have the tech schools and magnet schools.”

The cut might require a change to the board's high school choice policy, which was revised to expand choices.

Eliminating elementary school Spanish would save $76,279 and result in one teacher layoff. Preston has had elementary school Spanish for grades kindergarten through five since 2009, Welch said. He had created and championed the program when it faced potential budget cuts. The board left middle school Spanish intact.

“Obviously, it complements middle school Spanish, which gives us a K-8 program, so it is a disappointment to see this program reduced,” Welch said. “But quite honestly, none of the programs to get to a $311,000 cut were particularly rosy. The only place to go is the specialty programs.”

The list of $31,692 in after-school activities cut ranges from nine sports and referees to student government, after-school art, geography bee, middle school newspaper and the science fair. The late bus for transportation home from after-school programs was eliminated, as well, saving $4,807.

The board might consider a pay-to-participate for after-school program at a future meeting, Welch said.

Welch said it was not feasible to consolidate classes to save money. Combining classes would have meant class sizes of 33 to 44 students in the lower grades — “totally unacceptable,” he said — and about 25 students in grades four and five.

“Given the age and nature of the students who will enroll in those two grades, three sections each is the preferred alternative,” Welch said.

Middle school classes already average about 20 students per class, Welch said.

c.bessette@theday.com