Montville — Four teachers could face layoffs and three other positions could be eliminated if the Montville school board passes the proposed budget Superintendent of Schools Brian Levesque presented to the board Tuesday.

Taking those seven full and part-time positions out of the budget will save the district money, but they would have been necessary even if he wasn't under pressure to keep the budget increase as low as possible, Levesque said.

"It's about declining enrollment," he said after Tuesday's meeting.

Student numbers at each of the town's three elementary schools is expected to go down by more than 10 students each, according to Levesque's budget proposal, which he outlined at a special school board meeting Tuesday night.

In order to preserve the school board's class size goals of between 20 and 25 students per class, some teachers will need to be cut, he said.

"We want to maintain current class size ... and I feel that we can do that with four less teachers than we currently have at the elementary level," he said. "It's saving us money, but it wasn't done for that."

Despite the savings, Levesque's proposed $38,314,631 budget represents an increase of 1.9 percent from the current year's budget.

Most of the spending would go toward mandated special education requirements like out-of-district placements, Levesque said. More special education students have been moving into the district as well, he said.

Without increases in special education spending, the budget proposal would only go up by .3 percent, Levesque said.

"The 1.6 percent increase is really out of our control," Levesque said. "These are costs that we’re required to pay. If we have to cut the budget, it will come from somewhere else."

Levesque's suggested staffing changes also include moving one Leonard J. Tyl Middle School physical education teacher to Oakdale Elementary School to fill the position of a retiring teacher there, and moving one middle school special education teacher to replace a retiring teacher at Montville High School.

A part-time art teacher at the high school won't be replaced after retiring this year, and a French teacher at the middle school will move to begin teaching Spanish at the high school, eliminating the middle school French program.

Those plans could change if more teachers tell the district they plan to retire this year, Levesque said.

"My hope is that if people tell us they're leaving ... we can save some jobs," he said. "That'll play out in the next few weeks."

The proposed budget would also reduce spending on supplies by 10 percent.

"A lot of people have had some really difficult conversations, and I thank our principals, because they didn't come to the table and say, just, 'Here's what I need," Levesque said. "They asked, 'What can I do better?'"

School board Chairman Robert Mitchell said Levesque's budget reflects a tight economy in Montville, and is likely as small as it can get.

"The town has taken some major hits revenuewise," he said.

But paying for resources for special education students and tuition for the students who must attend out-of-district schools to get the services they need is a necessity, he said.

"It's tough," he said. "I would have loved the .3 percent."

The board will vote on the budget proposal at its Feb. 16 meeting. Mayor Ronald McDaniel will then incorporate the school budget into the townwide budget he will present to the Town Council next month.

m.shanahan@theday.com

Twitter: @martha_shan