With an opportunity to change some part-time jobs into full-time postions, the Scarborough School Committee voted last Thursday to amend and then approve the 2007-2008 operating budget.

The committee also approved the Capital Improvement Projects budget. Both spending packages have been handed off to Town Manager Ron Owens, who will review them before they to the Town Council for discussion and final approval.

The operating budget adjustments came after the commitee learned that the anticipated 15 percent hike in the cost of providing benefits to school employees actually will be 8.6 percent. That change accounted for $150,000. The committee voted to turn several part-time positions into full-time ones. A guidance counselor at Wentworth Intermediate School, a Spanish teacher at the high school and three math support teachers, one at each primary school, will all become full-time employees.

The total cost of additional positions is $100,000, which means the budget’s net reduction was $50,000. The board unanimously approved the $34,174,960 budget, which increased 6.68 percent from last year. According to Superintendent David Doyle, that number is “pretty much in line with last year.”

No amendments were made to the Capital Improvement Projects budget, but there were differences of opinion on the board regarding certain expenditures. Committee Chairwoman Annalee Rosenblatt questioned the necessity of spending another $100,000 on the high school to add air conditioning to the cafeteria.

“It seems to me that that is not a need,” she said.

Other members of the committee discussed their own experiences in the cafeteria, and suggested that air conditioning would not be simply a luxury.

“It’s stifling. You can’t breathe,” said Diane Messer. “I can’t imagine being in a roomful of kids at lunchtime,” she said.

There were also questions about the $35,000 set aside to fix the drainage problem on the baseball field. Assistant Superintendent Andrew Dolloff, former athletic director in Scarborough, said it has been a problem for a long time, but was particularly bad last year due to excessive rain.

The Capital Improvement Projects budget, which came to $1,558,510, passed 5-2, with Rosenblatt and Jodie Lenardson opposed. Lenardson said she felt she did not have enough information about why the money was being spent where it was. Rosenblatt’s reasoning for voting down the budget was due to the air conditioning expense, which she considered to be “not a necessity.”

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