CAPE ELIZABETH–The Cape Elizabeth School Board may not eliminate the jobs of two much-loved secretaries at the high school and could restore a proposed cut to the theater program.

In addition, the board is considering raising the student parking fee at the high school from $25 annually to $50 a year.

Those are some of the proposals discussed at a board workshop on the school budget on Monday, according to board Chairwoman Rebecca Millett.

She cautioned on Tuesday that no decisions were made because the meeting on April 5 was only a workshop. The board is expected to vote on the school budget on April 13. The meeting will begin at 7 p.m. at Town Hall.

However, Millett said that there appears to be “some consensus” on the board to keep the secretarial positions and not cut by 1/10 the job of a part-time theater teacher to save $7,433.

“Things can still change, but at this point those two areas are added back in,” Millett said.

The board is in the process of considering three possible budget scenarios that School Superintendent Alan Hawkins presented to the board last month.

One is a base budget of $20.1 million that poses no increase in taxes; another is a “maintenance” budget of $21 million that would entail a 5 percent increase in taxes; and a third is a “midpoint” budget of $20.5 million that would raise taxes 2.5 percent. The tax rate on the current $20 million school budget is $12.54.

The School Board held a public forum on the budget proposal last week that was attended by more than 100 residents, including students.

Many of the approximately 20 speakers who addressed board members pleaded with them not to make such cuts as the elimination of secretarial positions at the high school or a reduction in the theater program.

About half of those addressing the board were students.

Sydney Banks, a junior at Cape Elizabeth High School, was among students who told how caring and supportive of students are Joan Moriarty, a secretary in the principal’s office, and Barbara Cummings, a secretary in the health office.

“If the two positions were eliminated, it would eliminate a vital part of the support system at the high school,” Banks said.

Students also said the theater program provided them with the confidence and public speaking skills to make them successful in college and life.

And students, school staff and parents also spoke in support of continued funding for such programs as the high school’s mock trial program and a new Chinese language class added this year.

However, Bill Gross told the board that some families in town can’t afford a tax increase. He said his own family has gone from two incomes to one in the economic recession.

Gross, who tutors Cape students in physics, urged the board to examine where they could improve quality in the schools inexpensively. For example, he suggested that students be better versed in basic mathematical conversions in middle school to help them succeed in high school physics.

“There is not a direct correlation between the amount of money you spend on the budget and the quality of education,” Gross said.

The board has been holding a series of budget workshops over the past month. Millett said Tuesday that the board over that time has informally indicated that it wants to add many of the proposed cuts back to the budget. She said the board plans to help fund them with some extra state education aid that Cape Elizabeth received, rather than put that money into a contingency fund.

She said the proposal to charge more for parking at the high school and enforce it more strictly is preliminary. Students must pay now but violations are not enforced, she said. However, she said that to have police involved in enforcement of the program would require a town ordinance change.

Cape Elizabeth teachers and administrators have also made an unusual offer to help the bottom line of the budget.

Teachers and administrators have offered to donate up to one day’s pay to the district for the 2010-2011 budget year. It would not be a furlough day – all staff would work all 185 days of the school year as scheduled.

The precise amount of the teachers’ donation would be determined based on the amount of the increase in property taxes paid by an average town homeowner for the 2010-2011 budget year, according to the school department.

Teachers would contribute an amount that is twice the amount of the tax increase, up to the average pay for all teachers for one day.

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