YARMOUTH — The Town Council accepted a proposed $19.8 million school budget on March 24 and is expected to hold the first of two public hearings on the fiscal year 2012 budget on April 7.

Herb Hopkins, the School Department’s director of business services, said the school budget has not changed since January, except for a slight increase on the revenue side due to better-than-expected state subsidy numbers.

He said on the school side, the proposed property tax rate is $13.97 per $1,000 of valuation, or $102 on a $300,000 home.

The school budget is 1.75 percent higher than this year, with the most significant increases in salaries and benefits. Decreases include special education positions and English Language Learner reductions, and debt and technology lease reductions.

The proposed school budget adds a fifth-grade teacher, and eliminates a fourth-grade teacher, a half-time elementary school special educator and three full-time equivalent educational technicians.

In other business, the council will hold an Operations Committee meeting on Monday, April 4, at 6 p.m. to discuss turf field replacement and upgrades; a proposed multi-use trail network system along the Central Maine Power Co. corridor rights-of-way; contract zone and rezoning updates; town garage and school bus facility operations, and appointments to the Comprehensive Plan Implementation Committee.

Amy Anderson can be reached at 781-3661 ext. 110 or aanderson@theforecaster.net. Follew her on Twitter @amy_k_anderson.