Last modified: Wednesday, April 12, 2006 2:00 AM EDT School budget proposal offered By RICK FOSTER / SUN CHRONICLE STAFF ATTLEBORO -- The school committee received a $57.3 million preliminary budget from Superintendent Joel Lovering Tuesday, a 10 percent increase over last year's $51.6 million spending package. But the figure represents a starting point in this year's budget discussions, which includes a scheduled hearing May 8 before adoption by the school committee. The school budget then faces additional action by the mayor and city council. Of the budget total, about $55.5 million would be required to maintain all existing school programs. An additional $1.87 million is proposed to beef up efforts to meet national No Child Left Behind requirements, restore lost positions and meet other district needs. The schools currently are facing the need to increase performance on standardized tests after five of the city's schools failed to record sufficient annual progress last year on statewide exams. A repeat of that performance could land individual schools on a federal watch list, with potential repercussions on federal and state funding. Proposed additional staff positions would include new adjustment counselors, special education teachers and teachers in a variety of disciplines, including literacy, mathematics, computer science and art. The proposal also would add teachers at the three middle schools for the resumption of foreign language instruction -- a major issue during last year's school committee election campaign. Besides salaries, major components of the budget increase include employee benefits, up 15 percent to $10 million, transportation, up 11 percent to $2.2 million, and special education, up 13 percent to $3.6 million. According to state calculations, the $57 million package compares with a legal minimum spending level of $54.2 million, also referred to as net school spending. Lovering said a House Ways and Means committee vote to cut $72 million from the state's Chapter 70 school reimbursement program could have a significant impact on city education spending, which stands to lose more than $700,000 from the spending plan proposed by Gov. Mitt Romney. However the superintendent said he is relatively confident that Attleboro will receive an increase once legislative action on the state budget is completed.