Town finance committees, mindful of a coming recession, have called for zero per cent increases in Island school budgets, leaving educators braced for another dramatic budget season of instructional and programing cuts.

A $3.5 million superintendent’s shared services budget, approved 10 to 1 by the All-Island school committee on Oct. 29, reflects a range of cuts made by superintendent of schools Dr. James H. Weiss.

Workforce cuts were already built into an earlier draft, which Mr. Weiss described as lean at a presentation to the committee in early October.

Mr. Weiss then cut another $85,000, ranging from $1,500 for out-of-state travel for the superintendent to $10,000 for mentoring programs.

The superintendent’s final budget represents a 2.6 per cent increase over this year. West Tisbury committee member Jeffrey Skipper Manter was the sole dissenting vote.

“We have cut people, we started in our office. And the high school will make instructional cuts. Mr. Nixon [the high school principal] has already talked about cutting an English teacher and a math teacher,” said Mr. Weiss.

Principal Stephen Nixon has been shaving costs from his first budget as high school principal, presenting a fourth draft to a budget subcommittee Monday night, with a bottom line of $16.8 million. This represents a 3.6 per cent increase over this year.

Mr. Nixon said the proposed cuts would not affect the school’s ability to keep up with mandates of No Child Left Behind.

“We can do this. Anything beyond this is difficult. We’re close to our limit with what we can do for mandates,” he said. Instructional costs in the current draft total $8.9 million, a 5.9 per cent increase.

The annual high school budget forms the single largest cost in most town budgets.

Financial constraints and falling enrollment this time last year led to the first instructional cuts ever made at the high school. Programs and positions were reduced or eliminated in drama and music, sparking controversy.

Mr. Weiss said he has received letters from Oak Bluffs finance committee member Thad Harshbarger and from Pamela Dolby, Edgartown town administrator, both calling for a flat budget. He added that other towns may be thinking in similar ways.

“We’re between a rock and a hard place,” he said. Leslie Baynes, a high school committee member from Edgartown, said much of the annual costs are the result of union negotiated salary increases. He said the falling census will inevitably mean that staff is not replaced and cuts will be made.

Jon Snyder, a Tisbury finance committee member, said it was important to get as much information to towns as possible.

“Oak Bluffs is talking about putting any item above a zero per cent increase into a separate Proposition 2 1/2 override,” he said, adding: “Several towns are asking for a zero per cent increase and if not [they are saying], then justify every increase they’re asking for.

“It’s tough stuff, and the season is young.”

The high school committee is scheduled to vote to certify its budget Dec. 1. A public hearing is scheduled for Nov. 24. Mr. Weiss said he expects it to be well-attended.

In other news, the All-Island school committee voted last night to delay restructuring the assessment method for the superintendent’s shared services budget, acting on the recommendation of Mr. Weiss. Currently the high school shoulders 20 per cent of the shared services portion, while the elementary schools foot the rest using a per-pupil assessment method.

At the Oct. 29 meeting Mr. Manter made a motion to examine the method, arguing it would be fairer to use a per-pupil method across the board.

Mr. Weiss said that on a per-pupil basis, the high school would pay 34.5 per cent which would add approximately $250,000 to the bottom line of this year’s budget.

“That’s real money,” he said.

While he acknowledged the system is inequitable, he recommended that the school committee make no change this year.