Several positions at Old Rochester Regional are likely to be cut in an effort to bring the budget to a level that towns can afford.

At Wednesday night’s ORR School Committee meeting, Superintendent Doug White explained that the original budget draft, which was an $800,000 increase over the current budget, far exceeded the amount that tri-town monies could accommodate.

Because that budget did not account for more than the required insurance, service and contractual increases, to lower it required significant cuts, said White.

At $17,060,900, the new budget draft is a 1.2 percent increase over the current budget.

Marion, Mattapoisett and Rochester are each responsible for a portion of the budget based on the number of students enrolled from each town. State aid also factors in to the budget as does $493,000 given to the school for out of district students in the school choice program.

The budget is still a draft and the committee will likely vote on it at the March 12 meeting. Before that, the public can weigh in at a hearing at the school on March 4 at 6 p.m.

If the budget passes, special education support staff will be cut as will maintenance staff. A full-time language teaching position will also be reduced to part-time, which High School Principal Mike Devoll said would reduce the language sections from 27 to 24 and increase class size. Several stipend positions will be cut as well, but the teachers holding those positions will keep their jobs.

White said people in those positions have not been notified yet.

Several factors that will affect the budget remain unknown at this time. The final number for state aid is up in the air until May. Transportation costs may also change. Energy costs may fall, too, if the wind turbine project the school signed an agreement with comes online soon.

Besides losing faculty and staff, the budget takes $325,000 from the excess and deficiency reserve.

“That is not a good accounting practice,” said White. “The towns have asked…is there a way to reduce that $325,000 by about $100,000 over the course of this coming year.”

Last year, the school was forced to take money out of the reserve fund when state aid came in much lower than projected. The new budget would further wither that fund to less than $200,000.

If the unknown budget items provide significant savings, the committee may be able to spend less from the reserves.

Mattapoisett representative Charles Motta urged White to contact state representatives.

“I think it would be wonderful for Doug to impress upon them the need for their assisting us financially in our quest to meet our budget,” Motta said. “I think it would be worthwhile to reach out to them and tell them we are looking for help financially.”