The Rochester School Committee voted to approve a $5,937,801 budget for the coming year, reflecting a 2.4 percent increase.

Superintendent Doug White said staff have been moved around in some areas to optimize student needs and to avoid cuts.

“We've been able to sustain the majority of positions or make switches to where they will be more effective and serve more kids,” White said at Thursday night’s budget hearing.

Professional staff salaries makeup 65 percent of the budget, with that area of the budget seeing a $217,471 increase, almost 6 percent.

More than half of that amount is due to restructuring of the regular teaching staff, contractual increases and one additional teaching salary. There is also a $7,000 increase for substitutes due to a higher rate of pay approved earlier in the school year to attract a bigger pool of substitutes.

There are a few reductions in staffing costs, including almost $35,000 as the result of retirements.

In the nonprofessional staff category, there is a $32,000 increase that encompasses approximately $25,000 for teaching aids due to a shift in student needs.

The supplies category is increasing $24,000, mostly for the purchase of Chromebooks to help bring the school closer to its goal of one to one devices for students. Next year, Rochester Memorial School will have 225 Chromebooks for students. The additional purchases will ensure that students in third to sixth grade have daily computer access.

There were several line items that saw decreases.

Contracted services dropped $57,000 for the 2017 fiscal year budget. This area includes utility costs and equipment at the school.

“We’ve done a great job with this building around managing utilities … running [it] as efficiently as possible,” said White.

The other category, which encompasses transportation for vocational schools and special education students who are educated out of district, also fell by $79,000. Part of the reduction is due to sharing transportation fees with other school districts, including transportation to Bristol County Agricultural High School with Marion.

The budget will now go to the Annual Town Meeting for a vote.

In other news: The School Committee again voted to opt out of school choice. The program allows a school to accept out of district students in exchange for $5,000 per student.

The committee stressed that the tuition amount is unlikely to change any time soon, and more students might create the need for additional staff.