AUBURN — Several School Committee members said Thursday the city must spend more on education, and they asked the superintendent for a bigger budget.

The committee will see several budget options from Superintendent Katy Grondin by Monday, days before a May 1 public hearing on the proposed spending plan.

Options will include:

* A plan that increases school spending to meet the state’s so-called Essential Program and Services level, which would boost the budget to just under $40 million. It would include $543,000 in restored cuts, $1 million to improve maintenance on schools and $710,000 for other needs.

* Grondin’s $37.6 million budget proposal with $543,000 in cuts.

* A budget that meets a city ordinance that says spending can’t grow more than 1.7 percent in a year.

In the third option, school spending could only grow by $610,000. With more than $1 million in new costs from shifts in state policy, plus teacher pay raises and upgrading student computers, that would mean serious cuts.

The School Committee gave Grondin the order to build a bigger budget during a workshop Wednesday night when members said they didn’t want to proceed with cuts, especially by laying off Auburn Land Lab teacher Tom Chandler.

“He is the heart of the land lab,” said Ward 4 committee member Tracey Levesque. “I would prefer that he stay.” The land lab helps elementary students with hands-on science learning, members said. “That would be a really hard program to cut,” Levesque said.

Restoring Chandler’s $57,000 annual salary, and re-funding other cuts would add about $543,000 to the budget. The March 7 budget recommendation from Grondin called for a $37.6 million in school spending, up 4.8 percent, which would mean property taxes for school spending (not considering city hall spending) would rise 6.2 percent, or $72 a year in taxes on a $150,000 home.

Adding more would boost taxes higher, but by how much wasn’t known Thursday. “I’ll be working all weekend” on the numbers, Grondin said.

In her March 7 budget, she recommended more spending because of the cost shifts from the state, updating student computers and pay raises for teachers. To keep the budget from going higher than 4.8 percent, she recommended cutting the land lab position, several secretaries, replacing several teachers and a school librarian with education technicians, axing several student programs, not replacing a school bus and cutting course reimbursements for teachers.

Committee members said they didn’t like those cuts.

“As far as I’m concerned, the whole thing should be put back in, anything on that list,” at-large committee member Francois Bussiere said Thursday.

The land lab tops the list of cuts to restore, he said. “Mr. Chandler does such a good job with that. Why destroy it?”

The idea now is to propose to the Auburn City Council and taxpayers a budget that meets the reasonable education needs of the city, committee Chairman Tom Kendall said Thursday.

“We haven’t gotten clear direction from the City Council,” Kendall said. “If education is a cornerstone of economic development, what are we going to invest?”

Grondin’s proposed budget is $2.25 million below the state funding formula’s Essential Programs and Services’ level.

State legislation is being proposed that would punish school districts by withholding money if they don’t meet EPS levels. That had several committee members concerned.

“At some point, we have to step up to the plate,” Levesque said.

Meeting the state’s EPS level probably won’t be done in one year, Kendall said, but the journey could start. “In order to get the state funding, are we going to step up to that. Let’s put forth a responsible budget and see what the city has to say.”

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