Editor’s note: This story has been updated to correct errors in the original reporting. Details are below.

AUBURN — Largely because of soaring special education costs, the superintendent’s recommended school budget would increase at a rate higher than what’s outlined in the city charter, a cost-of-living hike which is now 1.8 percent.

Superintendent Katy Grondin said Tuesday her 2015-16 spending plan is $1.57 million higher than the current $38.24 million budget; and that increase only covers the first five cost centers, the larger parts of the budget.

If the school budget increase were limited to the cost-of-living cap outlined by the charter, it would be 1.8 percent, or $689,000. In Grondin’s recommended budget, special education costs alone would rise by $874,135.

Overall, the proposed budget would maintain quality, Grondin said. It continues customized learning, an initiative Auburn is implementing to provide each student with individual lessons to improve each student’s education.

But the budget doesn’t do a lot that educators would like, such as adding extra teachers at Fairview and Park Avenue elementary schools to reduce class sizes.

The big numbers driving higher spending are:

* The $874,135 increase for special education;

* A $528,888 increase for teacher negotiations, health insurance, teacher retirement and school building supplies;

* $105,000 for support staff negotiations and salary benefits for positions including the assistant superintendent, school secretaries, librarians and school resource officers;

* $68,189 for extracurricular activities and sports, including three new stipend-paid coaches at Auburn Middle School; two head coaches for softball and baseball and a track and field assistant coach to keep up with growing enrollment. Also, stipends for coaching and leading extracurricular programs, which are about $2,000 a year, would grow by 2 percent if approved by teacher labor contracts. Stipends have not been increased in more than 10 years, Grondin said.

For the first time in four years, the iPad tablet computer program would not be expanded. Grade K-3 students each have iPad tablet computers. To add another grade with one-on-one iPads would have cost $150,000. “Because of the increase in the budget this year, it wouldn’t be fiscally responsible,” Grondin said. “That didn’t feel right.”

The additional $874,135 to cover special ed is largely from increased tuition costs and specialized therapy. Auburn has 640 special ed students. Last year there were 38 students in expensive, out-of-district programs; that number has grown to 45 out-of-district students. 

That means tuition is growing by $414,482, plus another $225,621 in so-called Medicaid “seed money.” The “seed money” is for Medicaid therapy provided to out-of-district special ed students, such as speech, occupational therapy or physical therapy, and one-on-one behavior specialists.

“The seed money is our Medicaid portion we have to pay,” Grondin said. “The state requires a local share for it.” 

Private programs decide which therapy services are needed, provide them, then bill MaineCare, which passes costs to local districts. Private programs can also raise rates, which the state and districts have to pay.

According to Grondin, one Auburn student got $20,000 worth of therapy in a third quarter, $20,000 worth in a fourth quarter, plus the $50,000 annual tuition. The private centers “are getting a lot of money.” Districts do sit at individual education plans for students, but the amount of services delivered “are unpredictable,” Grondin said. A student may need one hour of a one-on-one behavioral specialist one day, six hours another. 

“It’s a challenge for us to budget for,” Grondin said. “We do our best to bring students back” into Auburn programs, but there are students with severe autism or severe behavior problems with high needs that cannot be in local schools. “We try every program we have. When they don’t make it here, we have to place them.”

Except for administrators, labor contracts for staff are not finalized. The district is putting $412,965 aside for good-faith bargaining, Grondin said. “You can’t say, ‘No one gets a raise.’”

Also in the budget is $318,139 more to cover higher health insurance costs, which Grondin is budgeting at 8 percent. The current year’s health insurance rose 2.5 percent. “We don’t know what it will be yet. We’re hoping it will come in lower.”

CORRECTION: A story published on Page B1 of the City edition Thursday about the proposed Auburn school budget should have said the budget would increase at a rate higher than the cost-of-living limit for the city outlined in the city charter. This year the cost-of-living index is 1.8 percent.

The story also should have said Superintendent Katy Grondin’s recommended increase of $1.57 million only accounts for five sections of the budget, not the entire spending plan. Plus, it should have said that Auburn has 640 special education students, 45 in out-of-district programs.

And, a recommended budget increase of $105,000 includes money for contract negotiations for student support positions, including the assistant superintendent, librarians, curriculum director, technology staff, secretaries and school resource officers.

What’s next: Superintendent Katy Grondin plans to go over revenue numbers at 6 p.m. Wednesday, March 11, with the Auburn School Committee. The revenue numbers will help show the proposed budget’s impact on property taxes.