LEWISTON — The School Committee on Monday night approved 14 new positions using extra money for education provided by the recently approved state budget.

The 14 positions amount to about $507,000 a year.

The biggest category is seven special education techs who will work one-on-one with students recently moved to Lewiston who have high needs. The positions amount to $224,000.

Director of Special Education Pamela Emery said there are seven new students starting kindergarten with serious disabilities. The additional ed techs will be assigned to Geiger, McMahon, Montello and Longley schools.

One student has autism, she said. Another has a serious physical diagnosis, brittle bones, which requires one-on-one help. The goal is to try to keep students enrolled in Lewiston’s in-house programs instead of sending them to private out-of-district programs, which are more expensive.

The seven positions were not part of the budget approved in May. 

School Committee Chairwoman Linda Scott said Lewiston legally must provide one-on-one staffing.

“Those are specific (regulations) … to have a behavioral health professional ed tech with them throughout the day,” Scott said. “We have no choice. We have to provide it.”

Other spending approved Monday night included:

• $32,000 for an additional library ed tech at Geiger Elementary;

• $52,00 for a teacher at Farwell Elementary School to help with overcrowded fifth- and sixth-grade classrooms;

• $160,000 for three ed techs at Martel Elementary and two ed techs at Geiger, who will also help crowded classrooms; and

• $39,750 to boost science learning in elementary classrooms, allowing each classroom teacher to get $250 worth of new science materials.

In a memo to the School Committee, Lewiston School Superintendent Bill Webster said the goal was to help students enjoy science and make lessons more comprehensive by providing more materials. Teachers have been hampered by a lack of resources, he said.

Teachers will come up with lists of materials they’d like, which will be approved by the school principal. 

All of the spending is needed, Scott said. Most was taken out of the proposed budget to keep property taxes down. The extra state money is also helping to lower property taxes.

“Lowering the taxes, the deficit, that’s already done,” Scott said.

When the budget was voted on in May, the state budget hadn’t been passed.

Webster promised in May that if Lewiston received more state money, some would help lower taxes.

Lewiston’s property tax rate for education is $10.18, down from $10.29 last year. For a property assessed at $150,000, that means $18 less than last year’s budget.

The committee didn’t approve everything on the recommended spending list.

It rejected a recommended new position to oversee Empower, a new online grading and reporting system to help teachers share grades and information with parents.

Committee member Benjamin Martin was opposed to the $74,800 position, calling it an unnecessary “director of gradebooks.” Staff, teachers to assistant principals, IT personnel and principals should be able to handle the system, Martin said.

Committee member Tom Shannon and Assistant Superintendent Shawn Chabot said the position was needed, especially to help troubleshoot problems as it comes online.

“I don’t see the logic” in rejecting the position, Shannon said. The district is initiating a new program, buying the software, implementing a new system “but not helping the people who have to use it.”

“It’s another patchwork approach to doing something half-a**ed,” he said.