AUBURN — Residents will have a chance next week to weigh in on this year’s proposed $64.72 million school budget.

At their meeting Wednesday, School Committee members gave initial approval to the budget through a straw vote. The committee will hold a public hearing on the proposed budget Wednesday at 6 p.m. at City Hall.

The overall amount is a 4.2% increase compared to last year’s $62.12 million. If approved by voters, it would result in a 31-cent increase in the education portion of property taxes, bringing it to $9.06 per $1,000 of assessed property value. A home worth $300,000 would see an increase of about $92.78.

The school department’s state subsidy increased by about 9.6%, to just over $32 million, along with nearly $9 million it will receive from the state for debt services. If the budget is approved, the city would be responsible for $21.49 million of the budget.

Officials are proposing to use $1.75 million from the fund balance, which is $600,000 less than last year.

City Councilor Adam Platz, the mayor’s representative to the School Committee, said using that much of the fund balance was indicative of an unbalanced fund and might result in harder funding cuts in the future. However, he said he still supports the budget as it stands.

He spoke about the City Council’s goal of keeping the property tax rate increase to just 5% but there has been no discussion among them about where budget cuts should be made to get to 5% or less.

The city’s proposed budget would increase the tax rate by 16.8% while the school’s proposed increase is much lower, he said. He said the school budget is in a better position than the city’s budget at this time, though it is possible that councilors will ask that the School Committee make further cuts.

There was some discussion among committee members about certain items and staff positions but nobody proposed any adjustments to the budget.

School officials came up against a number of budget increases associated with staffing costs, such as raises and an anticipated 15% increase in the cost of insurance premiums. More employees are opting into the district’s health insurance plan.

The special education costs also increased this year by about 9.6%, with increases to the MaineCare SEED match and out-of-district placements.

The proposed budget eliminates two vacant positions, a guidance counselor for Auburn Middle School and a Spanish teacher at Auburn Middle School. The budget also proposes using grant funds to pay for two class size reduction positions.

This story has been updated to reflect the accurate tax rate increase for the city’s proposed budget as it stands currently, which is 16.8%