Thursday’s School Committee meeting brought unexpected good news and a unanimous approval in the final budget vote.

Utility cost savings, revenue from the local options meals tax passed at special Town Meeting in November, and $150,000 in unexpected growth combined to give the town about $300,000 more than expected to work with for next year’s budget, the Finance Committee announced at its Monday meeting.

$210,000 of that money was made available for use in the school budget. The School Committee said at its Monday meeting that a further $9,000 can be added to the school budget because of increased offsets for transportation. The town, then, had $219,000 Tuesday morning to use to reduce the original proposed school budget cuts.

Tuesday afternoon, town administrators – high school Principal Pat Tutwiler, middle school Principal John Kavaleski, Claypit Principal Debbie Bearse, and Happy Hollow/Loker Principal James Lee, among others – had a “rather robust discussion,” in the words of Superintendent Gary Burton, hammering out a “restore list” to decide what positions would be best to reinstate.

At the elementary level, the district-wide librarian position was completely restored. “It seemed to be the most fair and equitable thing to do,” said Principal Lee. “We really felt that has to be given priority,” added Principal Bearse.

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At the middle school, a full-time language position was reinstated, meaning that the Latin program will be able to continue at the middle school. Half of a librarian position was also restored.

The high school, which saw some of the deepest cuts originally, also saw “most of the action” on the restoration side, according to Committee Chairman Louis Jurist.

Half of a guidance position was reestablished, effectively allowing the Stabilization Program to continue at the high school. The program, which debuted at the high school this year, is designed to help student transition into the school environment after being away for a long period of time.

Committee members questioned Principal Tutwiler, who was grilled throughout the night, over the decision not to restore the other guidance department position, a secretary who helps with college application. “Most of what she does will be spread out over the six guidance counselors,” responded Tutwiler. “I’m confident we’ll still be able to serve students well,” he said.

0.2 Full Time Equivalent (FTE) of an art teacher is being restored; in the original budget cuts, 0.4 of an art teacher was being reduced. Because of this, there will be nine art classes next year instead of the current level of ten. However, the administration will also likely increase art class sizes from a current level of 18 students per class, which is low by most standards. This means that the number of students who are able to enroll in the program will not be affected.

0.2 FTE of a high school foreign language position will also be reestablished.

Finally, a .4 FTE English position will be restored. However, three English teachers will still be impacted by reductions, and English teachers will likely still go from teaching four to five classes next year, shutting down the writing center and making English teachers less available for conferencing.

To remedy this, the English department is looking into starting a “writing lab,” a mandatory extra English class once a rotation (every eight school days) that would function similarly to how double science labs work now. It is yet to be decided who would have to attend this writing lab, but the department is considering it just for freshmen and at-risk tenth graders.

The remaining $21-23,000 would be used for professional development to help teachers develop their skills and curriculum. It is in this area “we see the biggest bang for our buck,” commented Principal Kavaleski. Professional development is “one of the life bloods in term of curriculum development for the staff,” he added.

After these restorations were presented and discussed, the School Committee went on to discuss whether certain cuts could be made in other areas to restore further positions. In particular, like Monday’s School Committee discussion, cuts in central administration were heavily discussed.

Chairman Jurist and vice-chair Jeff Dieffenbach pushed the idea, but school administrators were not supportive. “It’s not in the best interest of the long term,” commented Superintendent Burton. Committee members Malcolm Astley, Deb Cohen, and Barbara Fletcher agreed, killing the idea.

With no consensus to push for administrative cuts, the committee then voted unanimously, 5-0, to support the budget proposal in front of them.

The meeting was not all good news, however. Superintendent Burton cautioned that “we’re going to be back at this table with a list of things” to cut next year, and that the community should brace itself for that time.