Mandated increases in the Weare school budget will be a tough pill for voters to swallow, according to school officials.

The proposed operating budget of $15.33 million is around 3 percent higher than last year’s approved budget of $14.8 million, according to district documents, and slightly higher than the default budget of $15.31 million.

A major part of that increase is due to changes in the teachers’ contract, which will result in a $200,378 increase in teachers and support staff salary and benefit increases, according to SAU community outreach coordinator Patti Osgood. The town approved the two-year contract last year, which included step raises ranging from 1.2 percent for seasonal employees to 5 percent increases for professional staff coordinators.

Another driver in costs is health insurance, which is slated to see a maximum increase of $114,749, or 23.2 percent and contributions to the state’s retirement fund, expected to increase by $123,282. Both are included in the benefits budget of $3.5 million.

Those two items are just some of the $586,320 increases the board says are mandatory, according to school board Chairwoman Marjorie Burke. “Those items have to be there,” she said. She noted the insurance increase is district-wide in SAU 24, meaning the Henniker, Stoddard and John Stark schools are facing similar increases.

Burke was also unsure how voters would take requests in the draft budget that are not included in the default, some of which she said the school really needs. Those increases include items such as a $51,019 Spanish teacher at Weare Middle School, which she said would allow students to transition into higher Spanish classes when they attend John Stark High School. The district is also looking to add around $58,000 in curriculum materials and a $15,479 part-time reading teacher at Center Woods Elementary School to help with struggling readers.

Article 4 will ask voters to approve adding up to $50,000 of any budget surplus left over from this year’s budget to a Special Education Expendable Trust. Burke said the trust exists in cases of emergency needs, such as if a student moves to town and requires an out-of-district placement due to educational needs.

If both the proposed and default budget are adopted with all articles, the school’s portion of the tax rate would increase by 79 cents per $1,000 of assessed property value for a total of $9.74. For a home worth $250,000, that’s an extra $197.50 a year on your tax bill, or about an 8.8 percent increase.

The deliberative session is scheduled for Feb. 7 at 7 p.m. at the Weare Middle School.

(Caitlin Andrews can be reached at 369-3309, candrews@comonitor.com or on Twitter at @ActualCAndrews.)