The School Committee passed a budget proposal for the upcoming fiscal year on Monday that would increase spending by $2.2 million — or 4.7% — over FY22.

The $49.4 million proposal will now be sent to the Select Board and Finance Committee for review and approval. The three boards are scheduled to meet jointly on May 9.

The largest increase in spending came from the “instruction” category which accounts for 75% of the total budget and includes money for teacher and school staff salaries, technology, books, supplies, special education, and more.

Of the $1.9 million in budget increases for instruction, classroom staff accounted for $1.5 million, with much of the increase coming from raises gained in contract renegotiations.

The rise in spending also reflects the creation of some new positions, including: two directors of teaching and learning to replace the assistant superintendent, a new teacher at Quinn Elementary, and a registered behavioral technician.

While the 4.7% budget increase is not as extreme as the national inflation rate — which reached its highest point in 40 years in February at 7.9% — it could still cause budget problems for the town, as all Massachusetts municipalities are limited to 2.5% year-to-year budget increases by proposition 2½.

However, Assistant Superintendent of Finance and Operations James Kiely said his preliminary discussions with town officials were promising and he was hopeful the budget would be passed.

“Through my discussions with the administration and the town, we’ve spent a lot of time talking about this and they’ve been very supportive of us,” he said. “So I hope the boards follow suit and support us through a pretty challenging time financially.”

During the budget discussion, School Committee members made suggestions for changes, including waiving parking fees for students.

According to Kiely, removing the fees would cost the school $15,400 in lost revenue.

The removal of the $60 parking fee has long been championed by former student Christian Gwozdz-Silveira, and had the support of members Kathleen Amaral and Chris Oliver. However, member John Nunes disagreed with his colleagues, asserting that “parking is a privilege” for students.

Committee Chair Shannon Jenkins noted that the proposed budget would already waive fees for students to request and send their school transcripts to prospective colleges, which she said was “much more deeply problematic than the parking fee.”

She said that with the burden of transcript fees being removed from students this year, the parking fees could wait to be phased out later.

The board also touched briefly on the uncomfortably high number of staff members currently being paid, at least partially, with federal Covid-relief funds.

Kiely said that 16 staff are being paid from the one-time grants — which are set to expire by 2025 at the latest — meaning the district may soon be left with difficult decisions to make about how to maintain those positions.

“We’re certainly concerned about how that’s going to impact us moving forward,” he said. “Because that is a lot of money and it is gonna go away.”

The proposed budget is available on the school’s website, here. A summary can be found here.