WEST CANAAN — Mascoma Valley voters will take up a proposed $1.2 million budget increase and a three-year agreement with the school district’s teachers union during a deliberative session on Saturday.

The school district officials are proposing a $28.9 million budget for the 2020-21 school year, which amounts to a 4.4% increase over current spending.

If that is defeated by voters in March, a default budget of $28.6 million would take effect.

The spending increase is largely caused by fixed costs such as health care, special education and transportation funding, according to Debra Ford, Mascoma’s business administrator.

“The increases are out of our control,” she said on Wednesday.

After briefly dropping last year, health insurance costs are again on the rise. The district is facing an 8.2% increase in the coming year, resulting in a $4.1 million bill for taxpayers, Ford said.

Meanwhile, special education costs will go up by about $500,000 as part of an attempt to prevent future funding shortfalls. The district’s special education account was overspent by $488,000 this year and resulted in a spending freeze, according to budget figures.

“We’ve got a lot of students with increased needs this year that are not budgeted for in the current budget and that we are building into next year’s budget,” Ford said.

She said transportation costs also will rise as part of a new contract that includes three vans to transport special education students to out-of-district placements.

The budget also includes $1.35 million in interest and principal payments toward the debt from the $21.5 million high school renovation project, which was completed in 2016.

There are no new staff or programs in the budget proposal.

“With enrollment decreasing, though, I wouldn’t rule that out for future budgets as we adjust,” Ford said, adding future cuts would be done through attrition rather than layoffs.

Scott Sanborn, chairman of the district’s budget committee, said the group made only “minor changes” during its review of the spending plan.

Spending — aside from transportation, health care and special education — is expected to increase by $22,345, he said.

“As typically, we always go through the entire budget line by line,” said Sanborn, who represents Orange, adding the committee attempts to look out for taxpayers and students.

A three-year collective bargaining agreement with the Mascoma Valley Regional Education Association is also on the warrant.

If it’s approved, the contract would cost the district an additional $315,462 in its first year, followed by a $317,648 increase in 2022 and $343,966 in 2023.

The district predicts it will collect $19.9 million in property taxes to support the budget and other warrant articles.

It’s not clear how that will affect each of Mascoma’s five towns — Canaan, Dorchester, Enfield, Grafton and Orange. That’s because taxes to the school district are calculated using a three-year enrollment average.

Other warrant articles request a $75,000 appropriation into facilities and special education capital reserve funds. Money for both articles would come from surplus funds, not taxes.

Tim Camerato can be reached at tcamerato@vnews.com or 603-727-3223.

Mascoma Valley Regional School District’s annual deliberative session is scheduled for 9 a.m. on Saturday, Feb. 1, in the Mascoma Valley Regional High School auditorium to amend warrant articles. Ballot voting on all warrant articles is scheduled for March 10.

Clarification

The Mascoma Valley Regional School Distr ict predicts its proposed budget for the 2020-21 school year and other warrant articles, if approved, would result in almost $19.9 million being collected through property taxes. An earlier version of this story used a figure in the annual report that school officials say is now outdated.