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The proposed $34,007,575 package will be part of the overall municipal budget that will go to the voters May 19 in a referendum.
The Board of Finance would likely reduce it more if the municipal budget is rejected in the townwide vote later this month.
In recent weeks, administrators and school board members have discussed potential revisions to address the lower spending.
The school district received a 1.2 percent hike for the current fiscal year, which was its lowest in 12 years.
School board Chairman Daria Rockholz has emphasized that no decisions on the school district's spending package would be made until the town has approved a municipal budget.
Among the recommendations that the administrative team made to the school board April 22 was to increase pay-to-participate fees to cover potential reductions in athletic and co-curricular programs.
The various scenarios offered by the administrative team also have included provisions to eliminate ninth-grade sports at Brookfield High School (BHS) and reduce the number of athletic teams at Whisconier Middle School (WMS).
Acting interim WMS Principal Deane Renda said during Wednesday night's regular meeting of the school board that he and other administrators are trying to "balance" various needs as they consider reductions but that the sports program is an important dimension to the school.
"You should see our school during Spirit Week," he said regarding the traditional week of athletic celebration. "There is a lot of interest."
He said the WMS teams also have become a farm team for the athletic program at BHS.
"I'm not knocking the volunteers that coach the Parks & Recreation teams, but we have paid coaches with expertise," Mr. Renda said.
Mr. Shaker said that he is uncomfortable with proposals to raise the pay-to-participate fee to $150 per sport per season per student.
Some of the board members discussed how the fees should differ between athletic and co-curricular activities.
"There is a totally different cost factor between being a member of DECA and being a member of the band," school board member Rob Gianazza said.
"The sports cost significantly more to run than the co-curriculars," school district Business Manager Art Colley said in response to comments by Mr. Shaker on whether the fees should be closer in cost.
Regarding the ATP, acting interim Assistant Superintendent Genie Slone said that although one of the budget scenarios calls for the elimination of the equivalent of a 0.6 teacher at WMS and a full-time program assistant, the program would continue in a restructured fashion.
Some parents had expressed concern about maintaining the program during the public comment portion of the school board meetings.
In response to a question from school board member Ron Jaffe, BHS Principal Bryan Luizzi said that 25 percent of the classes at the school currently have 26 or more students.
"We've gone up in students and lost staff," Dr. Luizzi said.
He said that the school expects a slightly larger enrollment next year, bringing it close to 1,100 students.
The school had less than 800 students as recently as the late 1990s.
Dr. Luizzi said that current projections indicate that enrollment would decline slightly when some of the current classes at WMS arrive at BHS in two to four years.
Superintendent Anthony Bivona said the school district is "gathering data" on the number of specialists in other school districts.
There had been discussion at the April 22 school board meeting regarding the need to justify the number of school psychologists and guidance counselors in the district.
Two residents said during the public comment portion of this week's school board meeting that they were concerned that some of the discussion at the April 22 meeting "sounded like accusations" that reflected negatively on the staff that serve in some of the specialized areas in the district.
