After meeting with Town Administrator Derek Sullivan, Superintendent Dr. Barry Rabinovitch said the total amount of money expected to be cut from the school side of the budget has dropped from approximately $780,000 to about $663,000.

This was made possible by a proposal that the town take on the $151,000 deficit that comprises non-net school spending — the School Department's transportation budget.

The Selectmen and School Committee have been working to determine how to divide the nearly $1.2 million deficit in next year's budget.

The School Committee and the Board of Selectmen will meet on Thursday to hash out the final cuts on the town and the school side of the budget, with the goal of going into Town Meeting on June 18 with a balanced budget.

Rabinovitch also met with school principals to find out where they felt cuts could be made without hurting the schools any more than necessary.

Members of the School Committee expressed concern about what the cuts will mean for students.

"I will be unable to vote for this," said School Committee member Geoff Swett. "I suspect the overall impact will make the high school less competitive."

Swett pointed out that the people who these cuts will actually effect — children — don't even have a say in the matter as they're not old enough to vote.

"This country is filled with old people sacrificing the young," he said.

The proposed plan would cut $130,000 from the budgets of Minot Forest and John W. Decas elementary schools, as well as $130,000 from the middle school, and $250,000 from the high school. This still leaves approximately $23,000 left to cut.

"This is seriously cutting very deep into the bone. We're past where we're cutting 'nice-to-haves,'" said School Committee Chair Rhonda Veugen. Of particular concern to Veugen was the loss of 4 interventionists at Minot Forest Elementary School.

The interventionists serve the most vulnerable students in the school system, even making house calls in some cases.

"The idea of cutting that out of Minot Forest is unacceptable. It's devastating," said Veugen. "We're sacrificing the youngest kids in our town."

School Committee member Cliff Sylvia pointed out that the proposed net school spending — the amount spent for everything other than transportation — for fiscal year 2014 is $150,000 below what was spent in fiscal year 2011.

"This is a poor town...poor kids deserve education too," said Sylvia.

Swett respectfully disagreed with Sylvia that the town is poor, and said that rather Wareham is a town in which wealthy people exist, but do not necessarily have a vested interest in the school system.

"This is not a poor town. There are pockets of wealth in this town," Swett said, "so step up and vote, and support public education."

Specifically addressing members of the press that were present, Rabinovitch said he had a message for the parents in Wareham: "We need the parents of the children in the schools to become politically active, show up to Town Meeting, and vote."

The committee held off on voting on the cuts, deciding it would be inappropriate to do so before seeing the presentation by Selectmen.

The School Committee and the Board of Selectmen will meet Thursday, May 9, in the Wareham Middle School library at 6:30 p.m.