Wareham Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Barry Rabinovitch presented his $28.6 million fiscal year 2014 budget to the School Committee on Wednesday, which is 7% above the $26.7 million current district budget.

"This is the money we need to run the school system at a level service," Rabinovitch said.

The budget allows for the hiring of one teacher at Minot Forest Elementary to avoid class sizes of nearly 30 students in one of the grade levels. It also includes $355,500 for textbooks — including books the district was unable to purchase this year, after a Proposition 2½ debt exclusion for $341,000 to fund the purchase of textbooks and technology failed at the ballot in July, Rabinovitch said. The budget also includes approximately $19,000 for technology.

"I feel that we need every dollar that we are asking for," the superintendent said.

Of the $28.6 million, $27 million is "net school spending," that is, everything the school district pays for other than transportation. The remaining $1.6 million is for transportation expenses.

The budget also includes $130,200 to pay for the salaries of kindergarten paraprofessionals. The district switched to full-day, tuition-free kindergarten this year, which was mostly made possible through grant funding. The district will see an increase in state "Chapter 70" school funding, because it now has more full-time students, but because it isn't clear when that money will become available, so the money had to be allocated for in a budget increase at this time, Rabinovitch said.

A longer presentation of the budget, as well as a public hearing, will be held on Wednesday, Jan. 16, at 7 p.m. in the Wareham Middle School auditorium.

For a slideshow of Rabinovitch's budget preview, and the agenda for the public hearing, click the links below.