Norwin School Board has approved a preliminary budget for the 2008-09 school year that manages to avoid raising taxes or cutting educational programs.

School directors unanimously adopted the $54.9 million budget at their Monday night meeting. The budget increased by 2.15 percent over last year, although district business manager John Wilson said a large portion of that was a result of rising interest payments on debt incurred during the district's construction wave in the early 2000s.

Not counting debt service, Wilson said the budget only increased by 1.5 percent, and 89 percent of that increase went to direct instructional expenses.

Increases in expenditures were partially offset by a rise in real estate tax revenue, which Wilson said would happen because of new, higher assessments rather than a tax increase. The district also received more money from the state, and collection of delinquent taxes rose.

A new contract with teachers helped keep expenditures down. While teacher salaries rose, increased employee contributions to health care offset a large part of that rise.

Despite those measures, a tax increase was still possible. At an April presentation to the board, Wilson said that a tax increase of one to two mills might be necessary to balance the budget.

Over the past month however, Wilson said district officials kept looking at the budget, and found some areas where they could cut costs.

Wilson said the district saved money by increasing use of free textbooks and teaching materials and supplements, and re-evaluating textbook use to make sure unneeded books were not purchased. Norwin also benefited from a lower-than-expected cost of participating in the county intermediate unit.

District officials also decided to reduce the number of new instructional aides hired from five to three, reducing personnel costs.

With no tax increase, the district's millage will remain fixed at 65.15 mills. That number includes 1.2 mills collected by the district on behalf of Norwin Public Library.

An average Norwin resident will see a tax levy of $1,433 for the year, unchanged from last year.

Members of the public can view the preliminary budget at the district's administrative office for 30 days. On June 16, the board will vote to adopt a final budget.