Superintendent Susan Lusi confers with Finance Director Christine Tague.

In a meeting notable for its brevity, the Portsmouth school finance subcommittee formally voted to recommend a budget of $35,746,286 for fiscal year 2009-2010. Chair Michael Buddemeyer and members Marge Levesque and Marilyn King voted unanimously to bring the budget to the full School Committee at their meeting next week.

Finance director Chris Tague walked through the budget numbers one final time, and while there were a handful of questions, the meeting — which drew an audience of only 10 residents — was over in 50 minutes.

There was a question from Town Councilor Jim Seveney, who wanted to know about a line item for textbooks in the operating budget. Superintendent Lusi explained that textbook replacements are accounted for in the operating budget, while purchases of new textbook series rely on technology warrant money.

Prudence Island resident Bob Marshall asked about the bell times in the Bristol-Warren school system, since students from the island will be traveling by ferry and bus to classes next year. Lusi said that she had confirmed the times with Bristol but would work to be sure the bus route and schedule left sufficient time to prevent missed ferries.

The budget still retains many unknowns, with $97K in cuts yet to be identified, and an assumption of $450K in cost reductions across all contracts. Before the vote, Chair Mike Buddemeyer repeated what has become a mantra at these sesssions: "We are reserving the right to revisit all items based on funding levels."

The budget goes to the School Committee for a vote next week, and then is submitted to the Town Council on March 25.