A committee studying next year’s budget for Lawrence Public Schools has made its recommendations for how to cover an estimated $740,000 shortfall in the district’s budget.

The recommendations — which include eliminating 26 subvarsity coaching positions, several custodial positions and several administrative jobs — will be considered by the school board on March 29.

“The results, for me, are pretty painful,” said board President Austin Turney. “I think it’s going to be fairly difficult to come to something we can live with.”

The $740,000 shortfall includes a decrease in state aid due to projected enrollment decline and increases in insurance and transportation costs.

It also includes adding 11 teachers beyond the base student-to-teacher ratio set by the district and increasing classified employee pay, which has been shown to be well below that of other districts in the state.

Other proposed cuts include eliminating uniforms for maintenance workers, reclassifying a staff position designated to purchase technology equipment and eliminating the Lawrence Education Achievement Partners position.

In recommending the cuts established by a priority exercise completed by budget committee members, committee members also said they thought the school board should consider cuts that didn’t involve eliminating positions, such as decreasing library budgets and staff development budgets.

The budget committee consists of administrators, teachers and staff from throughout the district.

But several teachers and staff members raised concern about the budget process Tuesday, saying they felt administrators hadn’t taken enough input on proposed cuts.

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The group offered its own proposed cuts, including eliminating the district’s three school improvement specialist positions, reducing the number of elementary school counselors and using central administrators as substitutes for a set number of days during the year.

“I feel discussion is somewhat discouraged,” said Barb Thompson, a sixth-grade teacher at Quail Run School. “I get the feeling every time I come here I’m not supposed to be questioning the content of what’s being said.”

Kathy Johnson, budget director, said the recommendations would be forwarded to the school board.

But board member Leni Salkind said she was frustrated the proposal hadn’t come sooner.

“None of that came to the table,” Salkind said. “Now it’s here, and we’ve already started prioritizing (cuts). It would be better if it had happened earlier.”