The tough economic times are being felt in school budgets across Vermont.
Proposed school budgets that will be put before voters on Town Meeting Day in March and in other meetings are up about 3 percent this year.
Brad James of the Vermont Education Department says that last year school budgets increased an average of 4.2 percent.
James says 191 of the state’s 283 schools have reported their proposed budgets to the department.
John Nelson of the Vermont School Boards Association says the economy is what is keeping proposed spending increases down.
Last month, Governor Jim Douglas called on school boards to produce budgets with the same per-student spending as this year.