TIVERTON — Last month, the School Committee asked Schools Supt. William Rearick to identify $149,000 in spending cuts that would balance next year’s budget without affecting academic programs.

While Rearick and finance director Douglas Fiore were scrutinizing the proposed budget for possible reductions, they received word that federal and state grants will decline, creating an unanticipated $200,000 revenue shortfall during the next fiscal year.

That means that the size of the hole in the proposed budget — still in flux to be sure — has jumped to $349,000 from $149,000.

The School Committee last month tentatively adopted a spending limit of $25,381,837 to meet a requirement of the town’s Home Rule Charter that it send its budget to the town Budget Committee in late January.

But Rearick says he’s having trouble balancing expenditures and revenues because of the limitations of new property tax relief legislation, which prohibit the town from increasing the entire tax levy more than 5 percent during the next fiscal year.

In all, Rearick has identified $127,726 in possible spending cuts, but they do not adhere to the committee’s directive to avoid programmatic reductions. Included in recommendations to the School Committee Tuesday was the reduction of a full-time middle school teaching position in literacy and math to one class a day. The projected savings there is $77,464.

The other proposed cuts include a myriad of small reductions to textbook and supply accounts amounting to $27,513. In addition, Rearick identified $21,749 in unused capital funds which may be added too operating revenue to help close the budget gap.

The School Committee took no action Tuesday on Rearick’s latest recommendations, according to Fiore, the finance director.

Even if the committee were to go along with Rearick’s plan, there would still be a $227,285 shortfall in next year’s budget.

Fiore said yesterday that about $140,000 to $150,000 of the $200,000 revenue gap in federal and state grant money will result from the one-time use of previously allocated funds that will be expended during the current budget and will not be renewed.

Federal Title 1 money for disadvantaged children, which now stands at about $127,000 will also decline by about $12,000 to $15,000, Fiore said.

Most of the grant money received by the district pays for remedial reading and math services for struggling students.

Fiore said yesterday that the school administration must evaluate all the academic services before making any additional recommendations to the School Committee.

Meanwhile on Tuesday, the School Committee agreed to send nonrenewal notices to 34 teachers for the next school year. State law requires teachers be notified before March 1 if there is a chance they might be laid off the following school year.

The notices will go to 15 teachers at the middle school, 12 at the high school, and 7 at elementary schools, Fiore said.

gmacris@projo.com