JACKSON — With about nine weeks left before the Jackson School District Board of Education expects to hold a public hearing on the 2012-13 budget, the second of four preliminary budget presentations was held at Jackson Memorial High School on Jan. 17.

As part of the board’s “Building a Budget” series of public presentations, the focus was on Jackson’s curriculum budget and technology budget.

Both areas have seen changes in recent years, and Deputy Superintendent of Schools LuAnne Meinders and Supervisor of Technology Lincoln Mahabir recognized those changes as a starting point for the upcoming year.

“The Jackson School District is in the midst of a paradigm shift in education,” Meinders said.

Earlier this year, the future of student evaluation and teacher evaluation was discussed as one of the major changes coming not just to Jackson, but to the nation as a whole. Meinders said she believes the proposed 2012-13 budget will effectively help in those initiatives while providing savings.

According to Meinders, administrators looked at what the goals are in the state Department of Education for the coming years and used those goals as a basis for how the district should appropriate its curriculum funds.

This year, Jackson’s principals were tasked with identifying areas where savings could be found in their building, alongside the district’s cost-cutting efforts.

The result, according to Meinders, was nearly $40,000 in savings, bringing the total curriculum and instruction budget for the schools to $1.75 million in 2012-13, down from almost $1.8 million in 2011-12.

Jackson Memorial High School showed an increase in this area of the budget due to a new alternate school program.

“This new program is a critical need in the district,” Superintendent of Schools Thomas Gialanella said.

The 2012-13 budget reflects a significant decrease in funding for textbooks, resulting in about $70,000 worth of savings.

Meinders described the need for textbooks as a waning need in recent years due to a greater reliance on Internet resources. She said she expects the need for textbooks to decrease even further during the next five years.

To make that change, however, relies heavily on technology — technology which, according to Mahabir, has been aging rapidly.

According to Mahabir, a significant amount of the school district’s equipment is at least two years past life expectancy. With aging technology in place, Mahabir said the cost to maintain that equipment rises.

Regardless, the technology budget has seen a reduction in recent years. From 2010- 11 to 2011-12, the technology department budget decreased from $775,483 to $710,810. For 2012-13, the department’s budget is expected to be $706,718.

Reductions in purchased professional services resulted in $25,000 in savings, along with more than $7,000 in savings from a reduction in supplies and materials.

Mahabir said the department stuck to its overall objectives while making the reductions.

“This budget provides us with just the basic resources we need to help us meet [our goals],” Mahabir said.

The district’s 2012-13 transportation and facilities budgets will be discussed at 5:30 p.m. Feb. 14 at the school district’s administration building, 151 Don Connor Blvd.

The Jackson School District’s budget for the 2011-12 school year totals about $138 million. Property owners in Jackson are paying about $70.6 million in property taxes to fund that budget.