Elementary schools were the focus of Thursday night's budget discussions. Superintendent Chris Hottel recently presented his budget recommendations for next year -- $38.4 million, a 3.9 percent increase over this year's budget -- which would include an expansion of therapeutic intervention programs into the middle school, $200,000 for elementary school literacy programs currently funded by grant money and $160,000 for assistant principal positions at the Franklin and Sargent elementary schools because those schools have more than 500 students. Thursday night, the School Committee met again to…

The School Committee began its review of Superintendent Chris Hottel's school budget recommendation this week, which calls for a nearly $1.5 million increase over the 2011 school budget. "This budget is built upon the mission, goals, directive and plans of the North Andover schools," Hottel said as he presented his detailed budget proposal to the School Committee. "We have achieved great successes in the past several years... And this will allow us to move forward to implement the programs and curriculum that continue to improve student achievement." The School Department currently operates …

School districts across the country have been feeling the crunch of the down economy and have had to adjust their budgets accordingly. Many schools have been forced to cut vital programs, while others are getting by with extra federal funding. The issue has become a heated political war in recent months. Democrats in Congress recently passed legislation providing billions of dollars in funding to schools nationwide, but Republicans almost unanimously opposed it. Now the two candidates for Massachusetts' Sixth Congressional District seat – Democratic Congressman John Tierney and Republican …

The North Andover school system is running on a $37 million budget without any teacher job cuts, thanks to federal funding. In fact, the district was able to add some positions, including a new principal and kindergarten coordinator and mentor at the Sargent Elementary School. North Andover was granted $458,000 from the Obama administration's education jobs bill this year and $179,000 from the Race to the Top. And those funds, along with a 2 percent budget increase, have gone a long way to keep the school system intact and keep the pink slips away. "[The Jobs Bill funding] may help us …