The Pine Bush School Board directed the school administration to explore the option of adding seventh grade Spanish to the curriculum at a budget presentation during the March 12 meeting.

The five board members present agreed to add two Spanish teachers instead of the previously considered four, cutting the $527,000 price tag in half.

The two board members who were not present, president Lloyd Greer Jr. and vice president Gretchen Meier, opposed adding the program. While they believed foreign language is not unimportant, they said limited resources, money and students’ time would be better served with more technology classes or curriculum.

“I’m an American; I think that everybody here should speak English,” Greer had said when the topic was first discussed at an earlier meeting.

Greer could not be reached for further comment.

However, the school district still needs to find two qualified foreign language teachers to hire, which can be a difficult task.

The board agreed to pull approximately $790,000 from the district’s fund balance of $17.9 million to pay for seventh grade Spanish and other recommendations.

Other recommendations include the addition of a school psychologist at the high school, four new art clubs at the elementary schools, a new English as a new language teacher, a new summer academy at the middle school level, a varsity girl’s golf team, a Big Brothers/Big Sisters program and more.

Final budget numbers can change, as the district is still waiting to hear the amount of state aid to be allocated and the cost of other mandates and changes. The final proposed budget will be presented at the April 9 board of education meeting. The budget vote will be on May 21.