HAUSER — Although it’s tucked away in Hauser far from many of the other schools in its parent district save one, The Lighthouse School is hardly immune to public education’s budget woes.

Facing an expected $100,000 deficit for the 2009-10 school year, the public charter school’s leadership is increasing its class sizes from 23 to 25 and will chop three part-time positions from its roster, including a teacher’s aide in kindergarten, one in drama and an office aide. Additionally, it has frozen salaries and has opted for a lower level of benefits for its employees, said Alane Jennings, the school’s former director and enrollment coordinator.

Despite an improved education budget forecast of approximately $5.8 billion for the biennium, Jennings and Lisa LaGesse, the president of the school’s board of directors, said the charter school’s budget was based on $5.4 billion. They explained that the state’s figures aren’t solid, and with a new contract still in negotiation with the North Bend School District, they wanted to err on the side of caution.

Treasurer Glenn Johnson said Lighthouse is expecting $739,220 in total expenses.

LaGesse said two extensions have been granted for the charter contract renewal, and the district and Lighthouse representatives won’t meet again until July 14. As part of the North Bend district, Lighthouse receives a smaller portion of funding based on student attendance as part of its charter agreement. It picks up about 60 percent of the funding, while the district gets about 40 percent. Money is withheld in part to pay for Lighthouse’s space and some district services.

The school also expected to pay back $30,000 to the district, because North Bend believes it received too much money for student attendance last year.

While class sizes likely will be larger, LaGesse said not all classes would necessarily have that many students. The Hauser school serves students in kindergarten through eighth grade.

“We’re still in the enrollment process, so we don’t know our final numbers,” LaGesse said.

At a meeting for the board on Wednesday, members reported an enrollment of 203 to 205 students for the upcoming year, with first, second, fourth and fifth-grade classes reaching the cap. LaGesse emphasized that those numbers could fluctuate and the school is still accepting enrollment applications for all classes. Lighthouse strives to keep classes at no more than 24 or 25 children and no more than 200 at the school. It had an enrollment of about 175 in the recent school year.