LEWISTON – The school system has been forced to deplete its contingency fund to accommodate a large special education enrollment at the high school and an influx of new foreign students systemwide.

The school system will hire three new teachers, including two for special education and one for English as a Second Language. One position will be funded by federal grants, but the other two will have to be paid by the school system.

Lewiston has already used about $50,000 from its $80,000 contingency fund to pay higher-than-expected heating oil costs. It is unlikely that the remaining $30,000 will cover both teaching positions.

To offset the new expense, Superintendent Leon Levesque said, the school system will put off some expenditures, such as maintenance and technology purchases.

Forty-five non-English-speaking students have enrolled in Lewiston schools since June, bumping the number of English as a Second Language students from 282 to 327.

Seventy percent of the new students are in kindergarten through grade eight. Thirty percent are in high school.

Most are Somali.

Lewiston first received a major influx of foreign students in 2001 when hundreds of Somali families began moving into the city. Those students had lived in the United States for a year or more and spoke at least some English.

But most of Lewiston’s newest students have come directly from refugee camps and speak no English.

Lewiston currently has four teachers and eight teaching assistants for English as a Second Language. To help with the influx, Lewiston will hire another full-time teacher for the elementary level.

Lewiston has also seen a 30-student increase in special education at the high school. Many of those students moved from the middle school.

To help with that sudden high school boom, the school system will move one special education teaching position from the elementary level and hire two new teachers.