BUTLER TWP — The Butler School District will phase out its Japanese language program beginning this fall.

At a meeting this morning, the Butler School Board agreed that Japanese 1 will not be offered this school year. The 22 students enrolled in the class will need to rearrange their schedules.

The cut is the result of the district’s financial shortfall. It has a $745,000 operating deficit from the past school year, and $2 million deficit projected for 2012-13, which would both be paid from savings.

Today, administrators said 92 students are enrolled in Japanese 1 through 4 classes, and that 70 students will remain after Japanese 1 is eliminated.

The classes include an online component and a classroom teacher who is not certified by the state Department of Education.

Because the teacher is not certified, the state requires the online component.

The cost of the program in the new school year will be $65,564, down from $78,055.

The school board didn’t have the votes at its meeting Monday night to approve $9,240 for the online course.

This morning, Bill Halle and Jim Keffalas both again said that the program is too expensive for the district, while other board members said that students in upper levels of the course should be able to complete their course work.

The final vote was a compromise between the two camps.