LISBON – The School Committee, meeting Monday night, revised the health insurance portion of its 2003-04 budget to reflect a 9.9 percent increase in premiums, rather than the 20 percent previously budgeted.

The change is possible due to a Maine Education Association Trust Fund decision to help pay down the premium, Superintendent Shannon Welsh said.

Five years ago the MEA Trust Fund “put an offset in” to keep the premium down, but it hasn’t done so for the last two years, Welsh said. Blue Cross Blue Shield health insurance premiums have increased dramatically in recent years. Local costs went up 24 percent two years ago and another 16 percent last year, she said.

Meanwhile, the town meeting warrant containing budget figures had already been printed. So voters at town meeting won’t find the new figures on the warrant.

School Committee Chairman Harold Moran will be prepared to amend the insurance lines in various school articles as they come up to make reductions totaling $116,173. That would bring the proposed school budget increase down to .078 percent, Welsh said.