By Kelly Morgan,Staff Writer

WATERFORD – The SAD 17 Board of Directors on Monday approved a $31,287,920 budget that will appear before voters at a public hearing May 31.

The budget includes $150,500 worth of services that were reinstated at the request of parents and school administrators.

Superintendent Mark Eastman said 58 parents and residents and 14 town officials attended a series of budget workshops held throughout the school district towns. “Some people believed that we were cutting too deeply, that taxpayer relief should not come at the expense of their children’s education,” he said.

With a separate article for the lease and purchase of new buses, the total proposed budget represents a 2.98 percent increase over last year’s $30,382,658.

Services reinstated in the budget include some teaching positions and a day service for the activity bus at the middle and high schools. The $150,500 in reinstated costs has been offset by a decrease in what the district initially estimated for heating oil expenses, a $25,000 increase in the amount of money that will be carried over into the new fiscal year, and the realization that one teacher’s $27,485 salary was mistakenly added into the budget twice, Eastman said.

At a Wednesday meeting, the budget committee had asked Eastman to look into placing an additional warrant article before voters this year to ask whether all proposed cuts should be eliminated and school programming should be restored to last year’s levels. That would mean an additional $493,941 in expenditures.

Eastman said Monday it would be possible to place the question before voters. The board approved a related article.

Eastman said a “yes” vote on the article would mean larger tax rate increases for some towns and reductions in how much other tax rates would decrease. The projected tax rate changes had not yet been calculated.

The money would reinstate some educational technicians and support staff positions, some special education staff positions, a half-time Hebron teacher and full-time guidance counselor position, money for staff development and field trips, some after-school bus routes, and money that would cover some maintenance, supplies, textbooks and instructional technology.

Towns with higher property tax valuation increases are expected to pay more for schools this year, Eastman has said. The largest increases are in towns such as Harrison, Otisfield and Waterford.

Hebron, West Paris and Paris will actually see their school expenses decrease slightly for the 2005-2006 fiscal year.