DIXFIELD – SAD 21 board members approved the 2007-2008 operating budget warrant Monday night that will be voted on June 11, and set a public informational meeting for June 5.

They also settled salary hikes for administrators, specialists, central office staff and hourly employees at an average of 3 percent.

Superintendent Tom Ward said the board met in a three-hour closed session after its regular meeting to evaluate the district’s six administrators and settle on salary increases.

They also decided to increase the salaries of the special education director and elementary guidance counselor by $1,000 each in an effort to bring them up to the area’s average salary for similar jobs.

The teachers’ association three-year contract was settled at a board meeting last month.

Residents of Dixfield, Canton, Peru and Carthage will vote on a $10,022,506 operating budget in June. That figure represents a 2.2 percent increase over this year’s budget.

Voters will also see an additional $571,000 inserted into the budget total, which they are not responsible for paying, to cover the first interest payment of the new elementary school under construction.

Ward said the figure must be included in the budget even though the state will pay it. The school is under construction in Peru.

If approved, the budget will cost Canton $536,747, up 1.65 percent from this year; Carthage, $258,124, up 6 percent; Dixfield, $1,331,819, down 2.29 percent; and Peru, $1,244,043, up 3.78 percent.

Both the June 11 vote and June 5 hearing will be held at 6:30 p.m. at Dirigo High School.

In other matters, the board approved increasing the number of mathematics credits students must take before graduation from 3 to 3.5. Two of the credits must be in algebra and geometry. The requirements apply to the class of 2010.

With Monday’s action on mathematics requirements, the board completed its work on increasing the number of academic requirements. During previous meetings, members upped the number of social studies credits from 3.5 to 4, effective for the class of 2011 and the number of science credits from 3 to 3.5, effective for the class of 2010.

The intent is to make the educational program more rigorous while offering courses to better meet requirements of the Maine Learning Results, said Ward.