OXFORD – Superintendent Mark Eastman told the school board Monday night that the $36.5 million proposed fiscal 2010 budget will include the reinstatement of seven staff positions, the reinstatement of the elementary summer school and the implementation of a district-wide math intervention program.

The budget was presented to the Board of Directors at its Monday night meeting.

“We really wanted to put a picture of a roller coaster on the front (of the proposal) because it has been a roller coaster ride,” Eastman said of the funding uncertainty. “There are still some numbers we’re not confident about.”

Preliminary state funding numbers, which still need legislative approval, show SAD 17 will take an $797,779 decrease in state funding based in part on the state’s calculated 13 percent jump in local property assessments.

The Budget Committee had requested no increases in local assessments but because the assessments are paid on a percentage basis, towns like Oxford and Norway will see an increase while others such as West Paris will see a decrease in their assessments, he said.

Eastman told board members that the influx of about $500,000 in stimulus funds from the American Recovery and Investment Act of 2009 has allowed the Budget Committee to reinstate all staff positions cut earlier this year to meet an approximate $500,000 mid-year cutback in state funds.

The seven positions slated for the cutting board included one high school and one middle school custodian, a high school literacy education technician, a high school intervention coordinator, a literacy education technician at Waterford Elementary School, a middle school special education technician, and a high school study hall monitor.

Employees from across the district quickly moved to pledge a day’s pay to keep the positions. That money was used as a stop-gap measure until the stimulus funds were approved.

Another $25,000 of the stimulus funds has been reinstated to fund the vocational school. The remainder of the money will be carried forward to offset any revenue reduction in the next two fiscal year budgets, Eastman said.

Town budget hearings begin Tuesday, April 7, when officials meet with Oxford and Otisfield residents at the Otisfield Community School, and Norway and Paris residents at the Guy E. Rowe School in Norway. Both meetings start at 7 p.m.

Wednesday evening, April 8, West Paris and Hebron residents meet at the Agnes Gray School in West Paris, and Waterford and Harrison residents meet at the Waterford Memorial School at 7 p.m. for the same presentation.

The Budget Committee will finalize the budget on April 29 prior to the final presentation of the budget on May 4 to the school board for its action.

Once approved, the district-wide budget hearing will be held at the Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School at 7 p.m. on June 4. Voters will approve the budget at a district-wide validation referendum in all eight towns on June 9.