MEXICO – No one was talking numbers Thursday night at the Region 9 School of Applied Technology board meeting, but many references were made to an extremely difficult budget process in a year with a significant loss of state aid.

The Finance Committee had already begun, said committee member Wayne Thurston of Peru, and work will continue next week at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday.

Residents of the 12 towns that Region 9 serves adopted a secondary budget of just over $2 million and an adult and community education budget of $297,000 for the current school year.

 A number of factors will affect the fiscal 2010-11 Region 9 budget, with cuts to the sending schools’ state aid to education promising to be the most important factor.

RSU 44 representative Lynn Arizzi said the Bethel-area school unit expects a $2 million cut in its operating revenue. That district sends students for vocational education from Telstar Regional High School.

The Western Foothills Regional School Unit 10 expects to lose about $900,000 between this year and the next fiscal year. RSU 10 includes two of the three high schools — Mountain Valley and Dirigo — that send students to the Region 9 vocational school.

A vote on a proposed Region 9 operating budget is usually taken sometime in May.

In a related matter, the board postponed action on a proposal to increase the amount of pay for substitute teachers with specialty certification or skills. The proposal was sent to the Policy and Finance committees for review and recommendations.

Currently, virtually all substitutes receive $75 a day. But finding skilled substitutes for most classes is difficult, Director Brenda Gammon said.

“Subs are very valuable in a technical school,” she said. “We have a hard time finding them.”

One instructor had been out for an extended period and another may be looking at surgery in the near future, Gammon said.

Also on Thursday, the board approved the first reading of a new policy that would allow automotive technology students to work on vehicles owned by staff, students, parents of students, adult education students and others as long as the work fits with the program’s curriculum.

The board also entered into three closed sessions to evaluate the director, discuss a real property matter, and to consider a personnel issue.

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