PARIS — Voters in the eight towns of the Oxford Hills School District will consider a $33.9 million budget at 7 p.m. Thursday at Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School Forum. There are 17 articles on the warrant.

“This is where people can actually comment on the articles individually,”  Superintendent Mark Eastman said. “That won’t happen on the ballot,” he added, referring to the June 8 referendum held at polling stations in each town.

The June 8 ballot will have two questions, the first being approval of the overall budget number and second question will ask voters if they wish to discontinue the budget approval validation referendum or keep the two-step process that is currently in place.

A “yes” keeps the current process and a “no” will discontinue the budget validation for at least three years and provide for a budget adopted at a meeting of the voters, Eastman said. The ballot question is required by law.

The proposed budget is almost $2.3 million less than this fiscal year, which ends June 30. It reduces staffing by 36 positions, includes no increase in total local assessments and provides what Eastman has referred to as a “sustainable level” of programming.

Positions eliminated include eight elementary education teachers, two elementary Spanish teachers, one position each in the elementary art, physical education and music programs, an industrial arts position, gifted and talented position, half a high school science teacher, two middle school English/language arts positions, a high school foreign language position and others.

Many of the positions will be eliminated through attrition.

Voters will also be asked to transfer $60,000 from unexpended balances to the District Capital Reserve Fund to address water infiltration and energy conservation at the Otisfield Community School.

In other action, voters will be asked to approve the Technical School’s $3.6 million budget; appropriate $563,823 for adult education by raising $253,357 as the local share and authorize the Board of Directors to expend federal stabilization’s funds and other state and federal grant money.

Eastman said at a previous budget hearing that the budget committee members worked for months to develop a budget without affecting taxes or disseminating school programs.

The budget was prepared as a two-tier approach that combines both short-term strategies, such as putting off some maintenance, and long-term strategies, such as reduction in staff.

In addition to the staff reduction, schools will share administrators so each town has at least a K-4 school and K-12 art, music and physical education programs are maintained.

The budget addresses a reduction of state subsidy of 10.8 percent but requires no increase in total local assessment. According to information from school officials, this coming fiscal year is the third year in a row that town assessments have remained at the same level of $15,254,074. But with an additional state revenue loss of $1.8 million projected for the following fiscal year (beginning July 1, 2011) officials say a tax increase will most likely be necessary at that time.

The budget has received a boost from $1.6 million from the federal stimulus package, but this is the last year that money will be available, officials said.

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