BUCKFIELD — Selectmen advised Budget Committee Chairman Nick DiMaio on Tuesday night to have the committee investigate alternatives to staying with Regional School Unit 10.

DiMaio said the committee had begun discussions on the RSU 10 budget increases and thought it would be wise to look at other possibilities for educating Buckfield students, including talks with SAD 17 in the Norway-Paris-Oxford area, starting a charter school and returning to its school system with Hartford and Sumner.

Buckfield was part of SAD 39 before the 2008 Maine School Consolidation Law, which resulted in SAD 39 joining with SAD 43 in Rumford-Mexico and SAD 21 in Dixfield to form RSU 10. There are 12 towns in the system: Rumford, Mexico, Byron, Roxbury, Dixfield, Canton, Carthage, Peru Hartford, Sumner, Buckfield and Hanover.

The law’s intent was to save administrative costs by lowering the number of school districts.

In other business at the meeting, selectmen accepted the current draft of the Personnel Policy after considerable discussion about health insurance. In one version of the policy, longtime employees would pay 20 percent of any increase in the plan and new employees would pay 50 percent of a family plan.

Selectman Robin Buswell said this was grossly unfair and the field should be level for all employees.

Longtime Town Clerk Cindy Dunn said the board had already taken some employee benefits away and this would take more. She said she has not had a raise in two years and her hourly pay is much below what she should receive for the work she is doing.

Dunn is also treasurer, tax collector, excise tax collector, bookkeeper, payroll clerk, and watercraft, ATV and snowmobile registration agent.

Buswell said he knew she did a great job and it was not his intent to take any benefit from her but to make everything equal.

“Buckfield is way below other towns in pay and it’s not a lot of money,” DiMaio said. “We won’t attract quality people for what we have as pay and benefits. It would only be about 75 cents per household per week to keep the benefits as they are.”

Selectman Eileen Hotham said, “We owe the people who have been working.”

She moved to leave the insurance benefits the way is was written and the motion passed.

In other news, Selectman Rodney Allen presented a proposal to consider buying the Oxford Networks facility for a community center and fire and rescue station.

Town Manager Glen Holmes said there is enough space for the town office as well. The board will tour the building at 2 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 29.