DIXFIELD — Warrants for the annual RSU 10 budget vote were signed Monday night and will be distributed to the 12 member towns.

The board OK’d a budget of $35,145,068, which is 3 percent more than this year.

At Monday’s meeting, the board reinstated a full-time physical education teacher position and eliminated a co-director of special education services. The changes were already included in the proposed budget.

Superintendent Tom Ward said at the previous meeting that the physical education position was important because of the increase in obesity among young people. He said the reinstatement also more fairly equalizes the number of such positions in each of the three high schools in Rumford, Dixfield and Buckfield.

Two people have served as co-directors of special education since the beginning of the merged district three years ago. With the resignation of co-director Paula Leavitt, co-director Clarissa Farrington was named director of the program.

She will bring a restructuring plan for the administration of special education services to a later board meeting.

In all, the board cut more than 30 positions to arrive at the proposed 2012-13 budget.

Residents will vote on the budget at 6:30 p.m. May 30 in the Muskie Auditorium of Mountain Valley High School in Rumford. They will validate the final budget in individual town referendums June 12.

Public hearings are being held three evenings at three locations for the convenience of residents of the 12 towns:  Buckfield, Hartford, Sumner, Dixfield, Canton, Carthage, Peru, Rumford Mexico, Byron, Roxbury and Hanover.

The hearings are scheduled for:

* May 22 at 6:30 p.m. at the Buckfield Town Office.

* May 23 at 6:30 p.m. at Dirigo High School in Dixfield.

* May 24 at 6:30 p.m. at the Mexico Town Office.

In other matters at Monday’s meeting, the graduating classes at the three high schools were granted permission to attend overnight Project Graduation trips.

Mountain Valley graduates will leave the school soon after the June 7 graduation and travel to the Boothbay Region YMCA where a variety of activities will be offered until 4 a.m.

Dirigo High School graduates will leave soon after the June 8 graduation to travel to the Waterville YMCA to take part in numerous activities until 5 a.m.

Buckfield graduates will leave their school soon after the June 9 graduation for the YWCA in Lewiston, then the Flagship Cinema in Auburn, and then to Sparetime Recreation in Lewiston until 6 a.m. When they return to their school, parents will serve the students breakfast.

Also on Monday, the board approved two overnight trips for Dirigo ninth-graders for an Appalachian Trail experience, and one overnight trip for the Outing Club to go whitewater rafting.