OXFORD – SAD 17 officials take the school budget to the towns April 1 when they begin four days of preliminary budget hearings.

The first hearing will be held April 1 in the gymnasium of the Agnes Gray Elementary School in West Paris and the Hebron Station Elementary School.

On April 2 the hearings will be held at the Waterford Memorial School and the Harrison Elementary School.

“Anybody who wants to come is certainly welcome to do so,” said Superintendent Mark Eastman. “It’s an open meeting.”

He said the usual format has been adopted to discuss the budget committee’s proposed budget and then take questions. A presentation on the Maine Vocational Region 11 budget will also be given.

Meetings will be held on April 8 at the Guy E. Rowe School in Norway and the Oxford Hills Middle School for Paris residents.

The final two meetings will be held April 9 at the Oxford Elementary School and the Otisfield Community School.

All of the preliminary budget hearings will begin at 7 p.m.

The budget, as it stands now, is $29,832,556, which is about a 5 percent increase over last year’s budget.

The figures are not firm. The budget committee will finalize the budget on April 29 and it goes before the school board to be adopted May 5.

There is a district budget hearing scheduled for May 20 and the budget referendum will be on June 10.