POLAND — The RSU 16 committee Monday approved a $20 million budget for the 2014-15 school year.

The committee also signed a warrant calling for Mechanic Falls, Minot and Poland voters to attend a district meeting in May to discuss and approve the budget before sending it to a referendum vote in June.

School Superintendent Tina Meserve noted that while the overall budget has increased nearly $750,000, an increase in the state’s allocation to the district will minimize the impact on local property tax payers.

According to Meserve’s calculations, the taxes on houses assessed at $100,000 will only increase by about $18 or $19 in all three towns.

Meserve also noted that, thanks to news that the district’s health insurance costs will not increase for the coming year, officials were able to redistribute some $128,000 that they originally had set aside in anticipation that insurance costs would rise.

This meant, Meserve said, that the final budget includes putting an additional $50,000 into the capital reserve account and increasing the number of new school buses the district intends to purchase from two to the three buses state education officials initially approved.

Earlier this month, when the budget was presented in each of the district’s three member communities, town residents and elected officials suggested that more money ought to be set aside for both capital improvements and the third bus, noting that upgrading the system’s bus fleet will save on maintenance costs.

The district budget meeting is scheduled for Monday, May 12, at 6:30 p.m., in the Poland Regional High School auditorium.

In other business, the School Committee, after much discussion and four votes, decided to table action on a policy governing the use of school facilities and grounds.

The main sticking point was a provision requiring non-school parties who wanted to use school facilities to carry their own liability insurance.

Minot’s Board of Selectmen objected strenuously to the provision, stating their objection in a letter which was read by School Committee member Tina Love.

Residents Hester and David Gilpatric also approached the committee, noting that they feared two organizations they are affiliated with, the West Minot Grange and the Junior Historical Society, might be adversely affected.

The committee tabled until its May 19 meeting a request from six middle school students for $1,200 to defray their travel expenses to Washington, D.C., as representatives of Maine in the National History Day contest.

The six are Morgan Brousseau, Katelyn Dufour, Sydney Gosselin, Katelynn Green, Nathalie Theriault and Madeline Tiner.

The committee also accepted the resignation, with best wishes and regrets, of Minot Consolidated School Principal Arthur Reed.

Reed is retiring after 39 years in education, spending the past 12 in Mechanic Falls and Minot.