BRUNSWICK

Expecting steep budget cuts, the Brunswick School Department will host a forum Wednesday night to solicit public input before the School Board takes on weeks of hearings about specific budget areas.

Wednesday’s forum is scheduled to include a budget overview from Superintendent Paul Perzanoski and a public comment period.

“We’re trying to accommodate public input before we get to the point where we say, ‘This is what we’re going to do,’” Budget Committee chairman Richard Ellis told The Times Record earlier this month. “ We want to make sure that we’re considering public input prior to setting the budget.”

Based on Maine Department of Education projections of state aid for 2012-13 released earlier this month, Brunswick is slated to receive $1.2 million less in state aid than the school system’s allocation for 2011-12.

That reduction in state aid, combined with diminished revenues from other sources, led Perzanoski to project that the School Board will need to make around $ 3 million in cuts.

Ellis said that Wednesday’s public meeting will aim to identify priorities in specific areas where the school department provides instruction.

Those areas include:

— Grades K-5

— Grades 6-8

— Grades 9-12

— Special/Alternative Education

— Facilities

— Extra-curricular activities

— Other

The public forum will begin at 6 p.m. Wednesday in the town council chambers at Brunswick Station, 16 Station Ave.