The budget that has been recommended by Superintendent Ruth Whitner is $48,676,151, which is up four percent from last year.

The Fiscal Year 11 budget shows increases in the salary lines, which are contractual. Whitner said other than that, the budget hasn’t increased at all.

Whitner said the budget appears higher than last year because the cost of the furlough day the teachers, staff and administration took last year has to be added back in, along with course reimbursement and  replacement of technology equipment.

Whitner said during the budget process the district often begins with what they need and ends up with a significantly lower number.

Last year, the school district’s budget that was requested was $48,745,024.

This year’s budget is going to require the teachers, administrators, School Committee and the towns all working together, Whitner said.

Whitner said she hopes to preserve classroom instruction. Last year, this was done by consolidating positions and departments, furloughs, eliminating course reimbursement, custodians foregoing new uniforms and implementing a change in transportation.

Those in attendance at the budget breakfast meeting also discussed how the WHRSD is the largest employer in the two towns. The district issued 929 W2 forms this year for support staff, substitutes, custodians, coaches and 262 full-time teachers.

Whitner said that having over 900 people receive compensation demonstrates how big an entity the school district is in the two towns.

On Saturday, Representatives Daniel Webster and Allen McCarthy spoke on how challenging it is for towns to set up their budgets when the governor’s budget has yet to be finalized.

Whitner said that the representatives believe the governor will do everything he can to keep Chapter 70 level funded.

Whitner said the school district has contractual increases of three percent this year.

Additional revenue numbers from the state circuit breaker and regional transportation reimbursement are still undecided, she said.

During the meeting, Whitner presented the budget that was put together by principals and directors in the school district.

Knowing the economy is slow in the recovery stage, the FY11 budget is a conservative budget, Whitner said.

In the district, many salaries are paid for by grants. The estimated number is over 30 positions funded by grants representing approximately $1.6 million. Whitner said some of these positions are federal allocations yearly and some are from stimulus money. A total of $3 million (which includes the $1.6 million for salaries) is grant money

Over the last few weeks, Whitner said that the budget team has worked with the principals in the district and asked them what they would like to add. Additional positions could potentially be paid for by stimulus money. The list of needs includes: a second Spanish teacher for the middle schools, a special education teacher and an elementary teacher.

Although the Whitman-Hanson Regional School District remains committed to ensuring high quality educational opportunities to students, programs and services have been negatively impacted by the economic recession. The total dollar amount of the district’s FY 10 budget was $475,352 lower than the FY 09 budget, Whitner said.

School officials will be further discussing the budget at the School Committee meeting on Feb. 10.

“This is what we need, this is who we are and this is the budget up from last year by four percent,” Whitner said.