“Things have not been cut — yet,” said Superientendent of Schools Dr. Ruth Gilbert-Whitner.  “We have to balance this budget and that’s going to happen, and it’s going to happen some time between now and June 30. We’re giving you the truth as we see it today.”

Last year, a $4.2 million buget gap required “every possible bit of creativity” — some unpopular moves, including outsourcing custodial services and a change to bus routes and school start times — to try to balance the budget while keeping teachers in classrooms. Six teaching positions were saved by those moves.

“I believe we are going to be heading on that rollercoaster once again this year,” Gilbert-Whitner said.

The value of all-day kindergarten and the cost containment already being done within regional school district departments were among the main focus points of Saturday’s annual school budget presentation.

Right now, the district’s per-pupil expenditure is $10,034 — placing it 303rd of 326 districts in a state where the average per-pupil spending it $13,047. Whitman-Hanson is no higher or lower than its neighbors in the region.

“The per-pupil is everything it costs to educate students, it’s not just the everyday mathbook, it’s not just a textbook for an AP science class at the high school,” Gilbert-Whitner said.  “It’s heat, it’s light, it’s water, it’s snow plowing — it’s everything.”

Principals were asked to calculate a more specific number as to how much they spent on supplies and expenses directly assisting students in their buildings.

At the elementary schools, for example, $49 per prekindergarten student is spent on actual educational supplies and $98 each in kindergarten to grade 5. The two middle schools spend $105 on educational supplies and services per pupil and the figure is $178.51 at the high school.

“Because budgets have been difficult for the past few years, this number has not increased and it’s very difficult because educational materials and resources are expensive,” she said. Many of those costs are consumable materials required by state common core standards.

One of the newer programs being fit into that equation is the new math pilot program in the middle schools in an effort to improve scores.

“It’s important we still try to give our students what they might need, in this pilot year that they have, said Whitman Middle School Principal George Ferro, who said he would rather be spending the money to improve technology access. “We tried to allocate some different monies in different areas to cover the cost of the minimal amount of materials we have now.”

Innovation is also why the district is looking toward universal all-day kindergarten.

Hanson Selectman David Soper, who supports the proposal, asked if the district had data to support the benefits of such a program.

“I’ve already heard some words and grumbling about more money [and necessity] and I think it’s a great investment,” Soper said.

Gilbert-Whitner replied that a great deal of research points to all-day kindergarten as a deterrent to dropping out of high school as students are less likely to fall behind in critical reading and math skills. If they fail to reach specific benchmarks by age 7, they are never going to get there.

“It’s going to benefit every taxpayer a lot,” she said. “Because for every child who drops out of high school, the cost to taxpayers is exorbitant. These are students who are more likely to be incarcerated, in trouble with the law.”

The state does not mandate full-day kindergarten.

Whitman Selectman Dan Salvucci — who also supports the program — asked why, if the demand has been there in previous years, the program was not implemented before now, saying he knew the answer was money. The startup cost for the district-wide program is about $700,000 with costs lowering after the first year. A grant is also being sought through the Mass. Dept. of Elementary and Secondary Education to help with the startup costs.

“I’m convinced that, down the road, our taxpayers will save money because we will not be having as many students referred for special education services and we’ll have more students graduating from high school,” Gilbert-Whitner said. “One of the biggest concerns that we have is our drop-out rate.”

Whitman Town Administrator Frank Lynam forecast that most voters will support it even as some object to another $90 added to their tax bill or object to the added time children will spend in a kindergarten classroom.

“We’ve got four adults in my house that read to the kids all the time,” Lynam said. “That doesn’t happen in a lot of households.”

State Rep. Geoffrey Diehl, R-Whitman, suggested a universal all-day kindergarten program would be a selling point for the town among people looking to move to a town based on the quality of the schools.

“They are looking,” said  Curriculum Coordinator Dr. Jill Barnhardt.

Whitman Selectman Chairman Carl Kowalski asked if there were cuts in other areas that could be made to help secure all-day kindergarten. But Gilbert-Whitner, who did say there was not a lot of room to make cuts, declined to answer unilaterally.