FLEET UPGRADE: School Committee members and other local officials got the chance Saturday to look over First Student’s new 84-student bus — part of an update of the company’s fleet. The contract with Whitman-Hanson Schools demands the buses be kept under a certain age, but delivery was delayed by the manufacturer, RMV registration and state inspection requirements. Fines were built into the contract if the buses were not replaced and the school district does not own the buses. They will start to be used in the next two to three weeks.

A “very conservative” school budget draft for fiscal 2013 is proposing a total of $45,418,970 to operate district schools — including a universal all-day kindergarten program — representing an increase of $2,307,930 or 5.53 percent over the current operating budget.

“[This] is just a beginning,” said Superintendent of Schools Dr. Rught Gilbert-Whitner. “It is the beginning of what the FY 2013 budget is going to look like.”

She characterized the budget as a living document and compared explaining the difference between a budget increase and a school assessment increase to explaining advanced placement calculus because a regional school district is a unique entity.

For example, last year, the fiscal 2012 operating budget decreased .83 percent while the towns’ assessments, in accordance with the regional agreement, increased by 3 percent.

Town officials from Whitman and Hanson met with school committee members Saturday morning for the annual district budget presentation. The session is designed to allow selectmen, town administrators and finance committee members to hear department presenations and ask questions.

“What you are going to hear this morning is a very conservative budget,” Gilbert-Whitner said. “We’ve been very mindful of revenue as we put this budget together.” An electronic version of the presentation is available on the school district Web site whrsd.org.

Key factors involved in the budget preparation included a decrease in enrollment, in part due to a low birth rate. At the same time, nearly 18 percent of the district’s students are classified as low income and qualify for reduced or free lunch. Most of those students are attending Conley and Duval schools where as many as 20 percent of students are low income.

Those economic realities have an effect on costs that are not always reimbursed by state or federal aid, even while schools are required by statute such as state-mandated sheltered English immersion for ESL students. Federal reimbursement doesn’t kick in until a district serves 100 or more such students — Whitman-Hanson now serves 17.

“They are going to demand more resources if we are going to guaranteee they graduate from high school,” she said of the needs of low-income students generally. There are also more special needs students in need of specific services, including an increase in students on the autism spectrum.

State representatives Daniel Webster, R-Hanson, and Geoffrey Diehl, R-Whitman, also attended to provide a snapshot of the state budget as it relates to cities and towns as well as to field questions from local offcials.

“We’re at the very beginning of the budget process as you well know,” Webster said, who expressed lingering concerns over the state’s economic health.While Gov. Deval Patrick released his budget proposal of $32.3 billion — a 3-percent increase — last week, the House will not present its budget until April, followed by the state Senate in May. A joint conference committee will meet to merge the proposals by June for the full General Court’s vote. True local aid figures will not be avialable until that process concludes.

“Local aid is one of my top priorities and will continue to be so,” Webster said adding that looking for an increase over last year’s local aid would be an “unrealistic” expectation. “There’s already been rumors that local aid’s on the table. It’s possible that there may be cuts. It’s good news that the governor level funded local aid in his budget … it makes it harder for the House and the Senate to turn around and make cuts.”

Whitman Selectman Daniel Salvucci, who also represents his town on the South Shore Vo-Tech School Committee, asked the representatives if there was any chance the budget process could be done quicker to provide an earlier local aid figure for municipalties. At least one of the Vo-Tech sending towns holds town meeting in February or March and therefore has to budget based on the governor’s budget. Diehl replied the House Ways and Means Committee, on which he and Webster serve, should have an idea of legislative spending priorities.

“The Republican Caucus has put forward a request each year to make local aid reporting much sooner … that hasn’t really gone through,” Diehl said.

The representatives also discussed school officials’ concerns regarding the impact of charter schools on Chapter 70 funds.

“They definitely have a place,” Diehl said about charter schools. “But we have to stop expanding charter schools or we’ll create almost a dual school system, and bring those best practices into our public school system.”

Town officials attending were: Whitman Town Adminstrator Frank Lynam and selectmen Carl Kowalski and Salvucci; Hanson Town Administrator René Read; selectmen Steve Amico, James Egan, Richard Flynn and David Soper and Finance Committee members Pepper Santalucia, Michael Wojdag and Stephen McKinnon