While the winter weather has cooperated with the W-H school budget in fiscal 2012, the substitute line item continues to be strained by the number of teachers on maternity or family leave, according to Business Services Director Sharon Andrew.

“We are saving on heat, but we also cut our heating budget by $95,000 from last year to this year,” Andrew said. “At the end of December with 40 percent of our time gone by, we’re 60 percent expended from the budget. We do have a lot of maternity leaves and those long-term subs work at a higher rate.”

She also presented a good news-bad news scenario regarding the district’s ranking in per-pupil expenditures.

Based on official 2011 enrollment figures, the per-pupil spending has gone up by $300 per student — but that was due mainly to a drop in enrollment and the W-H ranking is now 313 of 328 with final figures from 16 districts still unreported.

“But we’re not spending a lot of money on education at Whitman-Hanson so what is being produced with the money we have is really great,” she said.

Wednesday, Feb. 8 marked Andrew’s last official school committee meeting, but she will continue in an advisory capacity as new Business Services Director Christine Suckow takes over the reins amid the fiscal 2013 budget process.

“The budget has been tough over the last few years, but everybody I work with has been great, so I don’t want to leave people — but I’m not going to miss the budget,” Andrew said.

The scheduled discussion of the fiscal 2013 budget was postponed to Wednesday, Feb. 15 at the request of School Committee members who wanted a meeting devoted almost solely on that spending forecast.

One big question mark remains the teacher contract picture as negotiations are still under way. Step increases have already been factored into the fiscal 2013 picture, but not any cost of living increases that may be agreed to.

“The critical piece will be balancing the budget,” said Superintendent of Schools Dr. Ruth Gilbert-Whitner. “Of the big-ticket items added into the budget — the largest is full-day kindergarten. I think that’s going to have to be a decision of the School Committee in terms of whether we can move forward with that this year or not.”

About 150-175 parents attended an informational session about all-day kindergarten, held at WHRHS on Feb. 8.

Committee member Robert Trotta asked if there was any feedback from the two towns on how much support is out there for a universal all-day kindergarten program.

Gilbert-Whitner said there has been “tremendous feedback” on the proposal.

“There is a need for clarifications, some people seem to feel it’s like mini-school for little children,” she said. “There have also been concerns like, ‘Well, my kids had half-day and they did fine.’”

Others love the idea of the option of having the program without the $3,200 tuition. She said the leadership team would need direction on the issue as they work to balance the budget.

During the Feb. 15 meeting, School Committee members requested budget models with and without the implementation of all-day kindergarten — as well as what surrounding school districts offer – to help guide that decision.

Meeting notes:

• The district’s regular 10-year accreditation visit by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC) will take place March 25-28 and will involve community members, teachers, administration and students. The results should be returned to the district by June. The NEASC team chairman is from Connecticut, but most members are from Massachusetts, a good sign according to WHRHS Principal Jeffrey Szymaniak because they would be familiar with the states education laws and requirements, including MCAS.

• The high school’s program study has been finalized. Every course and its previous requirements are looked at as well as credits needed to graduate. Szymaniak was scheduled to meet with grade eight parents Monday to discuss the graduation requirements and answer questions and it will be posted on the school district Web site.

• The high school has qualified for a grant that could fund two advanced-placement courses in environmental science and English for grade 11. The courses were going to be added anyway, but the grant would help with professional development for teachers.

• Next year, Whitman Middle School plans to change the way grade eight science is taught – including a change to how classroom space is used. The classes will be relocated to the left of the main school entrance, where health and home economics classes were once located. Two classes will use a double room, with separate entrances, which will allow for combined instruction if teachers wish. Instruction will be hands-on with computer access for all students.

• WMS has just completed school-wide wireless access through the fundraising effort of the school PAC. One application is to allow small learning groups in classrooms for students requiring extra help with classwork.