WESTBROOK – The Westbrook School District finds itself in a conundrum as it enters a budget season: Less funding to work with but a need for expanded programming, and an abrupt shakeup in leadership.

The district’s pre-K school program serving 4-year-olds is one example of the struggle school officials face over the next few months. The program, facilitated through a partnership with the People’s Regional Opportunity Program (PROP) of Portland, receives wide support from school officials. The district contributed roughly $160,000 this year to support the pre-K program, which, said Peter Lancia, the district’s director of teaching and learning, has been a success, despite space limitations due to an increase in the primary school population.

There are three pre-K classrooms, each with a capacity of 17 students. Two of the classrooms are at Saccarappa Elementary and the other is at Prides Corner Elementary, Lancia said.

“Every year we do have a waiting list,” Lancia said. “I can anticipate the waiting list will continue to grow. In fact, we’re already getting calls.”

Despite the need for more space – ideas include creating a “universal pre-K” program at Westbrook Community Center or converting the superintendent’s office into pre-K classrooms – there is certainly no money in the upcoming budget for expanded programming. Superintendent Dr. Reza Namin – who announced this week that he is leaving Westbrook for a job in Massachusetts – had previously informed the School Committee that the district is facing a $3.6 million revenue shortfall.

“We need to take a look at how (expanding) it fits in the budget, which I don’t think it does,” said Ed Symbol, the committee’s chairman.

Lancia said a community group is being organized to look at the universal pre-K concept.

“A universal model would be a huge, long-term commitment,” he said. “We need to have it as a real community conversation.”

Namin has declined to discuss the specifics of his budget proposal. As of Wednesday, he said he still plans to present it to the School Committee – the first budget review meeting is scheduled for this Saturday – but he said he hopes to continue supporting the program in the upcoming fiscal year.

“As a superintendent, I support the early childhood program and believe that a district should offer early childhood education as its foundation,” he said.

Namin has warned that the School Committee and the community will have to make some “hard choices” in this budget, and that “everything will be discussed,” including the pre-K program.

“We should investigate the funding source and federal and state grants to support the initiative,” he said.

State aid is a key component of the program’s funding. Lancia said the district’s preschool students count toward the school population and therefore add to the subsidies received from the state. Westbrook uses the subsidies to pay a portion of the $160,000 cost, with the rest coming out of the budget, he said.

The school’s portion pays for space, transportation and other resources, while PROP pays the salaries of the certified preschool teachers who run the classrooms, Lancia said.

“It has been an excellent partnership,” said Louise Marsden, PROP’s vice president of child and family services.

Marsden said Head Start, a national program that promotes school readiness, funds a bulk of PROP’s expenses. PROP has reserved a certain percentage of the pre-K slots for students who are income-eligible; the remaining seats are filled through a lottery.

The Head Start funding highlights the importance of the district’s partnership with PROP, Marsden said.

“It’s a struggle to do it on your own,” she said.

The status of PROP itself is up in the air. Officials announced last week the board of directors for PROP and Youth Alternatives Ingraham are exploring a merger of the two social service agencies as a possible solution to their own budget woes.

Not everyone is fully supportive of pre-K programming in general. Symbol, who also voted against moving to all-day kindergarten, said he is “lukewarm” about pre-K.

“I’m not so sure that 4-year-olds are ready to go to a program like that,” he said. “I know studies show it does give a head start (and) from that aspect it does have some merit.”

Kate Hersom, the principal at Saccarappa, provided data showing that 96 percent of students who attended pre-K at Saccarappa met or exceeded reading and letter identification standards in 2009-10. Only 64 percent of students with no pre-K experience met or exceeded reading standards, and 75 percent met or exceeded letter identification standards, she said.

“The progress that they’re making across the board is just amazing,” she said.

Hersom pointed out that, while officials must consider the program’s cost as they review a difficult budget, pre-K helps save money down the line.

“It costs a lot of money to bring these students to the reading level of the students who had pre-K experience,” she said. “The cost of intervention also compounds over time.”