WESTBROOK – Layoffs may be a consequence of balancing the proposed Westbrook School District budget, as School Committee members confirmed this week they will be looking down the barrel of a $3.65 million shortfall for the 2011-2012 school year. But at least one school official is cautioning district staff and the public to wait and see.

A summary of the figures for the proposed 2011-2012 budget released this week shows a proposed bottom line of $41.3 million. That is $243,108 less than the 2010-2011 budget.

Despite that decrease, school officials might still have to cut close to 10 percent more from the 2011-2012 budget in order to make up for the shortfall, and School Committee Chairman Ed Symbol said he thinks the only way to do that is with layoffs.

“You don’t get to $3.6 million without a reduction in force,” he said.

If that kind of shortfall were simply passed on to the taxpayers, Symbol said, it could hike taxes by as much as 9-10 percent.

“We can’t pass that on to the taxpayer in these times,” he said.

Symbol said part of the shortfall comes from the state cutting $1.35 million in subsidies. The district is also budgeting for a possible insurance increase of 12 percent.

“Those are the two big pieces,” he said.

The School Committee held its first meeting on the budget last Saturday. There will be one more board meeting on the budget, followed by at least one public hearing, and a second if necessary before the budget gets official approval by the board on April 27. After that, the City Council will vote on it before it gets passed on to voters in a referendum on June 7.

The district includes four elementary schools, the middle school and high school, with a combined student body of 2,430 students.

As of Wednesday, only the proposed budget expenditures were available, and not the revenue amounts, but Alex Stone, chairman of the School Committee’s finance and facilities committee, confirmed the $3.65 million shortfall figure. He also confirmed the $1.35 million loss of state subsidies. In addition, Stone said, the state has informed the district that it will be cutting off Medicare and Medicaid funding for the 2011-2012 year.

“We’re being told not to budget anything for it,” he said.

A detailed breakdown of the shortfall was not available Wednesday, but City Administrator Jerre Bryant said “there are a number of contributors,” and identifying all of them has been difficult for city officials.

“I think there’s quite a bit of dated information that people are relying on,” he said.

Bryant said he is working with Marc Gousse, the interim school superintendent, and Dawn Ouelette, the city’s chief financial officer, to get an accurate picture of just where the shortfall is coming from. Bryant said he expected to have the breakdown available in time for Saturday’s budget meeting.

But he also confirmed the $3.65 million shortfall total figure.

“It looks like that’s a pretty accurate number at this point,” Bryant said on Wednesday.

Stone agreed with Symbol that, among other changes, a reduction in force was inevitable.

“There’s no question,” he said.

Stone said laying off teachers or staff is the last thing anyone wants to do, but the district will probably have no choice.

“At this point, I don’t see anything on the table that’s going to get us an over $3 million decrease,” he said.

Gousse said, however, that layoffs were not inevitable.

“We’re not there yet,” he said.

Many of the figures, Gousse said, will still need to be ironed out in upcoming meetings and hearings, making it too soon to tell just how dire the situation is.

“I don’t think we know what we don’t know,” he said.

Symbol agreed, saying, “The budget is a process, not an event.”