The School Committee approved Superintendent Dr. Barry Rabinovitch's $28 million proposed budget for fiscal year 2012 Thursday, with the understanding that it will likely have to refine that number following an evaluation of the proposed town and school budgets by a newly-formed ad hoc budget committee.

"Hopefully we can all come out of there with an agreement on what needs to happen," School Committee member Rhonda Veugen said of the ad hoc committee, which will consist of Town Administrator Mark Andrews and members of the School Committee, Board of Selectmen, and Finance Committee. "I think we all want what's best for the town," she added.

The ad hoc committee will be charged with determining if any dollars can be shifted within the budgets to lessen the blow of decreasing state aid and limited financial resources on all parties involved. Town officials realized the need for the committee after a public meeting held last week to discuss the school budget showed that, if that budget were fully funded, a large deficit on the town side would result.

The School Committee voted for Veugen and member Geoff Swett to participate on the committee.

Following Wednesday's release of Governor Deval Patrick's cherry sheet outlining estimated state aid contributions and crunching school budget and town budget numbers, Swett estimated Wednesday that the town-wide budget could be out of balance by roughly $2.5 million.

"There is a serious problem," Swett said. "There's no question in my mind that the $2 million is just too big of a nut for this to be solved without some cuts."

Rabinovitch's budget requests the funding necessary to provide the same services as in the current fiscal year, as well as increases needed to close what he calls an "achievement gap" between the performance of Wareham students and state averages.

The School Department's proposed budget is "not pie in the sky," School Committee Chair Cliff Sylvia said. "We recognize reality, but this is a basic-needs budget. ... I am of the mindset that if there are cuts in these numbers, there's going to be pain involved."

Per the Town Charter, the School Committee must submit a preliminary budget to the Town Administrator by February 1, so members agreed Wednesday to first approve Rabinovitch's budget as proposed and then vote on a revised number once the ad hoc committee has completed its work.

The ad hoc committee first meets Friday at 10 a.m. at Town Hall. Though Andrews said at Tuesday's Board of Selectmen meeting that the meeting would be closed to the public so that its members could "lay ground rules," the Board of Selectmen has posted it as a public meeting.