From the first budget workshop to the second, Springs School administrators whittled down their proposed 2016-17 budget by more than $375,000, but it was still not enough to keep the district’s budget below the state-mandated tax levy cap.

“What we have done is made reductions in the program in the overall budget that do not impact our instructional programs or extracurricular programs,” John J. Finello, the superintendent, said during the district’s March 14 budget work session.

The proposed budget stands now at a little over $28.01 million, up from the present year’s budget of $27.36 million. That $28.01 million figure would carry a tax levy of $24.92 million, or a 1.92-percent increase over this year’s tax levy. If the district were to present that budget to the community for a vote in May, it would need approval by a supermajority of voters to pass.

This year, the individual cap on tax levy increases for Springs is .13 percent, which means Springs could only increase its tax levy by a maximum of $32,570 to stay at the cap. Due to higher enrollment at East Hampton High School next year, increased spending on high school tuition alone has Springs outpacing that amount right away — not to mention other factors the district has no control over such as health insurance costs and retirement contributions for employees.

In this latest iteration of the budget, two teaching assistants’ positions would be eliminated and funding for textbooks, materials, and supplies would be cut by about $62,000. Administrators projected spending $97,000 less on out-of-district tuition and about $61,000 less on support functions that were previously completed through the Board of Cooperative Educational Services. Other cuts came in the areas of equipment, buildings, and grounds.

Liz Mendelman, the school board president, asked what it would take to get the district’s proposed spending increase to the level of the tax cap.

“We’re looking at programs,” Carl Fraser, the interim business administrator, replied. “Co-curricular activities. Some of the pre-kindergarten program costs that we are absorbing. We’re not required to have full-day kindergarten. We could look at cutting it to half-day kindergarten. There are a lot of things that could affect programs that could get us down closer to that number.”

Tim Frazier, the school board vice president, said the community needs to know what this would specifically look like.

“At this point we have to see what it’s going to look like to get it down to the cap,” he said. “I know that’s not going to be fun, going back where you’ve already cut, but at least I would like to see what it would look like. . . . I think the community needs to hear what that is, also, and that will help us make a decision as to what needs to happen.”

“We can do that, and it’s going to be extremely difficult,” Mr. Fraser, the business administrator, replied. “It tugs at our heartstrings to be able to bring that to you. It’s not going to be pretty, so please be prepared.”

The next Springs School Board meeting and budget work session is scheduled for April 11 at 7 p.m.

Catch the Goat While You Can

Saturday is the last day for a while to catch a Goat on a Boat Puppet Theatre show at Bay Street Theater in Sag Harbor. At 11 a.m. that day Liz Joyce and a Couple of Puppets will present “The Doubtful Sprout and the Secret Life in Soil,” dubbed “an underground puppet adventure.” The show is best for ages 3 to 8. Tickets cost $15.

Calculating Your Carbon

After learning about the fish in the tanks at the South Fork Natural History Museum in Bridgehampton on Saturday, 4 and 5-year-olds will work with Ruby Jackson to make fish mobiles. The program begins at 10:30 a.m.; there is a $5 materials fee.

That day at 2 p.m., families with children 6 and older can calculate their carbon footprints and consider ways to reduce them. A little advance work is required, so a call to the museum today or tomorrow to reserve a spot in the workshop is a must.

Cornbread Waffles, Y’All

Cornbread waffles will be on the menu at the Children’s Museum of the East End in Bridgehampton on Saturday during a 10 a.m. cooking workshop for parents with kids 3 to 6 years old. The cost is $19 including museum admission, $7 for members.

Looking ahead to Earth Day, Frank Asch’s “The Earth and I” will be read at the museum’s next Pizza and Pajama Night on Friday, April 1. Afterward, kids will make watercolor scenes inspired by his book. The fun runs from 6 to 7:30 p.m. and costs $10. Members get in free, but reservations have been suggested for everyone.

Music for Toddlers

Marlene Markard and the Ellen Johansen Music Studio will team up to offer a parent-child music program for toddlers at the Southampton Cultural Center. Sing With Me, an eight-week program, will run on Wednesdays from 3:45 to 4:25 p.m. through May 25. Tuition is $175 and includes class and home materials.

The classes, for children 15 to 36 months old, are designed to help build language skills, cognitive development, motor skills, and self-confidence, in addition to music appreciation. Reservations are with Kirsten Lonnie, who can be reached at [email protected] or by phone at the cultural center.

Candy Wrapper Art

Parents drowning in Easter candy may want to save those wrappers for a workshop next week at the East Hampton Library. In it, kids 4 and up will turn old candy wrappers into new and colorful works of art. The class is on Friday, April 1, from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m.

Kids 4 and older will leave a Tuesday workshop with two bars of soap they’ve made themselves. The class starts at 4 p.m.

The library has a number of movies on the schedule this week. “Pan” will be shown this afternoon at 4:30. Tomorrow at 1 p.m. it’s “The Peanuts Movie,” and next Thursday at 4:30 will bring “Open Season: Scared Silly.” Kids in sixth through eighth grade have been invited to a young teen movie night on Wednesday from 4:30 to 7. Snacks will be served.

Jelly Bean Roulette

Tomorrow is Imaginary Friend Appreciation Day at the Hampton Library in Bridgehampton. At 4 p.m. after a reading of Dan Santat’s “The Adventures of Beekle: The Unimaginary Friend,” kids will conjure up their own “unimaginary” buddy.

Ever try BeanBoozled jelly beans? Some are tasty, some not so much. Next Thursday from 3:30 to 5 p.m., the library has invited kids to play a game of Jelly Bean Roulette, tasting a range of BeanBoozled flavors as they hope for the good and not the gross.

A group of Montauk School teachers attended a school board meeting on Tuesday, as they did two weeks ago, to argue that they were working without a contract. They wore the same black T-shirts reading “Montauk Teachers Association” that they wore at the earlier board meeting, at which they encouraged the board to continue to negotiate.

On Tuesday, Dr. Laura Schilling, the president of the teachers association, read a statement reporting that the teachers’ negotiating team was to meet with Mike Krauthamer, their labor specialist, this week to review recent communications with the district’s attorney. She said the teachers were happy that the board had budgeted a $5,000 increase in the superintendent’s salary for next year, but added: “We continue to work without a contract since June 30, 2015. The message conveyed is that you do not value us, and you do not wish to compensate us in a manner that is reasonable and reflective of the budget that is being proposed.”

Jack Perna, the superintendent, quickly jumped in to say he would take a $5,000 wage freeze as he did this year, but before he could finish speaking, the teachers got up and left.

In a statement, Diane Hausman, the board president, argued that the teachers were not working without a contract because “all salaries and benefits of the existing contract, including health insurance and substantial pension contributions, continue to be paid to teachers until modified by a successor contract.” In addition, she pointed out, a majority of the teachers receive a minimum $2,700 increase annually under the step schedule of the existing contract.

Saying the board “absolutely values” the teaching staff and recognizes its value to the students and community, Ms. Hausman said the board had negotiated in earnest with the teachers union for more than 14 months in an attempt to reach a fair and equitable settlement on a four-year contract, while at the same time keeping in mind the board’s fiduciary responsibility to the taxpayers. Specific details were not forthcoming.

“We’re doing our best to work this out,” Mr. Perna said.

For the first time, the LongHouse Reserve is offering scholarships to high school seniors. Eligible students are those who have submitted work at least once during their high school years to the museum’s Student Annual or who have completed an internship at LongHouse and have “creative ambitions” in the arts, according to an announcement from the East Hampton institution.

LongHouse plans to award one $3,000 scholarship to a graduating senior attending a high school within the Town of East Hampton and one $3,000 scholarship to a senior graduating from a high school from the wider Long Island community. The museum will also award a $3,000 scholarship to a student in a post-college program pursuing graduate studies or other further educational opportunity.

The scholarship is “the manifestation of the mission of LongHouse Reserve: to encourage living with art in all its forms and to foster a creative life,” the museum said in its announcement.

Applications may be found at longhouse.org. Applicants must include an artist’s statement, two letters of recommendation, and a portfolio. Several finalists will be called in for an interview. Application materials may be hand delivered or sent by registered mail to LongHouse Reserve, 133 Hands Creek Road, East Hampton 11937. The deadline to apply is April 8.

Eggstravaganza

The Montauk Chamber of Commerce is urging young egg hunters to sign up early for its annual Eggstravaganza, which will be held on March 26 at 11 a.m. on the downtown green. There will be games, races, and prizes in addition to the egg search. Sign-up is at the chamber at 742 Montauk Highway, or at montaukchamber.com. Those late to the fun can register until 10:30 a.m. that morning. The rain date is March 27 at noon.

Cinematic Puppetry

The latest Goat on a Boat offering at the Bay Street Theater in Sag Harbor will be Puppet Kabob’s “Under the Night Sky” on Saturday at 11 a.m. The show “blends hand-held lights, illustrated paper puppets, composed music by Oviedo Menendez, and character storytelling to create a style of cinematic puppetry that flows like film,” according to the Puppet Kabob website. Tickets cost $15.

Lucky Leprechauns

Family movies abound at the East Hampton Library this week and next. The first is “Up,” which will be shown this afternoon at 4:30. “The Good Dinosaur” will be on the library’s big screen on Saturday at 1 p.m., and next Thursday it’s “Pan,” a new take on the Peter Pan story, at 4:30 p.m. Friday, March 25, will bring a screening of “The Peanuts Movie” at 1 p.m. Those sneaky little bearded folk might be spotted at the library tomorrow during a Lucky Leprechauns art program for ages 4 and up. On Tuesday, there will be a spring story time and craft project for kids 4 to 6 at 5 p.m. Spring will be in the air at the Amagansett Library as well, where an “almost spring” story and craft session for families is planned for Saturday at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m.

Minions in Montauk

Children can decorate spring-themed cupcakes to eat at home during a program on Saturday from 2 to 4 p.m. at the Montauk Library. On Tuesday from 4 to 5 p.m., the library will introduce 3-D printing to young patrons during a Make It: Minion program, which includes a short Minion movie. Next Thursday, “The Peanuts Movie” will be shown at 3 p.m., with popcorn and refreshments provided by the library.

Coloring Festa

Cittanuova restaurant in East Hampton and the East Hampton Kiwanis Club will hold their annual Easter Egg Coloring Festa on Sunday from 9 a.m. to noon. Kids will have a chance to color eggs to their hearts’ delight, and the Easter Bunny has plans to stop by. A $3 suggested donation will benefit the Kiwanis Club’s good works in the community.

Peter Rabbit a-Hopping

Peter Rabbit will pay a visit to the East Hampton Ladies Village Improvement Society headquarters on Saturday during an 11 a.m. egg hunt on the Main Street grounds. Children 8 and under have been invited to attend with Easter baskets. There will be prizes for those who find the golden eggs.

Student Art, Part Two

A reception for part two of Guild Hall’s Student Arts Festival, which features the work of local high school students, will be held on Saturday from 2 to 4 p.m. The exhibition will be on view through April 3.

“Little One-Inch”

Red Herring Puppets will present “Little One-Inch” on Saturday at 11 a.m. at the Bay Street Theater in Sag Harbor. The production tells of a tiny hero who finally grows into his oversized acts after saving his princess friend from a huge ogre. The Goat on a Boat show is best for ages 4 and up. Tickets cost $15 at the Bay Street box office.

Electricity From Lemons

The South Fork Natural History Museum in Bridgehampton will help kids answer the question “Can you make electricity from lemons?” The answer will form the basis for a number of experiments during a Saturday morning workshop on batteries for ages 6 to 8. Kickoff time is 10:30. Advance registration is required.

SoulGrow Outings

Camp SoulGrow’s next outing will be to the Montauk Food Pantry on Monday from 4 to 5 p.m. Kids 7 and up will help serve clients there.

Looking ahead to March 20, Camp SoulGrow has put out a call for kids to ride its float in the Montauk Friends of Erin St. Patrick’s Day parade. It will begin at 11:30 a.m., but participants will gather before then to line up.

Advance registration for each program must be done online at campsoulgrow.org. A $10 donation per program will help support the nonprofit camp.

An Early Egg Hunt

Easter may seem like a long way off, but it’s early this year, and the Children’s Museum of the East End in Bridgehampton will celebrate it earlier still. The museum’s annual Mad Hatter Egg Hunt, scheduled for March 19, has become so popular that it will be offered at two times, from 10 a.m. to noon and from 1 to 3 p.m. The cost is $10, free for members, and advance registration is a must.

East Hampton High and Middle School tuition for students who live in outlying districts is set to decrease next year, but kindergarten through sixth-grade tuition, affecting students from the Sagaponack and Wainscott School Districts, will go up. The impact on the sending districts will vary based on the number of students.

The 2016-17 school year will be the second in a row that high school and middle school rates fell. The general education cost for each high school student will go from $25,945 to $25,830, with a 5-percent discount for the Montauk, Springs, and Amagansett Districts, which signed five-year contracts to send students to East Hampton rather than Sag Harbor or Bridgehampton, bringing the fee down to $24,539. The base special education tuition for high school students will go from $72,493 to $71,711 and to $68,125 with the 5-percent discount. 

In Montauk, where tuition makes up about 20 percent of the budget, Jack Perna, the superintendent, estimated a savings of about $250,000 next year, given the decrease and a lower number of students attending high school. He called it “welcome news.”

Springs and Amagansett, however, are predicting their tuition costs will increase despite the tuition reduction because they will send more students to East Hampton next year. About 25 percent of the Amagansett budget is for tuition, according to its superintendent, Eleanor Tritt. The district sends 7th through 12th graders to East Hampton and expects seven more students going to the middle and high schools next year. Springs, which educates middle school students in its home district, is projecting an increase of at least 13 students going to the high school. It spends about 32 percent of its budget on tuition.

  Sagaponack and Wainscott, which send some students to John M. Marshall Elementary School, will pay $28,877 per general education student, compared to $26,729 this year. For special education, tuition will rise from $73,068 to $74,758. Sagaponack and Wainscott did not sign five-year contracts with East Hampton last year so do not enjoy a 5-percent discount.

Tuition rates are fixed by a state formula that includes teachers’ salaries, curriculum materials, and supplies, among other expenses. Isabel Madison, the East Hampton School District assistant superintendent for business, said after a March 1 school board meeting that the decreases in tuition for next year resulted from removing the costs of “lead” teachers and curriculum coordinators from the calculations, as now required by the state. “It’s kind of a balancing act,” she said.

Sag Harbor school administrators are in the midst of zeroing out every line in next year’s budget and rebuilding it from the ground up, a time-consuming process. Officials believe it will allow the district to absorb expected increases in employees’ salaries and benefits, among other costs, while staying under the cap in the amount it can raise by taxes. Sag Harbor has joined East Hampton and Wainscott in intending to stay at or under the cap.

During Sag Harbor’s Feb. 29 budget work session, spending for the elementary, middle, and high schools were laid out. They remain largely flat. However, based on a line-by-line breakdown, the district is expecting an increase of at least $399,000 in salaries for teachers and teaching assistants, which could change depending on the result of negotiations for contracts with teaching assistants, administrators, and custodians, which expire on June 30.

Jennifer Buscemi, Sag Harbor’s business administrator, said when it came to the ordering of supplies and equipment “everyone really is trying to save as much money as possible.”

“The message was from the beginning of the process we knew that the growth factor was going to be very low,” Ms. Buscemi said. “This is zero-based budgeting. This is the only way we’re going to survive going forward.”

Sag Harbor’s limit on tax levy increases is about 3.03 percent, which is higher than the .12 percent base tax cap established by the state because of such factors as increased property values and new construction within the district. However, school officials informally agreed to try to build a budget that instead stays at a 2.98-percent increase. The district has not released a full draft of its 2016-17 proposed budget yet; Ms. Buscemi said she was still developing it. Katy Graves, the superintendent, said the district is aiming for small cuts that will add up to big savings.

“Philosophically, a lot of schools go for big reductions in force or laying off employees,” Ms. Graves said. “Really the better savings happen with small captures. . . . By the end of the year it really adds up, and you’re saving great programs and you’re saving great employees that are taking care of our kids.”

Wainscott Budget to Decrease

As most of its larger neighbors struggle with budget increases, the Wainscott School District is projecting a small decrease in spending next year. The proposed budget, just under $3.04 million, which was presented at the district’s March 1 work session, would cut spending for the fifth consecutive year and lower the tax levy for the fourth.

Spending would be $27,444 lower than in the current year, or just under 1 percent lower, which corresponds to a tax levy decrease of 1.16 percent.

Notably, the proposed budget adds a full-time teaching assistant because the number of students at the kindergarten-through-third-grade school is expected to rise from 21 to 29. It is intended to be a bilingual position because the number of children for whom English is not a native language will also grow. The cost of the new salary would be offset by a decrease in the number of students Wainscott sends to East Hampton schools next year, meaning a lower tuition budget.

School officials anticipate spending $7,000 less on legal services. Busing, including transportation to other schools, is expected to cost $21,000 less. Spending on employee benefits is likely to drop by more than $9,500. The district will spend about $5,500 more on computers for students’ use.

“We’re kind of unique. Because of our size, we can make changes and reduce things, but increase the things we need to increase and still end up with a smaller budget,” David Eagan, Wainscott’s school board president, said Monday.

East Hampton Faces Tax Cap

During the East Hampton School District’s March 8 budget workshop, school officials said the current plan is to stay at or below the tax cap, which, for East Hampton, is just below .67 percent. That would amount to an increase of $329,387 in next year’s tax levy.

Mostly level spending plans submitted by Beth Doyle, the principal of the John M. Marshall Elementary School, and Charles Soriano, the principal of the East Hampton Middle School, were well received by the school board. Ms. Doyle asked for additional funding for music and science, which would be offset by a nearly $10,000 drop in spending on copy machines. Mr. Soriano asked for significant increases in math and science.

On Tuesday, the school board also heard presentations from the Country School and the Eleanor Whitmore Early Childhood Center, which are vying to be East Hampton’s prekindergarten provider next year. East Hampton went to a full-day program for the first time this year, but opened the bidding process to invite more competition. The financial details of each school’s bid remain confidential until the board votes on them, a decision that is expected in the next several weeks.

Richard Burns, East Hampton’s superintendent, said the district had not budgeted for a significant increase for prekindergarten next year; this year’s prekindergarten budget is $440,475.

The Parrish Art Museum in Water Mill recently honored 10 South Fork students among the winners of its 60th student exhibition, which took place in February.

From East Hampton High School, four students were given awards of excellence for high school seniors: Marvin Yanes Chavez for three-dimensional assemblage, Wylee Musnicki for painting, Nicole Forrester for photography, and Joffre Contreras for printmaking and mixed media.

Nissu Wang and Eric Wu from the Ross School won senior awards for drawing and illustration, as did Tina Shibano for painting. Elizabeth Hochstedler from the Bridgehampton School and Shanti Escalante from Pierson High School received senior awards for painting, and Max Micallef from Pierson won one for photography.

These students were selected from among more than 150 whose works were displayed at the Parrish last month. Neill Slaughter, a professor of visual art at Long Island University’s C.W. Post campus, chose the award winners.

To remain under New York State’s tax levy cap, the Amagansett School District would be limited to a .16-percent tax levy increase, or $14,000, in the 2016-17 school year, Eleanor Tritt, the district superintendent, told the school board as its preliminary budget was unveiled on Feb. 23. 

In order to keep expenses to a minimum, Ms. Tritt told the board, there will be no transfer to the district’s capital projects fund, a first. Subsequent to the meeting, the preliminary budget was adjusted to eliminate $50,000 proposed toward the purchase of a bus. 

“We’ve worked very hard to reduce expenditures as much as possible, to keep the levy as low as possible,” Ms. Tritt said at the meeting. “If you do that, you get to a point where you can’t keep reducing without having a strong impact on programs.” 

As of Tuesday, the deadline for the district to announce its intentions as to whether to pierce the cap, “we are over the tax levy cap,” Mr. Tritt said. The preliminary budget, she had told the board, would have the tax levy increasing by 3.47 percent, “even though expenditures only increase by .27 percent, because we don’t have fund balance left over.” 

Tuition costs for Amagansett students attending East Hampton High School are expected to total a higher-than-anticipated $2.6 million, Ms. Tritt said. Teachers’ salaries will total $4.4 million, health insurance an estimated $930,000, and retirement systems around $665,000. The proposed tuition rate for a regular education student is $24,539; for special needs students, $68,125. The current charter school tuition rate is $59,000, she said. 

Staff salaries will increase by 1.5 percent per contractual agreement. The budget has also changed to reflect a retirement that is no longer anticipated, Ms. Tritt said on Tuesday. “With staffing changes, people going out on leave, people moving, others coming in, you’re constantly adjusting the budget for changes. Also, you have situations where someone might get married and go from single to family health insurance.” 

“We’ve worked very hard to develop programs for our children to help them be successful,” she said. “Our goal is to maintain those programs.” With minimal state aid, which the superintendent called “a very small fraction of our revenue” — and even that expected to be less than initially indicated — the district can only turn to the tax levy, she said. “We have always given back the fund balance to try to keep the tax levy low. But because the tuition expense is more than originally known, we don’t have the amount of fund balance to give back.” 

The number of tuition students will increase in the coming years, Mr. Tritt said. Nine will graduate this year, while next year 16 will. “The flux of changes is so dramatic,” she said. “Many of our new students actually were not born in Amagansett, but move into the district.” In 2010, for example, “we had 15 new additional tuition students from October to November. It’s the kind of situation we have to accommodate.”