Districts Wary of Long Contracts - Expansion vote in doubt as Springs and Montauk cool on tuition deals

Legislation that would have allowed the East Hampton School District to enter into long-term tuition contracts with districts that send students to East Hampton schools has stalled in the State Senate and Assembly, according to State Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr.

"It is pending in both houses because of a lack of consensus among the districts," he said.

Montauk and Springs have decided not to support the legislation, which would have allowed contracts lasting as long as 30 years and would have opened two seats on the East Hampton School Board to members of the three largest sending school districts' boards, to be rotated among them. The two board members would have been able to vote on issues concerning East Hampton High School, more than half of whose students come from other school districts.

The abandonment of the state legislation comes at a difficult time for East Hampton, which will ask its taxpayers to approve an $89 million expansion plan in a June 21 referendum. The long-term tuition contract agreement was supposed to guarantee that the five "feeder" districts, Springs, Montauk, Amagansett, Sagaponack, and Wainscott, would continue to send students and tuition payments to East Hampton for as long as it takes East Hampton to repay the bonds for the expansion project.

Without a long-term tuition contract, the feeder districts could send students to another high school, or even build their own high school, thus depriving East Hampton of revenues from tuition, but also alleviating overcrowding at the high school. However, administrators from both Montauk and Springs said they do intend to send students to East Hampton.

"It's a delicate matter," said Tom Lawrence, the president of the Springs School Board. "We don't want to sign a contract encumbering future school boards." Mr. Lawrence said that, as things stand, Springs planned to agree to a new five-year tuition contract when the current one expires in 2008.

In January, all five feeder districts verbally agreed to the 25-year contracts with East Hampton if the state legislation were passed. However, the second part of the legislation, which would have allowed two new seats on the East Hampton School Board, the ones to be rotated, became more controversial.

East Hampton had initially offered each of the two new seats on the school board to Springs and Montauk. Later this winter, however, East Hampton changed the offer so that the two seats would be rotated among the three largest school districts, by population, which would be Springs, Montauk, and Amagansett. That change was included in the proposed legislation.

"What was going to be two seats for Springs and Montauk, came to be three seats," said Jack Perna, the Montauk superintendent. "One rotating seat on the board is just not good enough."

Mr. Lawrence said that the amended legislation upset the Springs board as well, and Wainscott and Sagaponack representatives expressed discontent at a joint school board meeting on March 1. Since Wainscott and Sagaponack have the lowest enrollment of East Hampton's feeder districts, neither of those would have any representation on the East Hampton School Board, provided that the relative proportions of the population stay as they are.

"I've opposed the legislation from the beginning, because I feel that a 25-year contract would impinge on the right a future school boards," said Dr. Dominic Annacone, Wainscott's superintendent. "Wainscott would like the opportunity to have representation considering that 70 percent of our budget is spent on East Hampton tuition," he added.

Mr. Perna said that he had always favored a centralized high school district, which would give representation to all six school districts.

According to John Ryan, a member of the East Hampton School Board, however, a centralized high school district is unlikely because it would not be financially advantageous for most of the districts. Ultimately it would increase taxes in all the districts except Springs, which has the highest school taxes. The five feeder districts would also have to raise money to pay for a share of East Hampton High School.

"It's not going to happen," Dr. Annacone said of centralization, "because no one found a way to equalize the tax rate."

Another obstacle to a centralized district is a state requirement that the joining districts be contiguous. If Amagansett, the district with the lowest school taxes, does not agree to a centralized high school district, then Montauk would be left out of the equation.

Mr. Lawrence said he hoped that the Springs School's decision not to support the legislation would not hurt the proposed East Hampton school expansion project.

"It's a phenomenal high school with phenomenal teachers with a building that isn't designed for the current population," Mr. Lawrence said. "We're just not enamored with the structure of the legislation."

Dr. Annacone agreed. "I am an East Hampton taxpayer, and I am going to vote for the referendum," he said. "I credit the district and the administration for developing a long-term plan for the schools. I just don't think that Wainscott should commit to a 25-year contract."

Despite what Mr. Thiele said, Dr. Raymond Gualtieri, the East Hampton superintendent, said yesterday that the legislation is indeed moving ahead in the Senate.