E.H. Board Sees Little Excess

With scalpels at the ready, the East Hampton School Board met on Tuesday for the second line-by-line budget workshop for the 2015-16 school year, scrutinizing planned expenses of the high and middle schools. But after two-hours of discussion, cuts seemed difficult to find.

“Over the last three years, we’ve cut $5 million plus in the budget,” Richard Burns, the superintendent, said. The district has yet to release final budget figures for the coming year, and will examine budgets for the John M. Marshall Elementary School and transportation at its next workshop, on March 10 at 6:30 p.m.

Mental health funding led the discussion, with Adam Fine, the high school principal, reporting that just this week, he had spent $2,400 on psychiatric evaluations for two students, an expense offset by a private donation from someone who wished to remain anonymous. Mr. Fine hopes the board will allot $10,000 to ensure continued access to a full-time social worker and a child and adolescent psychiatrist, as needed. Last year, the board approved $5,000.

Districtwide consolidation of photocopying charges and the purchase of a wireless sound system were also on the agenda. To produce four plays each year, the district spends around $16,000 on sound equipment — not including the annual expense for graduation ceremonies at each of the three schools.

Mr. Fine proposed a $384,721 discretionary spending plan for the high school in the coming year, which is a nearly $6,500 decrease from this year. He said that following his “zero increase” directive, academic departments revealed little excess.

“Where are the bagels hiding?” Jackie Lowey, a board member, wondered.

Patty Conigliaro, the math department coordinator, explained that while her budget is down by nearly $7,000, it is likely to increase next year because aging calculators will need to be replaced.

Troy Grindle, who coordinates the music department, said some of the district’s instruments are 40 to 50 years old. “At a certain point you can’t fix them and the prices don’t go down,” he explained, noting that a $3,500 purchase of a French horn topped his priorities, in addition to replacing an aging alto sax, clarinet, and flute. 

“Last year, we took instruments out,” J.P. Foster, the board president, said. “Maybe this is a year where you try to balance it out and add a few back in.”

Though $5,000 was again budgeted for the school newspaper, Mr. Fine noted that production costs had dropped because it is published only online. He said the newspaper was still in need of an advisor and noted that Beach Plums, the literary magazine, would not be produced for the second year in a row due to dwindling student interest.

 Charles Soriano, the middle school principal, presented his plan next. For the coming school year, he proposed $121,053 in spending, a decrease of nearly $2,000 from this year.

People have been very responsible about the expectation that we don’t have an increase,” Mr. Soriano said. “Would it be nice to have additional stuff? Sure.”

The science department was the lone outlier — proposing a $6,500 increase for the coming year. However, most of that increase concerns a proposed eighth-grade field trip to the American Museum of Natural History in Manhattan. Museum admission and four coach buses are projected to cost $7,330.

“Sometimes this is what it takes to inspire a kid,” Mr. Soriano said. “To an adult, you’ve seen a lot of this stuff, but for a middle school child, it could really hook their interest.”

Board members subsequently discussed the trip’s academic value and whether students should be asked to contribute. “It seems like a luxury to me,” Christina DeSanti, a board member, said.

“If it was an hour away, it would be a no-brainer,” said Mr. Burns, who wondered whether the Hampton Jitney might be willing to help offset some of the transportation costs. “Our geographic isolation is sometimes a handicap.”

“When we’re done going through all of this, we’ll sit down with the notes that we’ve made and do a little bit of horse trading between the different accounts,” Ms. Lowey said. “Most of the real fluff is gone and now it’s a matter of prioritizing. Nothing’s approved until we get done with the whole budget.”