Two Budgets Will Go Down

The East Hampton School Board looked at preliminary 2017-18 budgets for the district’s middle and elementary schools at a brief workshop on Tuesday at the high school. The high school budget will be presented in March.

Charles Soriano, the middle school principal, announced that next year’s plan, $122,089.42, is approximately $1,200 lower than this year’s. He asked the board to allocate that amount to the school’s art department. The board agreed. The $1,200 figure represents an approximately 30-percent increase in the art department budget.

The elementary school budget for next year also came in lower than this year’s, at $141,144. Within the new budget, the school principal, Beth Doyle, had included approximately $2,100 for a social and emotional learning curriculum, specifically designed for kindergarten through fifth grade. Ms. Doyle told the board that the program was easy to implement and would be an excellent resource in helping kids build conflict-resolving skills. The board approved  the cost, as Richard Burns, the district superintendent, said, “Anything that improves the social and emotional development of the kids is a good thing.”