The Bridgehampton School District is considered unique among South Fork schools for reasons such as its robust agricultural and robotics programs, its well-known marimba ensemble, its vaunted basketball traditions, free breakfasts and lunches for all children, and the personal attention its students get from teachers thanks to a favorable student-teacher ratio.
Bridgehampton is also unique this year in that it is the only local school district that will attempt to override the New York State-imposed cap on tax-levy increases.
The district is proposing a $20.5 million budget that comes in at $1.07 million above what state rules allow. Year-over-year, it assumes an 8-percent spending increase. If the school board moves forward with the plan as outlined at a community meeting on March 10, a supermajority of at least 60 percent of voters must say yes for it to pass.
"Covid has knocked a lot of people off on their backs, but we're getting up," Ron White, the school board president, said. "We're asking for understanding. We've been very, very responsible. Some of it is stuff that we're forced to do. This is for the kids."
School officials in Montauk, Springs, East Hampton, Sag Harbor, Wainscott, Sagaponack, Amagansett, Southampton, Tuckahoe, and Hampton Bays have all said their districts will not attempt to pierce the tax-levy cap in May.
Since the tax cap was instituted 10 years ago, Bridgehampton voters have twice passed over-the-cap budgets, once for the 2014-15 fiscal year — which was approved in a June revote — and once for the 2016-17 year. If approved, Bridgehampton's 2021-22 budget will have almost doubled since the 2012-13 school year.
While still over the cap, the budget proposal has been trimmed since late January. The district's budget advisory committee, tasked with finding places to cut, recommended letting go of four "cohort teachers" who had been hired to divide up large classrooms into smaller sections in accordance with social distancing. That reduced the budget by more than $308,000.
Further reductions included reassigning two teachers as teacher assistants, laying off one teacher aide, eliminating curriculum-writing stipends for teachers, and letting go of a school safety consultant, which would amount to $190,000 in savings.
"The one thing I really want to point out is that these cuts could not happen if we stay within the six-foot recommendation" for social distancing, said Jennifer Coggin, Bridgehampton's business administrator. "If we decide that we are going to go to the six feet, we have to add on about $450,000. This budget does not have the additional cohorts in it. . . . This is basically getting back to a regular school year."
Among the increases Bridgehampton is facing is $75,000 more for electricity for the newly expanded building -- the district is almost done with a nearly $30 million renovation project. The district is budgeting $100,000 to hire a technician to maintain the new geothermal heating and cooling system. The front-entrance cupola needs to be repainted, school officials say, at a price tag of $75,000. They also say a new truck is needed to replace a 15-year-old vehicle, at a cost of $40,000. Continued custodial staffing and supplies related to Covid-19 are also included in the budget plan.
Special education expenses are likely to increase by $640,000, and health insurance is going up by about $166,000. Because of increased workers' compensation claims, the district is also expected to pay $15,000 more in that area.
School officials say they'll need $28,000 more next year to run the school's cafeteria, as food costs have gone up and meals remain free of charge to all students. The district also has to pay back about a fifth of the $40,000 it borrowed from one of its own reserve accounts earlier this year for Covid-19 needs.
Bridgehampton now has 217 students in prekindergarten through the 12th grade and 57 full-time teachers, for a student-to-teacher ratio of approximately four-to-one. There are five full-time administrators, including a superintendent, principal, assistant principal, business administrator, and director of special education and bilingual programs.
At last week's budget workshop, with at least 30 people in attendance virtually, only one person, a news reporter, asked any questions.
"We believe the Bridgehampton community is aware and appreciative of our consistent efforts to maintain a safe and healthy school environment for our students and staff," Robert Hauser, the district superintendent, said in an email to The Star on Tuesday. "The topic of piercing the tax cap is always sensitive and difficult. . . . We are confident from the community budget forum presentation on March 10 that the community will support the fiscally responsible proposed budget."
If the budget fails to earn at least 60-percent voter approval on May 18, Bridgehampton will have a few options. It could choose to put the same budget or a revised one on the table for a revote in June. It could also opt immediately for a contingency budget, also called an austerity budget, which is a bare-bones version that does not allow any tax-levy increase and places other restrictions on a school district. If the budget fails twice, the district will have no alternative but to enact such an austerity budget.
"There would have to be a considerable reduction in staff, a considerable reduction in programs, and capital projects would not be able to be funded," Ms. Coggin said last week.
District officials are planning to present the budget to the Bridgehampton Citizens Advisory Committee on Monday at 4 p.m. Their next board meeting will be on Wednesday at 6 p.m., for which a live-stream link will be posted at bridgehamptonschool.com.