With gas prices skyrocketing and inflation impacting bottom lines almost everywhere, the East Hampton and Springs School Districts are feeling the crunch as they put together their spending plans for the 2022-23 school year.
During their budget workshops on Tuesday, school officials said those rising costs are causing them to bump up against New York State’s cap on tax-levy increases, which ties budget increases to the rate of inflation. This year, with that rate above 4 percent, school districts can raise their tax levies by 2 percent plus smaller increments that are unique to each one because of factors like debt payments and real estate development within their boundaries.
Throw in extra academic and social-emotional development needs brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic, and Springs and East Hampton are cautiously balancing “needs” and “wants.” In Springs, rising class sizes may be on the horizon in some grades, while in East Hampton, school principals are lobbying to be made whole after last year’s across-the-board cuts to classroom supplies. Neither district is receiving the samekinds of increases in state money that UpIsland districts are seeing, but both are trying to maintain all existing programs for students.
A challenge in Springs is that for the first time, it will have to start making the full principal debt payment on the money it borrowed for the recent $23 million renovation and expansion project. Michael Henery, the business administrator, said fuel costs could double, up to $70,000; necessary cleaning supplies and maintenance costs have increased dramatically, and three classrooms still need asbestos abatement and new flooring.
Some teachers and parents begged the school board to keep class sizes small, particularly in the third and fourth grades. Students are now divided into four classrooms at each of those levels, but the district has proposed consolidating both grades into three groups next year, possibly eliminating two teaching positions.
Children “are behind in many different ways, social-emotionally and academically,” said Joan Branche, a longtime Springs teacher. “We do a lot of work in the classrooms to address all those needs. It would be really beneficial to keep the class sizes as small as possible. Having a third-grade class with 23 or higher students, it would be impossible to really get to know the kids and to address all their needs.”
During the first budget workshop in February, Springs administrators said the tax levy may need to be increased by as much as 8.48 percent, possibly attempting to override the state tax cap. David Buda, a Springs resident who closely watches school district operations, was critical of the budget process on Tuesday. “It seems your recent approach to budgeting starts with the assumption that you . . . never will spend less than the 2-percent cap allows,” he said. “The 2-percent law is indeed a cap, not a spending mandate. I’m sick and tired of the spend-it-or-lose-it approach to budgeting. . . . The taxpayers of Springs are living in desperate times.”
Kristy Lamonda, a special education teacher who is president of the Springs Teachers Association, said that investing in the younger students now will pay dividends when they’re older, “particularly for this group of kids who had so many interrupted years due to Covid. . . . We are very responsible with what we are doing and how much we’re able to do with the little that we have. We are not spendthrifts here.”
Springs is facing down increases in the amount of tuition it pays to East Hampton to educate high-school-age students; residence checks are underway to confirm that all of those students indeed live in Springs. It is also proposing laying off most of its 11 school bus monitors, keeping only a handful to support special education students and maintain order on the district’s large buses.
Barbara Dayton, the Springs School Board president, pledged to the community that “we’re going to work hard to make things as fair as possible for all sides of the equation.”
Springs voters can expect to see a separate resolution on the ballot asking permission to build a new playground for kindergartners, which would not increase taxes because the money has already been set aside for such projects in the capital reserve fund.
In East Hampton, Isabel Madison, the interim assistant superintendent for business, called the budget situation “reality time.”
Fuel costs for buses and heating are impacting the district, she said, though she expects to see some savings on electricity because of its recent investment in solar energy equipment.
“East Hampton has been very, very lucky for many, many years. The budget has been relatively easy to put together. Starting in the central office going down to the last department of the district, people will most likely have to prioritize and ask, ‘Do we need this?’ If we don’t need it, don’t buy it,” she said.
“The next three months are going to be crucial,” she later added.
East Hampton has not yet released a full, projected spending plan. Christina DeSanti, East Hampton’s school board vice president, put it this way: “Anything that we want to add has to come from somewhere else because we’re at the point where if we raise it at all, we’re at the cap.”
Charles Soriano, the East Hampton Middle School principal, proposed a budget for the school that stays mostly flat, but outlined a few “wish list” items that included new world maps for the three social studies classrooms at a cost of $2,830. “Ours are old and outdated,” he said in an email yesterday morning. Another such “want” is workbooks for the math classes at a cost of about $1,813.
Because of enrollment increases at the John M. Marshall Elementary School, Karen Kuneth, the principal, asked for more money for curriculum materials and digital subscriptions and more supplies for reading and science instruction. She also requested a 36-percent increase for the music education budget, saying the program is bursting at the seams and that “a thorough cleaning of all instruments” will be needed by the end of the year.
For the East Hampton High School, Sara Smith, the school principal, asked for $11,200 more for the science research program, which would increase the total science curriculum budget to $54,470. She also asked for $4,347 more for the Bonac broadcasting program for the necessary audiovisual equipment. A $5,000 request for PSAT testing for ninth graders became a sticking point that school officials said they wanted to discuss in further detail before committing to it.
On the high school “wish list” was $20,000 for new tables for the rooms where science classes for special education and English as a new language students are taught. “Both are lacking adequate surface space necessary to accommodate any type of group or lab work,” said Renee McGuire, the science department coordinator. School board members seemed to think that was a good idea. Ms. Smith also requested $6,900 for a laser printer for the art and technology programs, and more money to train the guidance counselors on the new version of Naviance, a program that enables students to share transcripts, test scores, and other items with colleges.
Adam Fine, East Hampton’s superintendent, said the bottom line in East Hampton is that “we are not cutting programs, we are not cutting staff. . . . We will be in full force next year.”