Residents want $31.7M schools budget to be left intact

EAST HAMPTON >> The Board of Finance began its consideration of the 2017-18 budget this week with earnest requests from a number of residents that it forward the $31.7 million education budget to residents without making any reductions.

But that appears unlikely, given the uncertainty that surrounds the budget-making process, not just in East Hampton but across the state.

At the suggestion of newly elected Chairman Mark Lambert, the finance board only intended to review and discuss the outlines of the proposed budget without taking any votes. In large part, Lambert said, that was because the board continues to wrestle with uncertainty about the level of state aid born of the continuing inaction of the General Assembly

in dealing with the state’s budget crisis.

The town faces the potential loss of $1.6 million in Education Cost Sharing and special education funding and the possibility of having to take on an additional $1.6 million as its share of the teacher pension fund, under proposals outlined by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy.

Lambert, who had been vice chairman, was elected chairman Monday, replacing Allison M. Tokarz, who resigned from the board in late February.

Even as a half-dozen parents called for leaving the school budget intact, Republican finance board members Alannah Coshow and Stephen Ritchie outlined a series of proposed reductions in both the education and general government budgets. The proposed cuts include reducing education by $272,000 to $100,000 — which could and should come from reducing health insurance costs, Ritchie said.

The reductions he and Coshow outlined also call for reducing general government by $44,358 and capital improvements by $15,000.

One proposed reduction in school spending encountered push-back from Superintendent of Schools Paul F. Smith, who said it would affect an effort to enhance classroom security. Smith said the money would be used to complete work that was supposed to be have been accomplished in the wake of the Sandy Hook shootings.

The fact the work hasn’t been done — and might not if the reduction is enacted — “scared the hell out of me,” resident Manda Heltke said.

As he read off the list of proposed cuts, Ritchie said, “I think that’s painful to everyone.”

His colleague, Democrat Alan Hurst, picked up on that theme.

“We’re trying to do what’s best for everyone,” Hurst said. “And if everyone is a little bit unhappy, then maybe we’re doing the right thing.”

But Hurst was at pains to reject contention from some education advocates that the board is trying to mollify senior citizens — many of whom are on fixed incomes — at the expense of schoolchildren.

“The Board of Education budget is $31 million,” Hurst said, while the budget for the Senior Center “is $117,000. That’s hardly “on the backs of children.”

But more to the point, Hurst said he was anxious to avoid the “we and they, us vs. them” mentality that led to often harsh battles in the recent past — even as he pointed out that 1,300 people, nearly a 10th of the town’s population, are enrolled in the senior center.

Without meaning to, the board struck a nerve with a Board of Education member over the continuing legal wrangle involving the schools and Town Council about who has the right to fill BOE vacancies.

The two boards have been at odds since November 2015 over the issue.

Coshow called for reducing funding to bring the matter to an end.

“Let’s stop the silliness and come to some sensible decision,” Coshow said.

Longtime school board member Joanne Barmasse referenced the dispute as she called for the finance board to support the school proposal. The 3.75 percent education budget “represents drastic cuts in our budget,” Barmasse said, adding, “We haven’t had a decent increase in three years.”

Moving on to the legal tangle with the council, Barmasse said a charter change overwhelmingly supported the school board’s stance.

Yet, she said, some members of the council continued to press the issue. Some members of the council are “power hungry,” and are trying to regain power over the school board, she said. “That makes my blood boil,” Barmasse said, her voice rising in intensity.

When Coshow suggested both sides were to blame for the continuing wrangle, “That comment just (really angered me)!” Barmasse said.

FILE PHOTO