Passage hinges on $700K for schools

Some protest using ECS funds to ease taxes

EAST HAMPTON — In the face of demands that nearly $700,000 be allocated for education, the Board of Finance Monday deferred action on the town budget.

The proposed spending package has twice been defeated at referendum.

A small but determined group of education supporters who attended the board’s meeting Monday said it will be defeated again unless additional funding for education is allocated. But the board took no action on the budget, because both Chairman Michael Rose and Vice Chairman Richard Brown were absent, the result of medical emergencies, according to Acting Chairwoman Janine Jiantonio.

Earlier this month, the Town Council voted to allocate the largest share of a $700,000 Education Cost Sharing grant to reduce a projected tax increase.

The dozen or so education supporters argued the ECS money should be allocated for operations, because by its very name, the money is intended for “education,” and ought to be used only for education.

The ECS grant “should be used for education and nothing else,” parent Heather Philips said.

However, Director of Finance Jeffrey M. Jylkka said Tuesday, “The ECS money has been allocated to education, and, as a result, taxes needed to support the ($30.5 million) education budget were reduced.”

The board’s action meant there was “$716,000 less than had to be funded by taxes,” he explained.

Any allocation of additional funding for education cannot take place until the town has adopted a complete operating budget for the coming year. That means approving the general government budget, which would then be married up to the previously approved education budget.

The town last year adopted “bifurcated” voting, which means residents vote separated on the town and the education budgets.

During budget deliberations in April, the Republican-dominated finance board sharply reduced the size of the proposed increase in education spending.

The Board of Education had proposed a 3.73 percent increase in spending. But the finance board slashed the budget by $670,000, reducing the increase to 1.5 percent.

Central to the argument of education supporters (a number of whom described themselves as supporters of “the town,” and not just education) is the loss of as many as eight teachers.

Despite calls from some finance board members to reduce administrative staff, Superintendent of Schools Paul K. Smith said he would have to lay off that many teachers to accommodate the reduction in funding.

Smith is now seeking funding to retain three of the eight at-risk positions.

Democrat Barbara Moore renewed her suggestion Monday that the ECS grant (approved by the General Assembly in the closing hours of the legislative session last month) be divvied up, with a third going to education. She said $240,000 would accommodate Smith’s request.

Education supporters pressed for the board to adopt the proposal as a reasonable compromise.

Resident Douglas Lockhart seized upon that idea. “We need to open our ears and listen to the public,” he

said. “That’s what this great America is all about — compromise.”

Easily the most persuasive speaker of the evening was 12-year-old Hunter Soltanpanah, who will be entering eighth grade in the fall. He came before the board with an appeal for adding funds for education.

When the first budget was defeated, Smith said the town budget contained capital funding for new safety locks in the school and tablets and Chromebooks for students and teachers.

Hunter dismissed that argument.

“What’s more important to you, some locks or Chromebooks or teachers? Think about it: Do locks, teachers or do the Chromebooks teach hands on how to use grammar?” he said.

“I always thought this was a fair town. I guess I was wrong. Why would you take away the education of the people who will inevitably help you when you’re older? Do you want someone who is dumb because they were crammed into a 40-person class and learned nothing?” Hunter added.

“Don’t vote yes until the budget has a line item for education other than Chromebooks and locks. Please put in a line item to restore the eight teachers you cut,” he said.

By state law, only the Board of Education can make specific cuts in the education budget. The board of finance can set a bottom-line number but cannot dictate where the resulting cuts can be made.