East Haven Board of Ed rejects $30 ad, sponsorship due to financial uncertainty

Some board members who rejected the ad and sponsorship purchases said they were wary of spending money on those items when East Haven Public Schools is facing an unclear financial picture, largely due to higher-than-anticipated special education costs for the current fiscal year.

EAST HAVEN — With schools facing financial uncertainty, the Board of Education is tightening its belt and opting not to sponsor an annual sporting event that awards a few thousand dollars in student scholarships.

The East Haven Board of Education recently voted to forego spending $200 on sponsoring the Chamber of Commerce’s annual Scholarship Golf Tournament, which generates $3,000 in scholarships for East Haven High School seniors.

The motion to approve the sponsorship failed on a 4-4 tie. Board members who voted in favor were Chair Michele DeLucia, Vice Chair Patricia DePalma, John Stacey and Karyn Putney. Those who opposed were Dominic Milano, Lynn Torello, Thomas Hennessey and Jennifer DiLungo. Board Secretary Erika Santiago was absent for the vote, which took place at the May 23 meeting.

The board also voted this week not to approve funds for a congratulatory advertisement in the East Haven High School Alumni Association Hall of Fame souvenir program. A halfpage and full-page ad would have cost $30 and $50, respectively, officials said.

Some board members who rejected the ad and sponsorship purchases said they were wary of spending money on those items when East Haven Public Schools is facing an unclear financial picture, largely due to higher-thananticipated special education costs for the current fiscal year.

“I definitely don’t think it’s time to make another (contribution) until we can figure out exactly what’s going to happen with the budget,” Milano said.

Torello agreed, saying, “With a deficit in our budget, we should not be spending money on anything like this.”

Milano said he would prefer to see the advertisement money directly invested into the student body. “I just think that the money can be better spent somewhere else instead of ads and things of that nature,” he said.

Had they been approved, the money for the Hall of Fame ad and Golf Tournament scholarship would have been deducted from the schools’ rental account, which taxpayers do not fund, according to district Chief of Operations & Fiscal Oversight Richard Caponera Jr. EHPS accumulates money in its rental account by charging outside vendors to use its facilities, Caponera Jr. said

Earlier this month, board members voted 4-2 in favor of being a “Pie Sponsor” at this year’s Golf Tournament, meaning the board would have had its name and logo printed on the Lyman Orchards’ apple pies that are given to event participants. But after the pie sponsorships sold out, the board revisited the item at a subsequent meeting to discuss the possibility of being a “Breakfast Sponsor” for the reduced price of $200, officials said.

Board members DiLungo and Hennessey, who voted to turn down the breakfast sponsorship, were absent for the initial 4-2 vote.

Last year, the school board unanimously approved spending money on a full-page ad for the Hall of Fame ceremony.

East Haven’s recently approved $101 million budget for FY 2023-24 includes a major boost in funding for the school district following several years in which it received only modest sums from the town. However, the 1.87 percent increase is significantly less than the district’s requested increase of 5.16 percent.

As part of its $50.6 million ask, EHPS had been seeking an additional $1.1 million in special education funding to bring “budgeted costs in line with what we’re actually seeing this year,” Caponera Jr. said at the time.