Disparities in Focus As Schools Face Votes

The South Fork’s school districts are beginning to finalize proposed budgets for the coming year, and some boards appear willing to ask voters to authorize going above the so-called 2-percent tax cap. As tough as this might be for some residents, it reflects the fact that in most cases there are few places to make further cuts in spending after years of forced belt-tightening. Ultimately, districts and taxpayers alike will have to wait for an overhaul of the way public schools are funded in New York State to get relief — and that could be a long time coming. 

Bridgehampton has said it will bring a roughly 9-percent tax levy increase to voters on May 17. It is anticipated that Amagansett also will seek to pierce the cap, with a 3.7-percent increase. Although all local districts will have annual balloting that day, it is not clear what the story will be in the other districts; more will be known by next week.

So far, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s tax cap has been all stick and no carrot. When he imposed it in 2011, the intention was to force local governments, municipalities as well as schools, to cut costs and perhaps to begin thinking about joining forces. From the outside, this seems to make sense, particularly on the administrative side. There is almost no plausible justification for the Wainscott School District to have its own part-time $55,000-a-year superintendent while the equally microscopic Sagaponack School District has its own superintendent, pulling down $53,793 annually. Then there is Amagansett, whose superintendent gets $188,000 a year plus a house and equipment allowance. Speculating about what would happen if districts were to merge, it’s clear that some people would lose jobs but the real cuts would most likely be made at the top. Perhaps this is why some administrators jealously protect the status quo.

More than tax levies, though, it is contrary to the very spirit of public education that some districts are swimming in money and enjoying adequate space in well-appointed buildings, while others, like Springs and to a certain measure East Hampton, are forced to struggle with growing populations and students with widely disparate abilities. As voters think about the tax hikes next month they might also ask themselves whether the time for far greater changes has finally arrived.