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Will Closing The Bridgehampton High School Lower Taxes?
Will Closing The Bridgehampton High School Lower Taxes?
Tuitioning out the Bridgehampton high school students will not lower taxes as Mr. Conti states. His
“analysis” is the same faulty and inadequate analysis used by him and Mr. Berhalter in their
proposal to close the high school last year. This is the proposal which was denied by the board of
education last year and which Mr. Conti and Mr. Berhalter then appealed to the Commissioner of
Education only to be denied again.
Mr. Conti states that the out of district tuition charged by the other districts is between $20,000
and $25,000. However, he fails to mention that these rates are for general education students
only. All the surrounding districts have much higher rates for special education students. The
figures from the NYS Education Department report entitled, “2008-09 Estimated Non Resident
Tuition Report” are as follows:
Out of District tuition costs: $ 26,101 $50,746 $23,425 $ 94,504 $25,379 $53,305
(The figures Mr. Conti quotes for general education are in line with those in the 2007-08 report
from the NYSED. These figures are for the 2008-09 year.)
Currently there are 61 students enrolled in the Bridgehampton High School. Projections for next
year’s enrollment is also 61, made up of 57 students already enrolled in the school and 4 new
students who have completed paperwork to enroll next year. There are an additional 18 students who
have toured the High School and are interested in attending.
However this number doesn’t include any of the children who live in Bridgehampton but attend
private schools (there are at least 60 such children). According to the Conti, Ludlow, Gordon
team, many of these families would like to put their children in public school but will not consider
Bridgehampton School. If this is the case, there could be as many as 30 additional high school
students to pay for, giving a total of 90. For this example only the current high school enrollment of 60
has been used. At least 15% of these students are likely to be special education students (the current
Bridgehampton High School has a higher rate of special education students than this). This would
result in tuition costs of between $1.7 and $2 million. (See table below.)
You can see how conservative this estimate is when you consider that Wainscott School tuitions only
42 students from grades 5 through 12 to East Hampton at a cost of $1.755 million for the 2009-10
budget. This is further emphasized when you consider that tuition rates for grades 5 and 6 are lower
than those for high school. (http://www.hamptons.com/New-Schools/Main-Articles/6803/Wainscott-
School-Board-Debates-Tax-Increase.html)
In addition to tuition costs, transportation costs will also increase. A conservative estimate of these
increased costs based on existing transportation costs is $350,000 (the 2009 budget transportation
cost is $723,000). This gives us a total cost of between $2.1 and $2.4 million depending on which
school the students go to.
COSTS OF TUITIONING HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS
Additional Savings:
Non instructiuonal staff: $89,895
Books, Paper, Computers, Materials and Supplies $150,000
Even allowing for “teaser discounts” on the tuition rates charged by the other districts it
is clear that closing the Bridgehampton High School will not result in lower taxes and is
much more likely to result in higher taxes over time.
The reason for the increase is that because we are still maintaining an elementary and middle school, all
of the fixed overhead costs of the building, administrative staff , etc must still be covered, with or without
the high school. If the population increases or other students living in the BHS district decide to enroll in
order to be “tuitioned out”, the negative tax implications are far greater. Conversely, if we keep the high
school open and the population increases we could easily absorb an additional 40 high school students
without significantly increasing the budget.
$1,795,567
Average of Sag Harbor,
Southampton and East Hampton
$1,484,059
$1,172,551
$861,042
$549,534
130
125
East Hampton: 32%
120
Sag Harbor: 16.5%
115
Southampton: 19%
110 Bridgehampton: 2%
105
100
2006 2007 2008 2009 2010
The parents and children actually enrolled in Bridgehampton School are highly satisfied with the school. The school is
continuing to improve. It offers a safe, individualized learning experience where children do not fall between the
cracks.