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Will closing the Bridgehampton High School lower taxes?

Tuitioningout 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.

Berhalterin theirproposal 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. Berhalterthen 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 $20,000and $25,000. However, he fails to mention that these rates are for general education studentsonly. 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:

Sag HarborSouthamptonEast Hampton

Regular Ed.Special Ed.Regular Ed.Special Ed.Regular Ed.Special Ed.

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 reportfrom 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 whohave 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, Gordonteam, many of these families would like to put their children in public school but will not considerBridgehampton School. If this is the case, there could be as many as 30 additional high schoolstudents to pay for, giving a total of 90. For this example only the current high school enrollment of 60has been used. At least 15% of these students are likely to be special education students (the currentBridgehampton High School has a higher rate of special education students than this). This wouldresult 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 WainscottSchool tuitions only42 students from grades 5 through 12 to East Hampton at a cost of $1.755 million for the 2009-10budget. This is further emphasized when you consider that tuition rates for grades 5 and 6 are lowerthan 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 theseincreased costs based on existing transportation costs is $350,000 (the 2009 budget transportationcost is $723,000). This gives us a total cost of between $2.1 and $2.4 million depending on whichschool the students go to.

COSTS OF TUITIONING HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS

Sag HarborSouthamptonEast Hampton

RegEd.Special Ed.RegEd.Special Ed.RegEd.Special Ed.Est. Out of District tuition costs:$26,101$50,746$23,425$94,504$25,379$53,305

(source NYS Board of ED.)

Number of Bridgehampton High School Students:519519519Tuition Cost:$1,331,151$456,714$1,194,675$850,536$1,294,329$479,745Total Tuition Costs (Reg. Ed.plus Special Ed.):