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A school comparison study recently completed by Remsenburg-Speonk School Superintendent Ronald Masera—along with the pending expiration of a tuition contract with the Westhampton Beach School District—might give some parents a reason to reconsider the secondary education choices for their children.
Even though they have had the option of attending either Westhampton Beach or Eastport South Manor school, nearly every graduate of Remsenburg-Speonk Elementary School has traditionally gone on to attend the Westhampton Beach School District. In fact, the most recent enrollment data shows that Remsenburg-Speonk is paying $19,100 per general student, and $58,166 per special education student, in tuition this school year to send 172 middle and high school students to Westhampton Beach schools.
In comparison, only 10 students from Remsenburg and Speonk currently attend Eastport South Manor Junior-Senior High School, even though that district charges considerably less than Westhampton Beach—about $9,500 per general student and $43,803 per special education student. Sixteen of the 182 tuition students have special education needs.
Dr. Masera, who took over the helm of the elementary school in January after spending 14 years as principal of Westhampton Beach Elementary School, said most parents automatically send their kids to his former district because, for many years, that was the most viable option.
But a recent evaluation conducted by Dr. Masera that compares the academic qualities of Westhampton Beach and Eastport South Manor could give parents a reason to think twice about the secondary school options for their children. At the same time, the tuition agreement requiring that Remsenburg-Speonk send at least 95 percent of its students to Westhampton Beach schools after graduation expires on June 30 and, according to Dr. Masera, won’t be renewed.
“Last year, I saw a [newspaper] article about how Eastport South Manor was cited for increasing AP offerings,” Dr. Masera said, explaining why he decided to conduct his study. “I brought it to the Board of Education.”
Although they have had Eastport as an option—prior to the opening of the new high school in 2003, Remsenburg-Speonk students could have attended the old Eastport High School—many parents automatically send their children to Westhampton Beach because of its long-standing reputation as one of the best districts in Suffolk County.
But, according to Dr. Masera, Eastport South Manor has taken steps in recent years to level the playing field, in terms of academics. He noted that, over the last five years, Eastport South Manor has more than doubled its Advanced Placement classes and now offers almost the same level of programming as Westhampton Beach. Last year, ESM offered 18 such classes compared to Westhampton Beach’s 22.
Dr. Jennifer Hart, the assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction at Eastport South Manor, said her district has been recognized as one of just nine schools on Long Island to increase AP class offerings while also maintaining passing rates above 70 percent for the past two consecutive years.
Joseph Steimel, the principal of the high school at Eastport South Manor, said the number of his students taking AP exams increased from 280 in 2009 to 429 in 2011. He added that the district is looking to include two new classes next year: AP studio art and AP psychology.
It was these changes, Dr. Masera explained, that prompted him to take a closer look at the educational experiences offered by both Westhampton Beach and Eastport South Manor. After receiving the go-ahead from the Board of Education, Dr. Masera spent two weeks in February comparing the academic, athletic and extracurricular activities offered by both districts. He said both forwarded him their most recent AP and Regents results and he collected data from their respective websites regarding athletic and extracurricular activities. Dr. Masera said his study compared the districts’ Regents passing and mastery rates, AP test results, as well as athletic and extracurricular program offerings.
Looking at all the available statistics from last year’s New York State Report Card, Dr. Masera said he considered 26 different Regents exams given in both districts over the last three years and covering 11 subjects. They included: comprehensive English, integrated algebra, geometry, global history and geography, U.S. history and government, living environment, Earth science, chemistry, physics, French, and Spanish.
At a Board of Education meeting last month, Dr. Masera shared his results and concluded that both districts performed well. He noted, however, that on the 26 Regents exams that he examined, Eastport South Manor students had higher passing rates on 23 of them. In addition, he said students attending Eastport South Manor had higher Regents mastery rates on 15 of the 26 exams when compared to their Westhampton Beach counterparts.
At the same time, more Westhampton Beach students (576) took AP exams in May 2011 than their Eastport South Manor counterparts (429). The data from the same year also showed that more Eastport South Manor students (73 percent) passed the exams when compared to Westhampton Beach (66 percent). More specifically, out of the 12 AP exams offered at both schools, six results favored Eastport South Manor, five favored Westhampton Beach. Students in both districts performed the same on the other AP exam.
While both districts have identical athletic offerings, Westhampton Beach surpasses Eastport South Manor in extracurricular opportunities, offering 16 clubs on the middle school level and 37 in the high school. In comparison, Eastport South Manor offers 10 clubs on the middle school level and 26 club at the high school.
“We’re the better deal, because I think we are performing better based on that data,” said Richard Snyder, the assistant superintendent for business at Eastport South Manor. “Our spending per pupil is $6,756 less, and [our district] has more state aid, so [our] local taxpayer cost is considerably lower than Westhampton Beach’s.”
Though having more students attend Eastport South Manor could save his district hundreds of thousands in tuition fees each year, Dr. Masera said the potential savings was not his motivation to conduct his review. He said his goal was “to provide parents with an unbiased perspective” of the two districts based on the available data so they can make an educated choice about their children’s educational future.
But Michael Radday, the superintendent of schools at Westhampton Beach, pointed out that the information used in Dr. Masera’s study focused only on high school data. He also noted that some of the information was taken out of context and does not paint a fair picture of his district.
“[The study] does not account for the fact that all of our eighth grade students at Westhampton Beach Middle School take the integrated algebra Regents exam, which significantly skews the high school data comparison,” Mr. Radday said. “The same is true for Earth science where, this year, all of our eighth-graders are taking the Regents exam and, in the past, a high percentage took it before entering high school.”
All eighth-graders at Eastport South Manor are currently taking living environment and, starting with next year’s class, all eighth-graders will have to take the integrated algebra Regents exam.
“The fact that the data excluded students with disabilities and that no middle school comparative data was provided in the report was inexplicable,” Mr. Radday added.
In response, Dr. Masera said he decided to focus on the general education data for high school students because 90 percent of Remsenburg-Speonk students moving up next year will be general education students. Also, he said that his sixth-graders are making a decision on what high school they will be attending—not which middle school.
“In addition, when you examine the special education data, the results are very similar,” Dr. Masera said.
At the present time, 903 of 1,425 students enrolled at Westhampton Beach middle and high schools are attending on a tuition basis. The district also receives students from the Quogue, East Quogue, Remsenburg-Speonk, East Moriches and Tuckahoe school districts.
As part of Dr. Masera’s study, parents were also provided with information on the 2010 graduation rates and post-secondary plans of students attending both school districts. Overall, 93 percent of Eastport South Manor students and 88 percent of Westhampton Beach students graduated that year with a Regents diploma. Also, more graduates of Eastport South Manor (93 percent) went on to attend college than Westhampton Beach graduates (86 percent). The state education website confirmed the study’s figures.
The study also notes that more Eastport South Manor general education students went on to attend a two-year college while more Westhampton Beach students initially enrolled in a four-year degree program as college freshmen. Additionally, Westhampton Beach had more special needs students register for four-year degree programs, whereas more Eastport South Manor special education students went on to attend a two-year college.
“Our Class of 2011 had an advanced Regents diploma rate of 70 percent, which is indicative of our efforts to raise the bar for all students and to help each student achieve to the best of his/her ability,” Mr. Radday said.
While Dr. Masera said potential savings was not the motivation for his examination, the reality is that Remsenburg-Speonk school officials could save a bundle if even a fraction of their 36 sixth-graders decide to be Sharks instead of Hurricanes next September. Nearly 40 percent of his district’s $12.2 million budget—or slightly more than $4.7 million—for this year is set aside to pay tuition costs
“With tuition being one-third of our budget, it is a big problem for us when those costs rise disproportionately to the tax cap,” Dr. Masera added, referring to a new state law that limits the amount of money that a school district can raise in property taxes each year.
Individual school districts do not control their tuition costs; rather, they are calculated by the state using what is known as the Seneca Falls formula. Mr. Radday has estimated that the tuition rate for general education students will increase by around $600 next year, to approximately $19,750 per student, in Westhampton Beach. In contrast, Mr. Snyder said Eastport South Manor does not expect a large increase in tuition costs.
“They are pretty stable figures so, in my opinion, there’s no chance for there to be big swing in the tuition rate or the spending per pupil,” Mr. Snyder added.
He added, however, that a drastic change in state aid could result in higher tuition fees, but added that “state aid doesn’t swing that radically in any one given year.”
Westhampton Beach’s spending per pupil for the current school year comes in at $25,753, and the district receives less money in state aid than Eastport South Manor—another factor that bumps up Westhampton Beach’s tuition rate. Eastport South Manor is spending $18,997 per pupil.
Remsenburg-Speonk students are not the only ones who get to pick what secondary schools they want to attend. In nearby East Moriches, students actually have the choice of attending three different districts—Center Moriches, Eastport South Manor or Westhampton Beach—once they graduate from elementary school. And, as with Remsenburg-Speonk, most East Moriches students opt to attend Westhampton Beach.
For the current school year, the East Moriches School District is sending 242 students to Westhampton Beach, 85 to Center Moriches and 15 to Eastport South Manor. East Moriches Schools Superintendent Dr. Charles Russo noted that Center Moriches currently charges $16,383 in tuition per student. That figure jumps to $38,190 when it involves a special education student.
Dr. Russo, who said he has seen only part of Dr. Masera’s report, said taxpayers in his district will most likely continue to support giving their students three options—as long as taxes do not suddenly spike.
“It appears to me that the students in ESM and Westhampton Beach are offered more choices and the results are very positive,” Dr. Russo said. “I know that many East Moriches parents and their children choose their high school based on academics or extracurricular activities or sports, and sometimes for other personal reasons.”
