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DeliciousThe Westhampton Beach School Board announced Monday night that it will not participate in a study with its sending districts, essentially killing the possibility of creating a centralized high school district in Westhampton Beach.
Superintendant Lynn Schwartz told the board during its meeting on September 14 that Westhampton Beach will not benefit from a centralized high school district, which would have made attendance at Westhampton Beach High School mandatory for East Moriches, Remsenburg/Speonk, Quogue and East Quogue students.
“There is no strong reason at all to centralize,” Mr. Schwartz said. “If that’s the case, I’m not sure if it’s a good idea to enter into a feasibility study.”
The study would have examined the benefits, if any, of making Westhampton Beach High School a centralized district and the only high school option for students attending the Remsenburg/Speonk, East Moriches, Quogue and East Quogue school districts. Most of those students now attend Westhampton Beach High School on a tuition basis.
The Westhampton Beach School Board did not vote on a formal resolution on Monday night. If they had agreed to the study, Westhampton Beach and four of its five sending districts would have had to foot the bill of the study, which was expected to have cost between $50,000 and $100,000 to complete.
“There’s a sense that there is no support for passing a resolution,” said Jim Hulme, the vice president of the Westhampton Beach School Board, on Monday night.
The Remsenburg/Speonk, Quogue, East Quogue and East Moriches school boards all adopted similar resolutions over the summer calling for the study. The Tuckahoe School District, the fifth district that sends some of its students to Westhampton Beach High School, did not have to sign off on the resolution for the study. Tuckahoe Superintendant Linda Rozzi said in July that her district still wants to give its students the option of attending Westhampton Beach or Southampton high schools.
Members of the Westhampton Beach School Board spent the summer examining the pros and cons of a centralized high school district for Westhampton Beach, Mr. Schwartz said. Their study focused on three areas: cost, state aid and the richness of programs offered.
Westhampton Beach would not benefit financially from a centralized high school district, Mr. Schwartz said, noting that the district would have to pay a “disproportionate amount” in taxes compared to the number of students it would send to the centralized high school. Currently, about 25 percent of the students attending Westhampton Beach High School live in the Westhampton Beach School District, according to Mr. Schwartz. That means that approximately 75 percent of high school students come from one of the five sending districts.
Sending districts now pay the Westhampton Beach School District about $18,000 per student, per year, in tuition fees. Last year, Westhampton Beach collected approximately $18.7 million in tuition payments from its sending districts.
A centralized high school district, if established, would have created a separate “high school tax.” For example, those living in East Quogue, under a centralized high school district, would pay taxes to both the East Quogue Elementary School and the centralized high school. Today, a portion of school property taxes paid by East Quogue homeowners goes to Westhampton Beach in the form of tuition to educate the hamlet’s middle and high school age students.
Centralized high schools are also eligible to receive state aid, but that aid is not enough to offset projected tax increases for property owners in Westhampton Beach under a centralized district, according to Mr. Schwartz.
“Even in year one, we found that the increased aid for the centralized entity would not offset the increased tax burden to our district,” he said. “It would be even more dramatic as the years went by.”
The Eastport South Manor School District, a centralized high school district, received a significant amount of state funding to build a new high school as part of its merger agreement. Westhampton Beach, however, would not need that kind of state building aid because there would be no need for such an expansion project.
“We have a wonderful campus now,” Mr. Schwartz said, referring to the recently finished wing at the high school. “A centralized high school would only increase the population by 75 to 100 kids.”
Lastly, the Westhampton Beach School Board examined if a centralized high school district would offer richer programing for students. Mr. Schwartz said the high school already has a diverse curriculum.
“That’s why kids come to our school,” he said. “We feel that we are operating as a de-facto centralized school.”
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Total comments by Moriches Bay: 2
Total comments by CMO: 3
Westhampton is prohibited by State Law from making a profit from sending districts. By law it is only permitted to charge for the cost of educating a student, no more. When you say the sending districts are a "cash cow" you imply ... more that the members of the Westhampton Beach Board of Education are breaking the law.
For example, if it costs the Press $200 to produce an advertisement in your paper and you only charge $200, you wouldn't consider such advertisements a "cash cow." That would not be a money maker, and you might ask why do it at all?
That same question applies to Westhampton, why does Westhampton take in sending district students at all? The Press struck upon one crucial point in its Editorial. The Board of Education controls a budget and employment opportunities that far exceed the requirements of the Westhampton community.
The question is whether that economic power is wielded in a manner that produces the best education for students who attend Westhampton?
That can best be assessed by examining how Westhampton performs on Regents Examinations compared to similar schools (The State Education Department has defined similar schools, and there is a group against which we should compare Westhampton's performance)?
How do our students perform on AP examinations, how about performance on various components of the SAT?
These are the measures that the Board of Education, Westhampton residents, and those considering sending their students to Westhampton must examine.
Westhampton BOE, how about posting this information on the District's Home page? It could be a really good advertisement.
The absence of the information only breeds suspicion, contempt, and "cash cow" comments.
Total comments by Publius: 284
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What an interesting question in light of the appearence that the School boards of WHB and EMO worked in concert to kill the merger study between CM and EM.
The question as I see it is if the sending districts can afford ... more to continue to pay what WHB is allowed to charge when other districts can charge less, and possibly produce similiar outcomes with the infusion of tuition payments from the sending districts.
Total comments by CMO: 3
This is distorted by different levels of statel aid given to districts such as ESM and CMO, making those districts, while not necessarily more thrifty, less expensive for the sending districts. Nonetheless, if state subsidies make an equal education less expensive, then that is where EMO students should attend.
I would like to see true comparisons of the respective ... more educational production of each district. That is of critical concern to taxpayers, students and parents alike.
Total comments by Publius: 284
Total comments by CMO: 3
When it comes to education, money is not a substitute for 1. motivated students who study; 2. parents who support a home life conducive to studying; and 3.teachers dedicated to delivering the best curriculum in an engaging manner.
Once you have those three in place, more money is meaningless. It is the ... more challenge to put all three elements into the same place at the same time.
Westhampton has an advantage of a reputation for delivering a good education. This attracts 1. students from EMO who are motivated; 2. parents who support scholastic achievement; and 3. is up to the Westhampton BOE to insure we have dedicated teachers.
You simply can not equate money with performance. Performance is its own measure.
Total comments by Publius: 284
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