There is anger over proposed cuts to education in East Hampton. Teachers, parents and students packed the town council chambers Tuesday evening, demanding that the councilors send the town’s budget back to the Board of Finance.
They’re afraid the cuts would mean losing teachers and other support staff.
“They are our protectors and it’s our job to protect them," said Noelle Lavender, senior at East Hampton High School.
Lavender is fighting for her teachers, who she says have made a difference.
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“They help us not only with our education but our relationships, our social aspects of high school life which can be really hard,” she said.
When she heard her favorite English teacher might be let go due to proposed budget cuts, she said, “I went home and immediately was like. 'How we can help?'”
This resulted in a packed town council meeting with a large majority of speakers asking councilors to reject the proposed education budget which would cut about $800,000, possibly eliminating five teacher positions.
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High school and middle school students spoke out.
“If you go through with this budget cut, I can tell you scores would not be as high.” one student said.
“This will affect us since our peers who will need the help and services, won’t receive it,” another student said.
Superintendent Paul Smith says the cuts came at the request of the Board of Finance after he and the Board of Education submitted an original budget that maintained current programs and levels of staffing.
“When 75-to-80% of your budget is people, 75-to-80% of the cuts are going to be people. So, we do have several teaching positions on the table to be eliminated and nobody wants that,” he said.
As a result, many people asked councilors to send the budget back to the Board of Finance. But a former member of that board says it’s much more complicated.
“We don’t get enough money every year to meet the contractual budget. So to use an analogy, it’s like maxing out your credits card and not having enough money to pay the interest on that card,” Wes Jenks said.
Two councilors voted to send the budget back, but five others defeated the motion. Outbursts of jeers could be heard from the audience.
Lavender says she wants councilors to know that cutting teachers isn’t an option.
“To cut out any one of those is like taking out one of our vertebrae. It makes us crumble. It’s not going to work,” she said.
The town council will review the proposed budget in two weeks. It still can send the budget back to the Board of Finance if it chooses, make its own changes or move forward with no changes.
