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Community Corner

Springs Parents: School Runs on a 'Shoestring Budget' Already

They don't think the proposed budget is perfect, but it's better than making major cuts.

It's no surprise that the Springs School parents want a "yes" vote for the budget on May 17.

After the with East Hampton, the Springs School Board of Education decided to put up a that would and cut nothing.

Parents seem to support the budget because they do not want to see school programming cut at the expense of the children.  

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Parent Colleen Curtin said, "I think we need to take care of our kids and teachers. What is more valuable than our kids and teachers?”

Parents put extra community value on the school. Kate Mueth, a Springs parent, said, “We haven’t moved because our son is so happy here. This is a great community.”

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These parents said Springs does so much with so little. Michelle Grant, a Springs parent and teacher at a neighboring school, said, “I continue to see how much we do with so little" compared to other schools.

“I think Springs is on a shoestring budget. There is nothing extra. It is bare bones,” said Mary McPartland, a member of the PTA.

While they are parents, they are also homeowners and said they strapped for cash like everyone else.

“Even though [our family] cannot spare a dime, there is no way the school can operate on a contingency budget,” McPartland said. “We also do not want the school to under-prepare its children.”

Some parents think that those who want to vote "no" or wished there were more budget cuts should have attended the meetings.

Grant, a member of the PTA, said, “The board has been more than transparent in all of this. When it came down to the agreement with East Hampton, no one said, 'I still want you to take this out.' The board listened to the community that spoke, so I think the board did a good job.”

“They shouldn’t be throwing stones when they haven’t been apart of the process,” Mueth said.

McPartland and Grant both want to squash misinformation about the budget. McPartland said that it seems the other side does not realize the contingency budget is still a 4.3 percent increase compared to the 5.8 percent of the current budget.

Grant said giving a good education to Springs children keeps home values high.

Although Grant thought the board did a good job, she would have preferred a couple of cuts. “They put out a list of potential things they could look at—they decided to not take anything out” once money was saved on the tuition agreement. She listed a couple of the cuts she did not want: academic enrichment and teaching assistants in the younger grades.

Overall, McPartland said, “I would like to see more relief from the tuition. On the surface it appears to be the way to resolve the budget crisis.”

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