East Hampton School Committee approves FY2027 level‑service budget, 9.54% increase

The East Hampton School Committee voted to approve a FY2027 operating budget that asks the city for a local appropriation of $24,900,000 — a $2.1 million (9.54%) increase over FY2026 — and will be forwarded to the mayor and then to city council for consideration.

The budget was presented by district leaders as a "level‑service" proposal intended to maintain existing programs while absorbing unavoidable cost increases. "Our proposed budget for FY '27 includes a total of $24,900,000 from the local appropriation," said Julia Sari Franks during the presentation, citing personnel cost increases tied to collective bargaining and projected tuition and transportation cost rises. The committee moved and seconded the budget, recorded at least one abstention for a declared conflict of interest, and the motion carried.

District officials said the FY2027 plan focuses spending on core instructional services and strategic reallocation rather than creating new positions. The presentation noted that about 86.1% of the district’s budget is spent on instructional costs and that 68% of the budget is personnel. Franks said roughly $736,000 of the increase is related to personnel covered by existing collective bargaining agreements, and that the district is proposing reallocated (not new) positions to support middle‑school priorities.

As part of the package, the district proposed reorganizing Mountain View’s administrative structure — moving from four administrators to one principal, two assistant principals and a dean of students — and reallocating existing staff to establish a dedicated middle‑school STEAM teacher and to offer Spanish at the middle‑school level. The superintendent previewed a new digital literacy and civic engagement strand, referred to as the Compass Lab, intended to teach research skills, digital citizenship and financial literacy as core, graded courses in grades 6–8.

Officials also highlighted administrative efficiencies, including a new interactive budget platform (ClearGov) to increase transparency and a renegotiated copier contract projected to save $80,000 over five years; those savings are being used to fund software and other priorities. The presenters emphasized the budget is built on the projected chapter 70 state aid and local revenue streams, and that some grant funding (Title I, IDEA) is shown only when reasonably certain.

Committee members asked questions about class sizes, health‑insurance exposure through the city budget, special education tuition projections and how the middle‑school changes would affect high‑school readiness. The district said average class sizes should remain in the low‑twenties and that the middle‑school curriculum changes are structured to accelerate readiness for high‑school courses.

Next steps: with the committee’s approval, the superintendent will forward the proposal to the mayor’s office; the mayor will assemble a citywide budget that the city council is expected to consider in May. The committee also posted the budget presentation and the full budget book on the district website for public review.