Southampton residents vote down Tuckahoe school merger proposal

Southampton residents Tuesday voted down a proposal to merge their school system with the neighboring one in Tuckahoe -- the plan's second defeat in just over a year.

Last October, a similar proposal also failed in Southampton but passed in Tuckahoe.

In Southampton, the vote Tuesday was 972 in favor to 1,066 opposed -- a closer defeat than last year's tally of 693-1,075.

In Tuckahoe, residents again strongly supported dissolving their district into Southampton's, approving the merger 533-25.

The proposal needed to pass in both districts to move forward. Southampton's vote ends a push proponents hoped would result in Long Island's first school merger in more than a decade.

"We're obviously really disappointed," said Southampton School Board President Heather McCallion. "We tried to get all the information out to the community. We're just going to have to see where this takes us next."

It presents a challenge for tiny Tuckahoe, which district leaders said could soon be insolvent if a larger district doesn't take over.

"We're very appreciative of the effort the Southampton leadership put together," said Tuckahoe Superintendent Chris Dyer. "We respect the vote that the community rendered."

It represents a victory for the merger's Southampton opponents, who ran ads saying the move would raise their property tax rates without providing any clear academic benefits.

Because Tuckahoe's tax rate is triple Southampton's, a merger would have caused Tuckahoe's rate to drop by 63 percent and Southampton's to rise by 14 percent, equating to a hike of $330 on a home there valued at $1 million.

The tax hike emerged as a key issue in last year's vote. But school boards in both communities decided to try again after state lawmakers passed a bill this spring allowing the tax impacts of consolidation to phase in over 10 years.

Southampton officials held 11 community meetings this fall, trying to convince residents that the academic benefits of a merger are worth a modest tax hike.

Southampton Superintendent Scott Farina said running the districts together would be $4 million cheaper than running them separately and would allow them to expand academic programs and open a specialized school for children in prekindergarten through first grade.

Tuckahoe administrators said their district has cut a quarter of its employees over the past three years due to a shrinking tax base and rising costs.

Tuckahoe, which operates a single schoolhouse with 350 students in grades K-8, already sends its high school students to Southampton, a district with 1,500 students in three schools serving grades K-12.

Southampton administrators had said they feared Tuckahoe could contract with a cheaper district if a merger failed, resulting in the loss of about 150 high school students and more than $3 million in annual tuition.

Tuckahoe School Board chairman Robert Grisnik declined to discuss the district's path forward Tuesday night.