Collaborative Committee Proposed to Discuss School Funding

Report on the Joint Meeting of the Regional School Committee, Amherst School Committee, and Union 26, May 27, 2025

The meeting was held in-person in the library of Amherst Regional High School and was simulcast on Amherst Media Channel 15. It was recorded.

The need to address the long-term fiscal challenges of the regional schools has been recognized by the Town Council and the Regional School Committee. Both the council and the school committee proposed task forces to deal with the shortfall in funding over the past few years, which has resulted in the loss of staff positions and programs. School Superintendent E. Xiomara Herman (Dr. Xi) proposed a collaborative group of town officials from all four towns, school committee members, and school administrators, with a neutral party facilitating meetings. She said, “We are at a breaking point where, if we don’t start to do something different and have a deeper and richer conversation around funding, around programming, around what it’s going to take to run these schools, then are we even going to be able to provide the basic educational experience to our students?” 

Dr. Xi’s idea was to convene representatives with a facilitator from the Massachusetts Association of Regional Schools (MARS) in a collaborative effort to create a sustainable fiscal future for the region. She said that MARS has facilitated similar meetings for other regions and is willing to take on this task. In attending meetings in member towns, Dr. Xi noted that all want another Four Towns Meeting to discuss the region’s financial challenges. Her proposal states:

The purpose of this convening is to bring together key stakeholders from the towns of Amherst, Pelham, Leverett, and Shutesbury alongside School Committee members and district leadership to engage in a shared, transparent dialogue on the future of education funding across our three school districts. This gathering is not a presentation. It is an opportunity to come together in a neutral space around a common goal: ensuring the future sustainability and strength of our public education system. This process will serve as the foundational step in the strategic budgeting phase of our district’s Strategic Plan.

Guiding Values: 

● No preconceived outcomes 

● Unified front across districts and towns 

● Transparent collaboration 

● Shared ownership of the process and outcomes

She said that this convening is a critical step in charting a sustainable, student-centered path forward and that together, we can align our intentions, resources, and responsibilities to meet the educational needs of our communities with integrity.

School committee members had several concerns with the proposal. Jennifer Shiao (Amherst) wanted to make sure that the school committees’ responsibilities, such as the approval of the budget, not be ceded to the collaborative group.

.Deb Leonard (Amherst) said that she has many questions about Amherst’s budgeting process. She noted that at a recent Finance Committee meeting, Superintendent of Public Works Guilford Mooring stated that the DPW usually runs out of money by the end of April, so he finds the funds for the last quarter of the fiscal year in other places, but the schools don’t have other places to go for more funds.

Deb Leonard (Amherst) said that she has many questions about Amherst’s budgeting process. She noted that at a recent Finance Committee meeting, Superintendent of Public Works Guilford Mooring stated that the DPW usually runs out of money by the end of April, so he finds the funds for the last quarter of the fiscal year in other places, but the schools don’t have other places to go for more funds. She also noted the distrust of some town councilors for the schools’ needs, so that even though the Town Manager had made it clear that the freezing of six staff positions at Town Hall were not due to the extra allocation given to the schools, some councilors continue to blame the schools for the loss of those positions. 

Dr. Xi replied that the idea of the collaborative sessions is to answer many of these questions.

Tim Shores (Leverett) raised the special concerns of his town, saying that Leverett feels left out of the budgeting process. As a small town, Leverett does not have the ability to raise revenue and does not have the personnel to follow the details of the budget. He said that the town was reassured when there were guardrails limiting the increase in the assessment of each town for the regional school budget, then all of the sudden they learned that guardrails aren’t allowed. He concluded that he was very much in favor of this proposal, but said “if it implodes, I say we take that as a realistic portrait of where we’re at, and then we have to have the courage to work through it and put it back together.” He added that the district is wealthy compared to several surrounding towns, and would probably not be high on the list of school districts receiving additional aid from the state.

Anna Heard (Shutesbury) urged committee members not to readily accept the funding compromises reached at Four Towns meetings until it is clear what the agreement means in terms of loss of staff and programs.

Schools Searching for Playing Fields While Track Is Under Construction
Construction for the reoriented eight-lane track and enclosed playing field is scheduled to begin June 18. A celebratory groundbreaking will be held at the track on Monday, June 16 at 4 p.m. However, with the construction, the school will lose three playing fields for fall and spring sports next year. Dr. Xi said that Athletic Director Victoria Dawson and School Finance Director Shannon Bernacchia are looking for local fields to accommodate the school’s team. 

So far, no location has been totally satisfactory, Dr. Xi said. UMass is too expensive at $200 per hour. Hampshire College is only $80 per hour, but can only accommodate practices, not games. Amherst College lets the high school use its fields for free, but only when there are no college events scheduled.

School committee members suggested the Oxbow fields in Northampton, the MacDuffie School in Granby, and the town-owned fields at Plum Brook. Dr. Xi noted that the distant fields presented the additional cost of transportation, but Leonard suggested that the money raised by the Hurricane Boosters for the track and field could be used for field rental and transportation. Dr. Xi will convey these suggestions to Dawson and Bernacchia.

School Attorney Issues Caution Regarding Contract for Leasing Electric School Buses
Although the opportunity to lease electric school buses and charging infrastructure for the Amherst elementary schools was approved by the Town Council and School Committee, a review of the contract by the school’s attorney raised several serious issues. The contract with Highland Electric Fleets had a $1 million penalty for cancellation and high contingencies for inflation. Also, the company’s reimbursement for buses that were unable to be used due to need for repairs, did not cover the cost of the replacement buses. The attorney advised against signing the contract, and Dr. Xi said that, unless these issues were resolved, the school district will not go forward with the lease.

Public Comment
Georgia Malcom, past president of the Amherst Pelham Education Association called on the School Committee to initiate the School Equity Task Force, transforming it from an advisory body to “one that has real authority and impact” in order to address entrenched racism in the Amherst public schools. Read her full statement here.

Lamikco Magee, Dean of Students at Amherst Regional High School, reported that every Black male educator and seven of nine Black female educators at the Middle School have been accused by colleagues of inappropriate behavior. She said that we need policies around anti-racism, and equitable human resources. This will provide the superintendent with a platform around which the necessary work can be done. She concluded that the school committee has some work to do to craft policies that will address these persistent problems.

Executive Session
The school committees adjourned to executive session for roughly 45 minutes near the beginning of the meeting to discuss matters relating to collective bargaining or litigation.