School Committee, Staff, Parents, and Students Are Unhappy with Elementary School Cuts

Report on the Meeting of the Amherst School Committee, March 17, 2026

This was a hybrid meeting held in Town Hall. It was recorded.

Present
Bridget Hynes, Andrew Hart, Laura Jane Hunter, Deb Leonard, and Sarah Marshall
Staff: Tonya McIntyre (Curriculum Director) and Shannon Bernacchia (School Finance Director).

There were 57 attendees in the Town Room and on Zoom.

The Amherst School Committee (ASC) held a public forum on the FY27 elementary school budget on March 17. The committee will vote on the budget on March 24 or March 31. It must be received by the Town Manager by April 1. The Finance Committee will discuss the entire town budget at its twice-weekly meetings in May, and the full Town Council must approve it by June 30. 

McIntyre and Bernacchia Outline Budget Changes for FY27
The elementary school administration satisfied the guidelines from Amherst Town Manager Paul Bockelman and the Finance Department to hold the budget increase for FY27 to 3.85% over FY26. The extra $269,000 that was added to supplement last year’s budget was meant to be a one-time addition but will be added to the basis for this year’s budget. These two changes mean there will be an additional $400,000 for FY27 above the town’s original guidelines of a 3.5% increase. 

However, even with the extra funds and the possible savings from closing Wildwood and Fort River schools and consolidating students into two K-5 schools and a sixth-grade academy at the middle school, the budget outline presented by Curriculum Director Tonya McIntyre and School Finance Director Shannon Bernacchia contained some difficult reductions in staff, especially in special education and “specials” (art, music, physical education, library, and technology).

McIntyre said that there has been a general downtrend in enrollment over the past 10 years, but the number of students needing special services has remained constant. There are 1,045 students in the elementary schools (down from 1,150 in 2017) with 28% having disabilities and 27% being economically disadvantaged. Ten percent are English language learners. McIntyre stressed that the school system is obligated to provide the services that the students need. Also, substantial gaps remain in academic performance between those with and without high needs. She asserted that the goal of the budget process was to re-align the fiscal plan to match current realities.

Bernacchia said the current budget proposal includes the cost of living and step increases in the Amherst Pelham Educators Association (APEA) contract and the expected 8.5% increase in health insurance costs. The $30 million total represents a 6.8% increase over FY26, but with the incorporation of $750,000 in school choice funds and support from state funds for special education as well as contributions from UMass and Amherst College, the total increase for the Town of Amherst is reduced to the 3.85% guidelines. The budget also takes into account projected savings in janitorial staff and utilities from the closing of Wildwood and Fort River schools and the opening of the new net-zero Amethyst Brook School.

Major Changes in the FY27 Budget
School committee members and members of the public were quick to recognize that one-third of the proposed cuts were from reducing specials teachers, and another third from special education services. There was little support for the budget from either group.

Special Education Director JoAnn Smith justified the reduction in special education staff by suggesting that some services to sixth graders will be provided by middle school staff, and that the caseload for each special education teacher would be seven to eight students, which is within national guidelines.

Crocker Farm Principal Derek Shea noted that the reduction of three classroom teachers will still keep class sizes between 18 to 21 students. He did say that the decision to share specials teachers between Crocker Farm and Chestnut Street Academy was not optimal, but the 4.5 full-time-equivalent (FTE) reduction was needed to balance the budget. The loss of 2.5 math coaches is to be facilitated by the schools now being in the fourth year of the iReady math program. He argued that teachers are now familiar with the program and do not need the coaches to help them, which was what two of the coaches’ positions primarily did. 

Here is a list of the budget changes presented:

Reductions (cuts): 

• Clerical (1.4 FTE) – $70,000 – due to building consolidation 
• Classroom Teachers (3 FTE) – $210,000 – due to building consolidation 
• Specials Teachers (4.5 FTE) – $335,475 – due to building consolidation 
• ESL Teacher (.2 FTE) – $14,000 – due to enrollment and service distribution
• Reading/Math Intervention Coach (2.5 FTE) – $182,000 – due to building consolidation 
• Custodian (1 FTE) – $45,000 – due to building consolidation 
• Non-program SE Teachers (4 FTE) – $280,000 – Reorganization and planning a higher ratio of students to teachers
• Psychologist (1 FTE) – $90,000 – [Explanation in the book is not clear]
• Central Office Salary (1 FTE} – $13,000 – due to attrition (new hiree at a lower salary) 
• Fringe Benefits – $60,000 – reduction in benefits associated with reduction in staff
• Food Service (1 FTE) – $0 – reduction due to consolidation but because food service is paid out of a revolving fund it doesn’t impact the budget

Additions: 

• BCBA/PT/SLP (1.12 FTE) – $96,400 – Includes portion of BCBA position that Amherst will pay to the Region to share services AND additional PT/SLP needs in the elementary schools
• Library Paraeducator (.3 FTE) – $9,000 – Represents Chestnut Street’s portion of shared staff at ARMS
• Principal (.3 FTE) – $39,000 – Represents Chestnut Street’s portion of shared staff at ARMS
• Guidance/SAC (1 FTE) – $80,000 – Coordination of MTSS at Chestnut Street
• ETL (1 FTE) – $70,000 – To provide IEP coordination at Elementary Schools
• Dean (.3 FTE) – $29,000 – Represents Chestnut Street’s portion of shared services at ARMS
• Nurse (.3 FTE) – $26,000 – Represents Chestnut Street’s portion of shared services at ARMS
• World Language (.4 FTE) – $28,000 – Represents Chestnut Street’s portion of shared services at ARMS
• SE Program Teachers (.4 FTE) – $28,000 – Represents Chestnut Street’s portion of shared services at ARMS
• Preschool Teachers (1.2 FTE) – $93,000 – Addition of a preschool classroom to meet the needs of the increasing number of children who qualify for preschool
• Preschool Paraprofessionals (3 FTE) – $90,000 – Addition of a preschool classroom to meet the needs of the increasing number of children who qualify for preschool

Vigorous Opposition to Proposed Budget Voiced by School Committee
No one on the ASC was happy with the proposed budget. They questioned how each specials teacher could teach 30 classes per week, as they would need to do to teach all the students at the three schools.  At Amethyst Brook alone, there are 30 classrooms with one teacher for each specials subject. This load would require each specials teacher to teach six classes per day with a 30-minute lunch and a 40-minute prep period. Adaptive specials for students with disabilities would be eliminated. There would be no time for the librarians to reshelve books or help students outside of class time. And the tech teachers would not have time to address the tech needs of the building because they would have no free time outside of teaching classes.

A bright spot was that there are no further proposed cuts to the instrumental music program, which suffered a cut to third-grade instrumental music last year.

ASC member Laura Jane Hunter lamented that the proposed cuts only impacted students and were not distributed more evenly across departments and personnel. She said, “Our job as the school committee is to support our students first. Literally everything we heard tonight indicates to me that these cuts are going to adversely affect our students, and disproportionately affect the students who are the most vulnerable. I just don’t understand how you can present a budget to us like this where you are going against all of the central priorities that we provided to you and not make some cuts across central office. This budget isn’t going to work for this district. It’s not going to work for Amherst.”

Wildwood Principal Alison Estes responded that the top priorities of the school committee focused on roles for the administration: administrative and staff support to ensure compliance with anti-bullying and restraint policies, training and staffing to better manage the spectrum of student behaviors, building a culture of inclusion for student well-being and mental health, and support for multi-modal instruction and project-based learning. 

Estes noted the instability in the central office over the past few years, and that, “Things have to be done to help all the administrators be in alignment with our curriculum and to be sure that we are doing things that help there be continuity in our community.”

The school committee asked for a specific breakdown by school for the costs associated with each department,  specials, specialized programs, and the Caminantes Dual Language Program. They wanted to know the number of classroom teachers and counselors by building and where money could be decreased if the school committee wanted to shift funds back into specials.

Bridget Hynes stated, “From my perspective, when Allison [Estes] said what it would look like for the specials teachers, what I thought was ‘whoa, that sounds very difficult for one sole human to handle.’” She admitted that no one has a clear picture of what the restructuring will look like. 

Deb Leonard agreed. She said, “As we’ve gone through these budget changes over the years, it’s never 100% clear what is a normal reduction based on student need and what we would do regardless of a financial constraint as opposed to [with]a financial constraint. And now we’re adding in yet another layer, which is a consolidation model.”

Hynes emphasized, “The unique thing about the role of the school committee is that we’re charged to see what we need to do to continue to have an educational program that serves the needs of the students. We’re going to put forward what we believe is the budget that can work well for kids.” 

Regarding the reduction in staff and programs, Hunter cautioned, “If we get rid of it now, even if it’s an experiment, it will never come back to us.”

The school committee will continue its discussion of the budget at its March 23 meeting. 

Robust Opposition to Proposed Budget from Students, Staff, and Caregivers
The school committee heard over two hours of public comments regarding the proposed budget, all of it critical, from residents, students, and staff. Nineteen people commented at the meeting and 17 submitted voicemails prior to the meeting. Forty-one public comments, some with multiple authors, were submitted via email (see here, here and here).

Sixty-five staff members at Fort River signed a letter presented by Christine Sherwood, Ann Paul, and Anne Kornblat protesting the reduction in the math intervention program, which is a targeted program for students in general education who need more help with math that over 200 students at Fort River have benefited from in the past year.

Several students and staff decried the cuts to music and art. Jenny Arch noted that the same number of students must be served regardless of the restructuring, so decreasing staff will contribute to staff burnout. 

Instrumental music teacher Lincoln Smith said that it is “ludicrous” to consider public schools as overstaffed. He urged more financial support from UMass and Amherst College. 

Wildwood librarian Susan Wall noted that the library program was whittled down when the paraprofessional positions were cut in 2023, and then circulation dropped by 25% in the next year and it took an army of volunteers to reshelve returned books. 

Veronica Douglas, a Special Education teacher at Fort River, noted the 20% cut to special education staff. She said that those teachers help students who can’t keep up to grade level on their own and need extra help. She said that it is a joy to help them feel good about themselves as learners.

Parent Michelle Prindle said, “I’m really frustrated and tired of doing this year in and year out. Every year there’s a $2 to $3 million proposed budget cut for the regional high school and middle school, and there’s an additional $2 million proposed cut for the elementary schools, and that equals 20 positions here and 20 to 30 positions there. How many times can we cut 20 to 30 positions and still have any professionals left working with our children in the schools?”

Alex Lopez echoed this sentiment. He said, “Last year, we were talking to Town Council about a stopgap to get us here. I didn’t expect the opening [of the new school building] to feel like this, where I’m worried if my kids are going to be able to get the basic services that they’re guaranteed by law. I don’t think there’s a single one of these budget cuts that someone will wholeheartedly say will make our school better. Please figure out which students should get fewer resources.”