Where Do We Stand With the School Budgets?

Regional Budget – On Monday 5/19, the Amherst Town Council approved Amherst’s portion of the Regional Schools budget, becoming the third town to do so. (Town Council meeting recording here).

• The Amherst Finance Committee, wrote a Memo to Town Council regarding the Regional budget – this memo (and the Finance Committee meetings that led to it) contains some areas of overreach by the Finance Committee. Massachusetts General Law and the Town of Amherst’s Charter gives the School Committee, and not the Town Council, authority over the schools. It is not within the purview of the Town Council or Finance Committee to tell the schools how to operate. This memo, though, for example, says that “The Finance Committee would like to see the district work toward coordinating schedules among the two schools.” This statement, in addition to being outside the role of the Finance Committee, ignores the fact that there are numerous reasons why the middle school ARMS) and high school (ARHS) schedules do not match. The ARMS schedule is dictated by use of the team teaching model, which is a best practice for middle schools, allowing for closer knowledge of each student’s abilities and needs as well as cross-disiplinary collaboration among teachers. One of the reasons that staff and caregivers fought for more money for the Regional Schools for FY26 was to preserve the team model at ARMS. 
  
• With this budget, the team model at ARMS remains intact, with four ARMS teacher positions staying rather than being eliminated. This budget also retains two high school counselor positions that were at risk. The exact details of which other positions are restored/eliminated is not entirely clear from existing budget documents, but are likely to be clarified soon now that the total budget amount has been determined. 
  
• Compared to what it would cost to provide the same services in FY26 as in FY25 (“level services”), the Regional budget has been reduced by $812,126. 
  
• School Superintedent E. Xiomara Herman (Dr. Xi) has been clear in her responses to Finance Committee questions that the staffing plan in this budget may change – that the district is obligated to serve all students who attend our schools and to meet their needs. If enrollment in the fall brings changes in terms of overall student population or specific students requiring services, there may be positions that have to be added back in.
  
• The Amherst Town Council is working on forming a group from the four member towns of the region (Amherst, Pelham, Leverett, and Shutesbury), to address long-term fiscal sustainability in the Regional Schools. It is not clear what role district leadership will have in this process, because discussions between town councilors and representatives from the other towns have thus far not been public. The May 27 agenda for the Regional School Committee meeting lists a discussion on strategic collaboration across towns and districts, which is presumably related to this effort, so there may be more information on May 27, especially in terms of what role school leadership hope to play in the process. 

Elementary Budget

• The Amherst Elementary School Committee met on Tuesday 5/20. There was a presentation and discussion of the Elementary budget with the 5% increase offered by Amherst (instead of the 6% increase voted by School Committee). Recording here. Presentation here. 
  
• At a 5% increase, the following positions that were at risk have been restored: special education reading teacher, three special education teachers, one general education teacher, and all specials/band/orchestra teachers will remain at full time (instead of being reduced to .9 FTE).
  
• The positions that are being eliminated/reduced are: a speech language pathologist, psychologist, Crocker Farm kindergarten teacher, Crocker Farm kindergarten parapeducator, caminantes paraeducator, ELL paraeducator, reduction of special education secretary, a vacant special education teacher position, and a reduction of 3.4 FTE in Central Office. This information is based on available budget documents. 
  
• Compared to what it would cost to provide the same services in FY26 as in FY25 (“level services”), the Elementary budget has been reduced by $1,156,758. 
  
• It is important to note that the additional 1% of funding (beyond the 4% guidelines from Amherst) for the Elementary Schools is being given as a one-time bridge allocation and that the Town Council does not intend to build this total amount into the base for next year’s calculation of increase. This is based on the Town Council’s assumption that the Elementary Schools will see significant savings when the new school building comes online and the district is operating two rather than three elementary schools. School leadership, though, has continually reminded the Town Council that the Elementary School district will continue to operate a third school. The sixth grade will be operating as an independent school within the ARMS building because sixth grade is not part of the Regional Schools.
  
• At the 5/20 meeting, Chair Jennifer Shaio read a statement regarding the Town Council’s overreach regarding the schools’ budgets: “This year, after an exhaustive and collaborative process involving educators, administrators, and community members, the School Committee voted to approve a budget that represents a 6% increase over last year. This increase is not arbitrary; it is intentional, and it is a direct response to rising costs, state-mandated requirements, and the evolving needs of our student population. It is the role of this body, the Amherst School Committee, to determine what is necessary to meet the needs of the district. It is the role of the Town Council to take that determination under advisement as they shape the broader town budget. While we understand and respect the Council’s responsibility to balance competing priorities across departments, we are concerned or rather, I should say, I am concerned by the recent shift from budgetary approval to budgetary second-guessing. . .We invite continued dialogue and cooperation but I personally will continue to push back when the School Committee, the Superintendent, the Finance Director, or other district leaders, are put in a position to defend the educational needs of our community when they are challenged inappropriately.”

At the State Level:

• At the state level, there is hope that a provision to create a commission to study the equity of Chapter 70 (state education funding) will make it into this year’s budget which is not a short term solution but is a necessary longer-term step to see any real reform to the way that state funding is allocated to school districts.