Good News About Regional School Budget at Four Towns Meeting

Report on the Four Towns Meeting, March 14, 2026

This meeting was held in person in the Amherst Regional Middle School Library and was recorded. 

Present Representing Amherst
Town Councilors: Mandi Jo Hanneke (President, at large), Andy Churchill (at large), Cathy Schoen (District 1), Lynn Griesemer (District 2), Hala Lord (District 3), Ana Devlin Gauthier, and Sam MacLeod (District 5). Also, Tom Porter (nonvoting member of the Finance Committee)

Amherst School Committee: Deb Leonard (Chair), Sarah Marshall, Andrew Hart

Staff: Paul Bockelman (Town Manager) and Sean Mangano (Finance Director),

Elected officials from Amherst, Pelham, Leverett, and Shutesbury met in the Amherst Regional Middle School Library on March 14 to discuss the regional school district’s projected budget for FY27. Director of Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment Tonya McIntyre and School Finance Director Shannon Bernacchia presented the $38,845,229 budget and answered questions. 

The district overcame a projected $1.1 million budget deficit for level services by consolidating some positions and funding others through grants. Applying excess E and D (excess and deficiency funds, i.e., the annual surplus or deficit funds equivalent to free cash in the town budget) to the assessment of each of the four towns resulted in an increase of assessment to Amherst of 3.5% over FY26. Amherst’s preliminary town budget allowed for a 3.85% increase across all departments, so the regional school budget comes in about $70,000 under the town’s budget. 

The school district is only permitted to keep a certain percentage of its budget in E and D funds, and it elected to distribute the excess to each town, but keep the original amount before the reduction as a basis for next year’s budget. That amount represents a 4.11% increase over FY26, or a total of $20,555,001 for Amherst out of the $25,723,033 regional budget. 

Assessments for the other four towns after the application of the E and D funds are $1,412,324 for Pelham (7.7% increase), $1,930,644 for Leverett (3.59% increase), and $1,793,663 for Shutesbury (0.73% increase). 

McIntyre stated that the district has had a 13% decline in enrollment over the past 10 years, but students’ needs have increased. The steepest enrollment decline began with the pandemic in 2020, but the last two years have been stable. 

Of the 1,183 students in the district, 25% have disabilities, 6% are English language learners, 12% are economically disadvantaged, and 3% have multiple needs. The district is legally mandated to meet the needs of these students, but those needs are not monolithic, so multiple programs and services are needed. For instance, McIntyre said that there are 46 different native languages represented in the district. 

Although most students meet or exceed state standards in math and English language, there is a substantial achievement gap for those with high needs: a 30% gap in math and 25% in English language at the high school. Students continue to require academic intervention, social-emotional support, and alternative pathways for learning, and the district has re-evaluated staffing to meet the needs of the smaller student population through a strategic review of how services are delivered. 

How Savings Were Achieved
In order to achieve a $1.1 million budget savings, the following adjustments were made in staffing:

• The salary of one teacher at Summit Academy to be paid from a revolving fund.
  
• 4.76 positions to be shared staff with Chestnut Street Academy (Amherst Elementary School’s sixth-grade academy).
  
• 0.43 position to be paid by Title 1 grant funding, a federal grant to address gaps in academic achievement.
  
• Growth in revenue for the athletics program allows the athletic revolving fund to cover its transportation budget and reallocates $21,427 to the operating budget.
  
• Grant funding will be used to pay for a half-time counselor and a 0.6-time additional psychologist.

All reductions in staffing are to be made through retirement-based attrition. These include:

• 1.34 class teacher positions to correspond with the decline in enrollment of 175 students in the past 10 years, leaving 36 to 48% of classes with fewer than 20 students.
  
• One special education teacher for the STEPS program designed to intervene with high-risk ninth graders. This program is projected to have only three students next year, so will be provided through existing Student Support services.
  
• Two counselor positions. With only three identified students for the Bridge for Resilient Youth in Transition (BRYT) program in the coming year, there will be a regional BRYT counselor, instead of one at each school. Also, with the lower enrollment, caseloads of other counselors have been well below national recommended student-to-counselor ratios and will be increased
  
• The three currently vacant paraeducator positions will not be filled.
  
• 1.83 reduction in speech and language pathologists. Projected caseloads can be met by the 3 remaining speech pathologists at the middle and high school.
  
• Professional development activities that occur outside of the standard workday for non-salaried Central Office staff will be postponed.
  
• Full-time clerical staff will be paid for 241 days per year, instead of 261, to align with the school calendar.
  
• The reduction in staffing also saves $57,018 in fringe benefits such as health insurance and retirement benefits.

Changing needs of the student body have prompted the addition of two positions: a 0.6 time psychologist and a 0.8 time Board Certified Behavior Analyst. It is expected that expertise in de-escalating behavioral situations and supporting classroom stability will reduce the risk of costly out-of-district placements and compensate for reductions in other specialized services.

Current and Future Capital Expenses
The discussion at the Four Towns meeting centered on the operating budget for the region, but Amherst Town Councilor Mandi Jo Hanneke asked about the capital budget. Bernacchia listed the capital projects for the coming year: replacement of hot water heater, HVAC repair, roof patching, and design work for the girls’ locker room at the high school, and oil change for the elevator, update of the electrical service, a new woodshop door, and ADA work at the middle school. This year’s work totals $944,000.

In 2030, the high school roof and doors and windows will need to be replaced. The district will be applying for grants to help defray those major costs. 

Reaction of Town Representatives
Although Amherst and Shutesbury representatives seemed pleased with the regional budget presented, those from Pelham were less so. Members of the Pelham Finance Committee explained that the town was going to be funding all departments, including the elementary school, at the same level as FY26, and could not afford the added $100,000 for FY27 without voting a tax override. One official from Leverett indicated that he would support Pelham if Pelham decided to fight the increase.

The three smaller towns received larger increases for the region last year, because the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) determined that the “guardrails” that the district had used to limit the increase in assessments in the past were not allowed, and that the region had to follow the state’s statutory method, which is based on a five-year rolling estimate of enrollment, in calculating each town’s share. The guardrails method had often shifted the obligations of the smaller towns to Amherst.

Last year, getting rid of the guardrails resulted in a 23% increase for Pelham, a 14% increase for Leverett, and a 7.7% increase for Shutesbury to make up for prior shortfalls.

The Regional School Committee must approve the next year’s budget 40 days before the first town meeting among the three smaller towns this spring. The Amherst Town Council can vote on the regional budget until June 30, but usually takes it up in April or May in order to have its vote count, because only three of the four towns in the region must approve the budget.

See related:
School Budgeting Basics and FAQ (Town of Amherst)