Updates from Public Meetings

School District will request capital funds from Amherst but this money won’t help close operating budget deficit At the 11/19/24 Amherst School Committee Meeting, School Committee Members and Dr. Xi discussed the need to put together a request for approximately $500,000, or half of the amount of the surplus that the Town Council held off on appropriating for roads and sidewalks on 11/18. Since the Town Council is likely to limit the use of the funds to capital requests, rather than recurring expenditures such as salaries, the proposal from the school districts will focus on that. Dr. Xi emphasized that while she intends to put together a proposal, the most helpful thing that the Town Council can do right now for the Regional Schools would be to include the additional $355,440 given to the Region last year in the base when making this year’s calculation. This, and not capital money, will help with offsetting the predicted deficit in operating costs...

Thanks so much to everyone who advocated for our public schools last night, in-person, via Zoom and by submitting written comments. Thirty people spoke at the budget hearing last night (in person and on zoom) and of those, twenty-nine spoke in support of prioritizing our public schools. It seems like the message about prioritizing the schools is starting to get through, but there are still obstacles as well as resistance.    The most important takeaway from last night is that the Town Council voted to hold off on appropriating $1 million of the surplus to roads and sidewalks in order to give the schools time to make a request for some of this money for capital needs. Below is a more detailed summary as well as some observations. The recording is available (Start at 1:30:00). The next important date will be the 12/2 6:30 PM Town Council Meeting – Between now and then we will get more information about whether the Town Council is...

The needle is starting to move on how the Amherst Town Council and Finance Committee is talking about school funding, which is great! The Finance Committee spent a good deal of the last meeting talking about school funding and debating whether it is possible to appropriate more money to the schools and change the way budgeting is done in the future.  This does not mean that more money will come to the schools, or even that some of the surplus will come to the schools, but it has become part of the conversation which is encouraging.  At Tuesday’s Regional School Committee meeting, there was an interesting discussion among School Committee Members about the budget and the Town of Amherst’s surplus and proposed allocations. The Regional School Committee intends to ask for a portion of the surplus although it’s unclear whether their proposal will come in time, given that the Town Council seems poised to appropriate most of it on Monday 11/18/24. This is why we should push...

Link to recording – 1:55:00 time stamp for discussion on FY26 budget planning and surplus allocation https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHW0I02sZQU   At the meeting, Regional School Committee Members made the following observations:  Amherst had $5 million remaining in free cash at the end of the year after obligations and most of it is going to the capital stabilization fund. As in the previous several years, $1 million is going to roads and sidewalks. This is in addition to the 10.5% of property taxes that go into the cash capital fund. It is not clear that any of this money goes to the Regional Schools.  The large surplus seems to be the result of conservative management practices for the last three or four years, and of both overestimating expenditures and underestimating revenue. This year a large portion of the surplus seems to be derived from underestimating investment interest income on money sitting in various accounts. This conservative budgeting practice squeezes the Region...

11/8 Finance Committee Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DbiWf08TEqE   The Finance Committee decided to postpone a vote on the surplus appropriations until their next meeting (next Friday 11/15 at 10:00 AM) because they first want to discuss the budget guidelines for FY26 and get some more information. If you can, watch the last 20 minutes of the meeting, starting at the 1:56:00 time stamp (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DbiWf08TEqE), but here are my main takeaways.  There is no ongoing process for the Regional Schools to get money for capital needs and the Amherst Finance Committee seems unwilling to put any additional money into the Regional Schools unless it is proportionally matched by Shutesbury, Leverett and Pelham. We need to push them to find a solution to this complication because simply throwing up their hands can’t be the answer.  There is no process by which the Elementary Schools or Library would have been able to advocate...

We have a time-sensitive opportunity for you to advocate for school funding, Friday November 8th, 9:00 AM at the Amherst Finance Committee Meeting. You can join by Zoom and make a public comment at the beginning of the meeting or send public comment via email, as below. The meeting was only announced on November 5th.  The Finance Committee will be discussing how to spend the town’s FY24 available surplus which is $5,277,426. As leftover free cash, this money can’t really be used for operating expenses, such as to pay teacher salaries, but it can be used for one-time or capital expenditures. The Town Manager’s current proposal currently allocates all of it to the Town’s capital projects savings account as well as to Department of Public Works functions such as roads and sidewalks, equipment, etc…You can see the full breakdown here.  HOW TO TAKE ACTION: Attend the virtual Finance Committee meeting tomorrow, November 8th, 9:00 AM. Zoom link: https://amherstma.zoom.us/j/85166756344 OR...

Yes, thanks to deep investigation by an SOS Amherst parent we now know the following: “In the FY24 budget, the projections slightly underestimated revenue, leading to a roughly 5.9% surplus in the Town budget (roughly $5.75 million). These monies came from various sources, including investment interest, underspending on staffing due to vacancy, and construction bids coming in under the expected amount.” Town Council and Budget Coordinating Group Hears Budget Indicators  

Video Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QkIQCAGU3lQ&t=15421s Financial Indicators Presentation: https://www.amherstma.gov/DocumentCenter/View/75345/FY26-Financial-Indicators-Projection-Presentation-1142024-FINAL-2   SOS Amherst Summary of the Meeting:   On 11/4, the Amherst Town Council, Amherst Finance Committee, Regional School Committee, Amherst School Committee and Library representatives met to view a presentation regarding the financial status of the town, and how it will impact next year’s budget.  The Town Manager’s initial projection for the Regional Schools does not include the total amount allotted in FY25 as the base for calculating the increase for FY26. It omits the additional $355,400. Based on his assessment of the town’s finances, the Town Manager is proposing a 3% increase in FY26 for all sectors of the town (municipal services, schools, library). Without the $355,440 included in the base for the Regional Schools, and with a 3% increase, the Regional Schools...

10/22/24 Amherst-Pelham Regional Schools Committee Meeting   Amherst Superintendent Dr. Xi said that the towns have indicated that the additional $355,440 allocated to the region for FY25 is likely to be included in the base for FY26’s calculations which is good news. This will by no means close the budget gap but it will certainly help.    Dr. Xi said that contrary to earlier discussions, the 6th grade move to the middle school will take place in Fall 2026 as originally planned. Dr. Xi and her staff are examining multiple scenarios for closing the FY26 budget gap, including but not limited to the possible merging of the middle and high school in one building.    She is also working with the town of Amherst to formalize agreements with respect to use of the buildings, particularly the middle school, and to negotiate new financial arrangements for these agreements. For example, the Recreation Department uses the middle school extensively and the district would like to have a more formal...