10/22/24 District 5 Committee Meeting

Thanks to all of you who attended and spoke in support of the schools’ budgets. Parents spoke about their concerns about the schools, the changes they have seen over the years, anecdotal information about friends and neighbors who have chosen to leave our schools, and also highlighted concerns about special education programs and pushed back on the narrative that our special education programs are too expensive. We also asked questions about whether schools are being held to tighter and unrealistic financial constraints than other municipal departments.

Councilors Bob Hegner, Ana Devlin Gauthier and Andy Steinberg listened but largely stuck with the narrative that there is simply not enough money in Amherst to go around and that parents should really be advocating on a state level for funding equity. And while state advocacy is also needed, applying pressure at the town level remains important. Town Councilors can play an important role in supporting our schools by directly allocating funds and also advocating to the state on behalf of residents.