What’s next and Thank you!
Thank you so much to everyone who came out on 4/13/25 to the SOS/LWV Community Conversation on School Funding – we had some great energy and lots of ideas for how to move forward and will have more to share on that soon.
Save the Date – Monday May 12th 6:30pm will be the Town of Amherst Public Hearing on the FY26 Budget
We wanted to send out an update on where we are right now with the school budgets and what comes next. The School budget requests have been made. The Elementary Schools are asking for a 6% increase over last year which would require $539,408 more than the Town of Amherst has said it would like to give. The Regional Schools are asking for a 4.81% increase, which would require 152,136 more than the Town of Amherst has said it would like to give. The Town of Amherst’s Financial Guidelines suggest a 4% increase for all sectors of town (schools, library, municipal services). The Region is asking for 4.81% and the Elementary Schools, 6%. The Town Manager has said that in order to give more money to the schools he would have to make cuts to his own staff, but it is not clear that this would actually happen – The Town Manager has ended each of the last five years with $1.5 million in unused funds so it’s reasonable to assume that there is excess somewhere in his budget.
At the 4/7/25 Town Council meeting, the Town Council voted to recommend that the Town Manager give the Regional Schools the 4.81% increase they are requesting and give the Elementary Schools a 5% increase. This is just a recommendation.
At Tuesday 4/15/25 Finance Committee Meeting, the Town Manager said that his decisions have been made and that the budget is in the production phase – but he did not say what percentage was included for the schools or whether he followed the guidance. Councilor Andy Steinberg suggested that the language in the Town Council’s vote was that the Town Manager “target” a 4.81% increase for the Region and a 5% increase for the Elementary Schools, but that he didn’t necessarily have to get there. It doesn’t seem like there is any path to giving the Elementary Schools the 6% increase they requested. On May 1st, we will find out what amounts the Town Manager included in his budget.
If the Town Manager doesn’t include the full amount for the schools in his budget, we believe the Town Council can still vote to increase the amount when they vote the budget. If the Elementary Schools do not get the full amount, they would cut more positions. If the Regional Schools do not get the amount requested, the Regional budget would essentially fail in Amherst. If it fails in any other of the three towns (Leverett, Shutesbury, Pelham) at Town Meeting, the Region would be left with no budget and forced to operate on a month to month basis using this year’s budget amounts, and thus cuts would be even more severe than we are looking at now.
Here’s what happens next:
Thursday May 1st – Town Manager’s budget is due to Town Council – the budget will be released and available here. Only then will we find out what amount of money the Manager included for the Elementary and Regional Schools. SOS will circulate an email when the budget is released.
Monday May 5th 6:30pm – Town Manager will present his budget at the Town Council meeting.
Thursday May 8th 9-11am – Finance Committee Meeting discussing the Elementary Schools and Regional Schools budgets – with school leadership in attendance. In May, the Finance Committee Meeting goes through each section of the Town Budget section by section and leadership from various departments attend to answer questions – 5/8 is the schools portion of these meetings. Link to agenda with zoom link here. This is a virtual only meeting. There is a public comment period.
Monday May 12th, 6:30pm – Finance Committee Public Hearing on the Budget – the Finance Committee is required to hold a Public Hearing on the entire Town budget and this is that meeting. This meeting should be in-person (Town Hall) and virtual (via Zoom). The agenda and meeting link are not yet available.
Monday June 2nd, 6:30pm – Town Council Public Forum on the Capital Improvement Plan – The Town Council is required to hold a public forum on the annual Capital Improvement Plan – this plan is the mechanism for distributing the 10.5% of our taxes that is set aside each year – over $6 million dollars – and that is used for physical needs in Town (building maintenance, road work, purchase of vehicles). In recent years, almost all of this money has flowed back to the Municipal Services side of the budget – adding a substantial supplement to budgets for departments like DPW and Public Safety in a way that the schools do not get extra money. That will happen again this year. Once this plan is released SOS will summarize the main issues for anyone who wants to know more.