Actions you can take

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Actions you can take

Ongoing Action Item – Tell Town Council that our schools matter to you, that they are currently NOT sufficiently funded and that another year of cuts will be devastating. Contrary to the narrative that is often coming from the Town Council, our school budget cuts and elimination of staff positions have actually been outpacing the decline in student enrollment. Put simply, we are shrinking our budgets and staff faster than our schools are shrinking. 
  • Upcoming Amherst town meetings with Public Comment where you can make your voice heard: 
  • Send Town Council your thoughts in writing anytime: https://www.amherstma.gov/councilcomments
  • Attend the Four Towns Meeting Saturday 2/8 9:00 AM in the ARMS Library – this meeting does not have a public comment, but it is the meeting in which all four towns that support the Regional Schools Come together and talk about how to fund the Regional Schools. It is a really good opportunity to let our town officials know that families are watching. Even if you can only pop in for 20-30 minutes, it’s worth showing up. 
  • Forward our emails to your network – the more people who are empowered to understand what’s going on in town, the better!  Anyone wanting to join the listserv can email SOSAmherst@gmail.com.
Other Actions you can take –
  • Attend the Amherst School Committee Meeting: Tuesday February 25, 6:30 PM, ARHS Library – this will be the budget hearing for the Amherst (elementary) Schools
  • Thank the Amherst and/or Amherst Pelham School Committees and Dr. Xi for continuing to fight for more money for our schools (https://arps.org/school-committee/). See this article from the Gazette for more info on how the School Committee is fighting for our schools. 
  • Ask State Senator Jo Comerford and State Rep Mindy Domb to support legislation that would keep more local money in our public schools, especially legislation that would shift the cost of funding charter schools from the towns/cities to the Commonwealth. (Mindy Domb: https://repmindydomb.com/contact/; Jo Comerford: https://senatorjocomerford.org/contact/). In particular, it would be great if they would take a look at what Mass Promise to Invest is proposing. If anyone here is specifically interested in state-level advocacy please email SOSAmherst@gmail.com.