Lots going on

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Lots to catch up on and pay attention to this month

  • Budget deficits remain in the $1-1.5 million range (down from $2 because health insurance has been negotiated down from the 19.9% increase reported). This is over 1 million each for the elementary schools and the regional schools budgets.
  • Next Town Council Meeting – Monday 2/24 6:30 PM – this is another opportunity to push the Town Council to consider additional funding for our schools.
  • Tentative Dates for School Budget Hearings – this will be a time to advocate for the needs of our children & schools and ask School Committee to not just accept the limited increase the Town would like to give. The School Committee is working on possibly making these a hybrid format.
    • Amherst (Elementary) Budget Hearing – Tuesday 2/25, 6:30 ARHS Library 
    • Regional Schools Budget Hearing – Wednesday 2/26, 6:30 ARHS Library 
  • SOS Amherst is planning an in-person meetup/teach in – please take our poll to tell us if/when you would be able to join
  • Contact SOSAmherst@gmail.com to join our Google Group.
 
Regional School Committee Meeting 2/11/25. Watch the recording here.
  • Track and Field Project at ARHS – Bids came in within the amount of funding available and RSC voted to select a contractor. Work will begin in June and conclude in September. More details here.
  • Four Towns Meeting recap (Time Stamp 1:54:30) – This ten minute section is really worth watching if you have the time. If not, here is a brief summary:
    • No final decision – looking like a $1.2 million deficit for the Region and that is probably unlikely to change much
    • Tillman Wolf (Leverett) reported that Leverett was disappointed to hear Amherst Town Councilors frame the situation as Amherst “subsidizing” smaller towns. He said that Leverett in particular, has been willing to pay more and has, at past Four Towns meetings, been asking for other towns to pay more. In response, Deb Leonard (Amherst) said, “I apologize for the ill-chosen words of my Town Councilors. I also dispute their words.”
    • Deb Leonard (Amherst) pointed out that she recently became aware that, a week after Amherst gave their Financial Indicators presentation and divulged the $5.7 surplus from FY24, they updated the documents to actually show a $6.7 surplus, which is 7% of the operating budget, well above the 5% target that Town Council talks about. 
    • Ana Heard (Shutesbury) questioned the practice in Amherst of giving each sector of the town the same percentage increase each year, as it fails to account for differences in growth and need as well as allocations made to sectors’ budgets after the budget has been set. Deb Leonard added that the municipal side consistently spends less than allocated which is part of what is generating the surplus, which the town then considers their own money. 
    • Bridget Hynes (Amherst) said that it is unrealistic to expect the Schools to stay within a 3% increase when retirement costs go up 12%. Equally unfair to then turn around and blame the schools. 
    • Irv Rhodes (Amherst) said that schools are a unique part of town government and have many costs that are out of their control, but added that the RSC needs a positive message to send to the Town Council other than criticizing the way they do their budgets. 
  • Regional Public Budget Hearing – Wednesday 2/26/25 – Tentative date. Budget must be published 10 days prior so date will be confirmed once budget is published. 
  • Sixth grade move – RSC member reported that Amherst Town Councilor had asked about the possibility of the Amherst 6th grade being included in the Regional Schools when the 6th grade moves. The plan has always been that when the 6th grade moves, they will be a 6th grade academy within the middle school building but not actually part of ARMS. This is due to the Regional Agreement with the Four member towns. School Committee members reiterated that extensive conversation has occurred in the past with DESE and that it is impossible for the Amherst 6th grade to become part of the Region unless the 6th grades from the other member towns also become part of the Region, and currently none of them want to take this step. 
Amherst Town Council – 
  • Really good showing by SOS Amherst parents and others in support of our schools. Some people missed the public comment period because the Town Council president held Public Comment before the 7pm budget hearing, despite the agenda clearly stating that the Regular Meeting would occur after the 7pm hearing. The Public was also allowed to comment later on, but this led to two short Public Comment periods and confusion. Parents had some really impactful statements about having moved to Amherst for the schools, having seen friends and neighbors leave our schools, and also worrying about the further decline in our schools and the quality of education in Amherst. 
  • Amherst Town Council is holding steady on only giving the schools a 3.5% increase over last year
  • Town Manager Paul Bockelman reported that the $250,000 in the Amherst College Agreement designated for the schools can be divided up as the Superintendent wishes. He was asked whether the $250,000 from UMASS can also be divided differently (it has always been $185,000 for the elementary schools and only $15,000 for the Region). He gave a confusing answer. We have emailed him to clarify whether Dr. Xi can, in fact, alter the way this money is allocated on her own and have not received a reply. 
  • The SOS Amherst response to Councilor George Ryan ran in the Indy. The Current declined to publish it. Of note, the Current has published in the last year, at least five opinion pieces that criticize the schools for spending, including one by Councilor Ryan himself. Also of note, while Councilor Ryan is urging the schools to spend less money, he opposed a move to add language to the Town Manager’s goals that would have asked him to ensure that the Library Trustees had secured funding for their part of the Library project before moving forward. More details here. 
State Level Advocacy – 
  • Most Massachusetts state bills for this legislative session have now been filed, with some additional ones that will trickle in as late-filed bills. 
  • The Massachusetts Teachers Association has signed on to a suite of bills that target some specific educational funding changes. Some of them might help Amherst/Amherst Pelham so as this moves forward and we learn more, we should definitely advocate to our state reps to support these bills. You can read more about them here. The bills regarding the Special Education Circuit Breaker, charter-tuition reimbursement, and the Whole Child Grant Program are likely to bring some additional money into Amherst/Amherst Pelham. None would bring as much money as the charter tuition reimbursement proposal being suggested by Mass Promise to Invest, but so far our legislators (Representative Mindy Domb and Senator Jo Comeford) have declined to really take on the issue of charter reimbursements. 
  • Jo Comerford’s bill really focuses on Rural Aid, which would bring marginal benefit to our Regional Schools as the three smaller towns are considered rural, but with the bulk of the student enrollment coming from Amherst, which is not defined as rural, the benefit would be small. It would not help our elementary schools at all.