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 for the 2025-2026 school year.