Summary of to do’s and info – lot’s going on NOW

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Upcoming Opportunities to advocate for school funding to the TOWN:
  • Monday March 10th, 6:30 – Town Council Meeting – In-person, or via Zoom. Agenda and Zoom link can be found here. 
  • Friday March 14th, 8:00-9:30 am – Cuppa’ Joe with Town Manager Paul Bockelman and Public Health Director Kiko Malin – Futura Coffee Roasters – we need to start showing up at these meetings to bring up the situation our schools are in, and to counter the narrative that a lot of community members have about our schools (overspending, wasting money, etc…)
  • Sunday March 16th, 3-5 pm – District 1 Meeting, North Amherst Library (in-person only). Agenda here. Find your district here. 
  • Monday March 24th, 6:30 pm – Town Council Meeting – Agenda and Zoom link not yet available
  • Monday April 7th, 6:30 pm – Town Council Meeting – This will probably be the first Town Council Meeting after BOTH school districts have passed budgets and submitted to the Town Manager so this could be one of the meetings we should target for public comment
  • Amherst’s Liberatory Visioning Project is going on now and the survey closes Friday March 14th – this is an opportunity to express that our schools play an important role in making sure that all people in Amherst are welcome, included and have access to resources. See more info and complete the survey here. 
Upcoming Opportunity to advocate for school funding at the STATE level: 
  • The Massachusetts Joint Committee on Ways and Means will hold a public hearing on local and school aid on Monday March 24th, 11 am, at the Campus Center on the UMASS Campus. We should attend and advocate for equitable school funding that won’t leave out communities like Amherst, especially reform to the charter tuition reimbursement formula. 
Upcoming School Committee Meetings/Budget Process:
  • Tuesday March 11th, 6:30 pm – Regional School Committee will discuss the FY26 Budget – if you have specific questions or concerns that you would like School Committee members to ask/discuss, communicate to them prior to this meeting (RegionalSchoolCommittee@arps.org)
  • Tuesday March 18th, 6:30 pm – Amherst (Elementary) School Committee will discuss the FY26 Budget – if you have specific questions or concerns that you would like School Committee members to ask/discuss, communicate to them prior to this meeting   (AmherstSchoolCommittee@arps.org)
  • Vote on the Regional Budget – has to happen on or before 3/17 – Meeting date TBD
  • Vote on the Elementary Budget – has to happen before 4/1 when it is due to the Town Manager – Meeting date TBD
  • School Committee Member Jennifer Shiao’s blog has more details on process and what happens next
What else has been going on in Town?
  • Tuesday March 4 – District 2 Meeting – Those who attended reported that it was another meeting in which it was evident that a lot of residents and our Town Councilors are not really informed about what our schools are facing – we need to continue to show up at ALL the meetings and spread the word. 
  • Tuesday March 4 – Finance Committee Meeting – Discussion of raising the increases across the board from 3.5% to 4%. No real willingness to discuss giving different sectors different percentage increases. Attached to this email is a cartoon illustrating why this equal percentage increase doesn’t represent equity. 
  • Wednesday March 5 – Budget Coordinating Group – School Committee members (Irv Rhodes, Deb Leonard and Tillman Wolf) along with Dr. Xi and Interim Finance Director Shannon Bernaccia discussed school funding with members of Town Council, and had to push back against the same narrative we continue to hear from the town – that the schools can somehow magically save money and have done nothing to try to cut costs. Due to revised revenue projections, the Town Manager is now suggesting that all sectors (Town, Library, Elementary Schools and Regional Schools) get a 4% increase rather than 3.5%. This helps but will not come close to closing the deficits. If you have time, please take a look at the video – It gives a good sense of what we are up against and the advocacy our school leadership is doing. 
  • Wednesday March 5 – Joint Capital Planning Committee – Each week the group meets to discuss the allocations for the Capital Improvement Plan for FY26. This week was Town Facilities and Police. Striking that the Town Facilities Director said, “Water seepage, water damages is one of the most devastating for buildings” and yet for eight years, the ARMS roof has not been fixed because past school leadership along with officials in Amherst (along with other three regional towns) apparently decided they couldn’t find (or borrow) money to fix it.