By Allison McDonald and Nick Grabbe

The Regional School Committee approved a budget last night that preserves educator positions that had been slated for cuts, but asks the four regional towns for more money. 

The amount that each of the four towns will be asked for is substantially higher than what the towns have said they could afford, and for Amherst it is double the increase over the current year. To date, the town has not expressed support for higher funding for the district, and approval of this higher budget is uncertain.

The difficulties in this budget are rooted in several challenges and there are limited options for solutions. There’s an even more limited window of time to resolve the current budget.

These issues are complex, so we’ve tried to simplify them. The regional school budget is likely to be a topic of much discussion in the coming weeks.

The Problem

Until last night, the regional middle and high schools were facing a deficit of about $1.7 million in spending for the fiscal year that begins July 1. This gap is the difference between agreed-on spending limits from each of the four towns and the cost of maintaining the status quo for students.

Addressing this gap, though smaller now, is urgent. The regional school budget has to be approved not only by the Amherst Town Council but also by the Town Meetings in Leverett, Pelham, and Shutesbury.

There are many sources of the problem:

• State law limits the amount by which towns can raise taxes, unless voters approve an override of those limits.
• Teachers and paraeducators negotiated raises of 3 percent, and those not at the top of the scale also receive annual “step” increases.
• Other costs, such as health insurance for employees and retirees, food, fuel for buses and vans (and pay for the drivers) have gone up sharply.
• State aid is increasing at a far lower rate than district costs, shifting more of the funding burden to the four towns
• The number of students with special needs has risen, and so the number of staff needed to support them has grown.
• Staff have been added using federal money that isn’t renewable, to help with needs such as counseling and mental health.    

The Stakes

If the regional schools had to cut $1.7 million out of the budget, it would cause significant dislocation. And there are other expensive problems, such as crumbling track at the high school and a leaking roof at the middle school.

To give a sense of what could be cut, Interim Superintendent Doug Slaughter made a list of reductions that no one is happy with. The list included the equivalent of 14 full-time teacher and paraeducator positions, which would likely reduce students’ course options and increase class sizes.

At the high school, the list included half-time positions in math, health and phys ed, performing arts, plus positions in counseling and restorative justice, plus two paraprofessionals. The middle school would lose a world language teacher, two paraprofessionals and a restorative justice coordinator. Two custodians are also on the list, as are consolidation of departments at the high school.

The budget that the School Committee approved last night preserves the teaching and restorative justice positions but still includes cuts to custodial and clerical staff as well as in central office administration.

These proposed cuts were tentative, and won’t be finalized until it is determined how much money has to be cut out of the budget and what the schools’ priorities are.

The Options

There are no easy ones, and perhaps multiple avenues will lead the School Committee where it wants to go.

• Amherst College. The college has an endowment of over $3 billion (that’s a “b”) and the new president has expressed an interest in closer ties with the community. But any extra money added to the budget as a gift now would create the same problem a year from now, and the college may not want to commit to a large, recurring expense. Plus, the college draws on its endowment for its own needs.
• An override. Only the Town Council can schedule a vote to surpass state limitations on spending, and it would have to pass in all four towns. The School Committee can’t do it. Override votes are always challenging, and in Amherst property taxes are already going up (in addition to usual annual increases) in July to help pay for the new elementary school.
• Municipal budget. The School Committee could ask the Town Council to solve its spending problem by reducing the municipal budget. There would likely be opposition to cuts in public safety, road repair, the new Diversity, Equity and Inclusion position, or most other positions.
• Municipal reserves. The Town has millions of dollars in reserves, but that money helps Amherst preserve a favorable bond rating, which keeps interest rates on borrowing low. And the Town still wants to borrow money to build a new fire station and public works headquarters, among other big-ticket items.
• Contract givebacks. The union representing school employees fought hard for a new contract, and would be extremely reluctant to give up some of those raises, considering the rising costs of housing in the area and the greater challenges to teaching that the pandemic brought.     

What’s next?

The budget will go to each of the four towns for approval. Although only three towns need to approve the overall budget, state law requires all four towns to approve the funding for the budget through Annual Town Meeting or, in Amherst, the Town Council. 

If just one of the four towns were to reject the amount of funding assessed to their town, the budget would fail and the School Committee would need to prepare a new budget.

The budget for next year must be approved by July 1. If the budget is not approved by then, the State would require the district to implement one-twelfth of the last year’s budget for each month until a new budget is approved. That budget is more than $2 million lower than the budget that the School Committee approved last night.

Amherst representative Irv Rhodes, the only dissenter in last night’s 8-1 vote, said, “Hope is just not a plan. Amherst will reject this and send it back to us, and other towns will follow suit.”

But Amherst representative Jennifer Shiao said that if the budget is not approved, “We can kick into high gear and make cuts. We can’t not try. It might be messy but we have to try.”

Town Meetings in Leverett and Shutesbury are expected to be on Saturday, April 27 and Pelham Town Meeting is on Saturday, May 11. The Amherst Town Council may vote on the Regional school budget in April or early May.

The budget as approved by the Regional School Committee is on pages 5-10 of this document.