Opinion By Allison McDonald

Spring is here and as flowers and trees are blossoming, Amherst is facing yet another round of budget battles that are sure to be as vitriolic as in past years. Accusations of not caring will fly, and arguments over the facts will abound.

And, yet again, Amherst will excel at defining myriad worthy ways to spend money that we don’t have. Should the state change how it funds public schools and send more money to Amherst? Should Amherst seek more funding through PILOTs with the university and college? Should there be more taxable housing and development in Amherst? Absolutely, yes to all of those questions. 

But none of these are imminent and none can be counted on to deliver any increase in funds in the upcoming fiscal year. Just look at the last time the state made substantial changes to public school funding. The landmark Student Opportunity Act, signed in 2019, implemented many recommendations presented by the Foundation Budget Review Commission in 2015 and impacted school budgets in 2020/21. That’s five years from recommendation to increased funding flows.

We can and we should be investing energy and time doing the advocacy and work on multiple ways to increase funding and revenue for our town over time.

When it comes to the annual budget, however, we need to work within our current fiscal reality and make hard choices about how to spend the money we have today, not the money we wish we had, and won’t have in the upcoming fiscal year.

But, yet again, the elementary School Committee (SC) is engaging in wishful thinking about funding its annual spending plan and gambling that the Town Council can be guilted into acquiescing.

The SC recently adopted a budget that’s more than $570K higher than the $982K increase that the Town Council had said it would be able to fund. To put that into perspective, the entire increase in Town operating spending is $2.5 million, and most of that increase is earmarked for the elementary and regional schools. 

To fund an increase of that magnitude for the elementary schools would require massive cuts to municipal spending or capital spending—at a time when many residents are clamoring for higher increases to support new and expanded services (CRESS, Senior Center, Youth Empowerment Center, for example) or to expand the road repair program to chip away at the nearly $50 million backlog.

Furthermore, the SC is seeking this outsized increase in a year when the elementary school consolidation means the district can expect lower overall operating costs and, yes, can reduce staffing without negatively impacting educational services. The original draft budget presented to the SC recognized these savings and was in line with the Town Council funding guidance as a result. The school principals told the SC that that draft budget was workable and would not “harm” students’ education. But the SC members knew better, apparently, and rejected that budget.

One of the sticking points was the reduction in art and music teachers (“specials” teachers) that was recommended in the draft budget. It’s useful to remember that our elementary schools never had more than one full-time-equivalent music or art teacher for any one school building—even when enrollment at Fort River or Wildwood was comparable to anticipated enrollment at the new school. Yet, the SC did not believe district administrators when told that quality specials classes could continue with reduced staffing.

Assuming that the district will be able to secure more than half a million dollars more in funding for next year is not just wishful thinking. It is an abdication of fiscal responsibility for the district. The SC has no control over its funding and, while advocacy may help to get more funding in the future, it has no place in the annual budget development process. 

As difficult as it may be, the SC’s job is to put together an annual budget that uses the funding it has now to support quality educational services for Amherst’s students. To do otherwise is irresponsible.

Allison McDonald has lived in Amherst since 2002 and has two sons who attended Amherst public schools. She served on the Amherst School Committee 2018-2023, and as chair 2020-2023. She volunteers as managing editor of The Amherst Current.