AMHERST — Revisiting the formula for funding charter schools, getting more western Massachusetts representation on the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education and increasing the money for rural transportation and special education costs are among ways the Amherst-Pelham Regional Schools could be supported without demanding more from local taxpayers.
At a four towns meeting Saturday morning, Nov. 8, bringing together town, finance and school officials from Amherst, Pelham, Shutesbury and Leverett at the middle school library, the Regional School Committee’s Financial Sustainability Subcommittee outlined ways to improve the schools in difficult budget times.
Amherst representative Bridget Hynes said the state chapter 70 education formula and Student Opportunity Act seek to undo systemic inequities in funding, but the way these are formulated is penalizing rural school districts like Amherst.
“We’re being asked to fund a larger percentage than we used to,” Hynes said.
Unlike the usual four towns meetings, where town officials breakout into their own groups and return with strategies and viewpoints, often leading to uncomfortable discussions, this one was mostly set aside for presentations to get insights into the circumstances each town is dealing with. Even the layout of the room was changed, with chairs for the 40 or so people arranged in a semi-circle.
The subcommittee report outlined how enrollment in the past 10 years has dropped from 1,376 to 1,188, yet the students going to charter schools has increased from 88 to 103 , meaning this has jumped from 6% to nearly 8%.
The state aid associated with those charter school students is hard to recover, Hynes said.
Staff at the regional schools has dropped from 167.3 full-time equivalents to 109 full-time equivalents .
At the same time, the proportion of high needs students is increasing.
Anna Heard, Regional School Committee representative from Shutesbury, said the four towns need to align their budgets with the regional needs.
While the student-teacher ratio has held steady, Heard provided details about how there has been reduced support for special education, music, arts and sports have been cut and there are reduced world languages and vocational curriculum.
Additional cuts to programs with the smaller overall population could lead to “further flight” to charter schools, Heard said.
This is what Hynes said is a “vicious cycle” caused by spending limits. “One takeaway is all the constraints is why we’re in this picture,” Hynes said.
Superintendent E. Xiomara Herman said as programs are cut education is harmed and families seek options at other schools, including charters.
“As we reduce programming, they are offering what our students could be taking with us,” Herman said.
At the same time, Herman said, the students Amherst is retaining have a higher level of intervention, partly the result of the pandemic.
Some of those concerns had been brought up in Greenfield two nights earlier where people could offer input on to state officials. Amherst District 1 Councilor Cathy Schoen said there needs to be a regional push.
Amherst Council President Lynn Griesemer said payment in lieu of taxes is another topic, along with the unified message on adjusting the Chapter 70 formula.
“That’s the kind of joint advocacy that’s been asked from all of us,” Griesemer said.
The other presentation made during the meeting came from the Four Towns Working Group, which has representatives from each town, though is not endorsed by the Amherst Town Council. This panel has a data group that is trying to understand both the revenue available and the spending.
Pelham Select Board Chairman Bob Agoglia said the hope of this group is to create a level of collaboration between the towns that will be productive in advance of the spring budget season.
Shutesbury Finance Committee Chairman Ajay Khashu said he would plea for collaboration, even as the fiscal pressures are mirroring what’s happening across the state, to protect services and educational quality.
The charts showed some of the challenges, like stagnant state aid and that the average single-family tax bill is rising faster than inflation and wage growth since 1992, with Amherst residents paying $9,693, Pelham residents $8,298, Leverett residents $7,156 and Shutesbury residents $6,257.
Leverett Select Board member Tom Hankinson said he is supportive of the findings and the ongoing work.
While also supporting this work, Pelham Finance Committee Chairman John Trickey said he doesn’t think using free cash toward budgets is a good idea.
“It’s not available for regular school projects and salaries,” Trickey said. “We all have plans (for that money).”
Herman said in the nearly 18 months she has been the superintendent that it “warms my heart” that the towns care so much about both the education and social and emotional well being of their students.
The meeting began with what Town Paul Bockelman called the “tragic scene” of the destroyed Olympia Place apartments, observing that Amherst will be losing a large amount of property taxes from that building, as well as the so-called new growth associated with the companion building under construction, also destroyed in the fire, that had been included in budget projections for fiscal year 2027.
Griesemer said that Amherst was not only losing some of its tax base but some of its future tax base.
Amherst At Large Councilor Andy Steinberg was possibly attending his last four towns meeting after 20 years of serving on the Finance Committee, Select Board and then Town Council.
“We are four towns that really care about, and really value, education,” Steinberg said.