AMHERST — Best-case scenarios for the Amherst elementary and Amherst-Pelham Regional schools, in which the budgets are around $2 million short of providing level services for the 2025-2026 school year, are leading a member of Amherst’s Town Council to suggest town officials find a way to get more money to local public education.

District 5 Councilor Ana Devlin Gauthier told the Finance Committee Tuesday that she intends to bring a memo to the Town Council next week requesting revisions to the budget guidelines, adopted last year, which set 3% increases for the schools, town and Jones Library services spending plans.

While those guidelines have since been adjusted to consistent 4% increases for each budget, Devlin Gauthier said she wants to see if there is an appetite to reset them so that the schools receive a higher percentage. She said there is a lot of pain being caused by potential school cuts, based on feedback from families and students.

But Finance Committee members, as well as Town Manager Paul Bockelman and Finance Director Melissa Zawadzki, cautioned that changes to the budget guidelines could have unintended consequences.

For At Large Councilor Andy Steinberg, giving even amounts to each “functional area” has always been about ensuring there were no battles for money and “to try to have a culture in our town of having all the major functional areas understand each other, work together and respect each other, and not get involved in in-fighting.”

Ending that long-running policy by giving a higher percentage to schools would also harm the Town Council’s decision-making. “You break that pact that has been in a place for a long time in Amherst, you’re never getting it back,” Steinberg said.

Resident Finance Committee member Bernie Kubiak, who has served as town administrator in several communities, including Deerfield and Hadley, said there is logic to the equal percentages. “That process has not necessarily been unique to Amherst, but Amherst is the only town I know of that has practiced that,” Kubiak said.

Abandoning this philosophy, he said, would lead to feuding well into the future.

Devlin Gauthier, though, said based on public forums and input from constituents, there are many concerned families who are upset with the town’s procedures. “We are not in a peaceful existence here and I think we’re kidding ourselves to say we are,” Devlin Gauthier said.

Bockelman said losing a culture of cooperation may provide short-term relief for the schools, but wouldn’t necessarily be beneficial for the school budgets beyond next year.

“We need a long-term fix,” Bockelman said.

Zawadzki said a change in allocation from the level percentage would also mean a negative effect on the municipal budget, and likely the library budget. “We are in the position where we are struggling, too,” Zawadzki said.

While a one-year adjustment, the implications would also mean lower bases from which the town and library would build their budgets, Zawadzki said.

District 5 Councilor Bob Hegner, who chaired the Finance Committee last year, said it took time to get a consensus around budget guidelines. “I’m certainly open to any new suggestions, but I do think the guidelines were arrived at from a pretty intense set of discussions,” Hegner said.

Devlin Gauthier said she doesn’t want to minimize that work, but the schools are in a different place now. “I think we have a better idea of the big picture at this point than when the committee first created those,” Devlin Gauthier said.

District 1 Councilor Cathy Schoen, who chairs the Finance Committee, said the only way she could consider more money for the schools is if money were redirected from the capital budget or money was frozen in other line items, such as vacant positions in the Community Responders for Equity, Safety and Service department.

Schoen added that she is concerned that Amherst is already subsidizing education for other towns that make up the regional school district, by paying more than its fair share.

Steinberg said there are other worries looming, such as Congress contemplating ending the tax deduction for municipal bonds, potentially increasing town expenses for local projects. “It would drive up our costs of all borrowing if that would happen,” Steinberg said.

Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.