AMHERST — Potential staffing cuts at the Amherst-Pelham Regional schools and ongoing pressures on municipal spending recently prompted six members of the youth-led Sunrise Amherst group to seek and receive an audience with Amherst College President Michael A. Elliott.

Dressing in formal attire for the occasion, the students made a direct appeal for the college to offer financial help to Amherst, impressing on the college leader the consequences for student education should layoffs occur, and pushing the case that if the college provided $700,000 for the fiscal year 2025 budget, such a contribution would compare to what other similar institutions of higher education give their host communities.

While the students got no resolution on their request and are worried that a $355,000 deficit in the regional schools budget remains, they say they were pleased to get an opportunity to outline their concerns, in a similar fashion to how school and town officials have also approached the college.

“We recognize there are needs for almost all town departments, but what peaked our interest was the current crisis in our schools,” says Julian Hynes, a co-hub lead for Sunrise Amherst.

Sunrise Amherst is a group of about 20 active high school and middle school students, most who attend Amherst schools, and who are motivated by protecting their education and the environment.

The meeting with the college president, as well as a conversation with Sarah Barr, who handles the college’s community outreach, has since been followed by a small rally near the campus during the college’s commencement last Sunday, which the members hope drew attention to families, students and most importantly trustees, by holding signs and handing out pamphlets explaining the situation.

“As seniors, we are going out strong with this issue,” said Jesse Warren, who handles communications for Sunrise Amherst.

Under co-hub leads Amrita Rutter and Hynes, who like Warren are high school seniors, the group has focused on three key issues. Those issues are ensuring that the budgets for the public schools meet the educational needs of all students, that Amherst College provides a regular payment in lieu of taxes to support municipal services, and that solar panels be installed over the high school parking lot.

Warren explained that the Amherst chapter, founded in 2019, is consistent with the objectives of chapters across the country, and that it makes sense to have one in town, since a founder of the national Sunrise Movement, Varhini Prakash, went to the University of Massachusetts. “Sunrise is a national, youth-led organization trying to mitigate climate change in an equitable way and fighting for the Green New Deal,” Warren said.

Hynes said though a small group, Sunrise Amherst works with other individuals and organizations on bigger projects. Hynes said it is up to the co-hub leads to do research and organize in areas that will lead to positive outcomes.

Because funding for the schools has been a priority, when Town Manager Paul Bockelman unveiled his budget proposal on May 1, Hynes and others then spent the next few days examining the proposal, uncovering that the capital plan appeared to be purchasing $2 million worth of vehicles that had already been bought last year. This led to the group writing an article, printed on the online Amherst Indy, about various observations made, including that not all departments hold to the Town Council guidelines of 4% increases that schools were being asked to stick to. It took time to evaluate, as the budget is spread over 292 pages and the capital plan has 29 pages.

“We wanted to see where money could be found and how can spending have an impact on town workers and the environment,” Hynes said.

Hynes said he has also looked at the town and school budget five years back, providing the basis for bringing fiscal stability for the town and school budgets, and believes students can be involved in making suggestions and being involved in some way. “We are more than open and willing to help out,” Hynes said.

Their advocacy for the regional schools budget came at a recent budget hearing, where both Warren and Hynes spoke about the need for at least a 6% increase, while Rutter and fellow senior Haydn Reilly Hogan have also addressed the Town Council and Regional School Committee with their concerns about underfunding the schools. Sunrise Amherst members have also met with Council President Lynn Griesemer and are scheduled to meet with Council Vice President Ana Devlin Gauthier.

A closely connected issue is the possibility of solar canopies, with Sunrise Amherst having a long campaign to have these installed over resurfaced high school parking lots. Bockelman instead has committed to the solar canopies at the new elementary school that will be built next to Fort River School.

“We think another solar canopy over the high school lot would be a great thinking-ahead project,” Warren said, noting that 70 to 80 students sent emails to Town Hall.

Such a project would also help generate money, potentially saving more annually than the current school deficit.

Their in-depth look at the budget and capital plan also called out a $1.9 million public safety radio equipment replacement, which is more than the $1.5 million to $1.6 million to install solar canopies and to pave the parking lot.

Hynes said the group’s focus is often on topics that directly affect the students in Amherst and surrounding towns and that while other causes, such as the pro-Palestinian encampment at UMass and a recent reproductive justice rally, may be supported by members, those are outside its scope.

“We’ve also worked on a wide variety of issues at the state and local government level, ” Hynes said.

That has included issuing endorsements and doing canvassing in advance of the biennial Town Council elections and supporting the town’s Climate Action Adaptation and Resilience Plan. At the state level, Sunrise Amherst has lobbied for the Make Polluters Pay legislation and the Sunlight Act government transparency legislation, creation of the Massachusetts Youth Climate Commission, and the Interdisciplinary Climate Literacy Trust Fund bill.

Even as the students leave high school, they hope to see the final budget vote takes place in late June, keeping a close eye on decisions, and see if their advocacy pays off.

As a Sunrise Amherst member for three years, Warren said he has appreciated becoming more vocal.

“These last few months have revealed to us a new level of being public figures,” Warren said.

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