AMHERST — In advance of a final fiscal year 2026 budget proposal for the Amherst-Pelham Regional Schools being brought forward for an anticipated School Committee vote Friday, a three-member subcommittee is recommending preserving almost all student-facing positions at the high school and middle school by restoring $696,000 in possible cuts.

The Fiscal Sustainability Subcommittee, made up of Amherst representatives Bridget Hynes, Deb Leonard and Jennifer Shiao, on Tuesday provided to the Regional School Committee an advisory memo that suggests how the district can get closer to the $37.89 million budget needed to maintain level services, rather than chopping as many as 18 positions.

The proposal includes retaining five middle school teachers, at a cost of $350,000, two counselors, at a cost of $140,000, and three high school paraeducators, at a cost of $90,000.

In what this subcommittee is calling a 7% budget, the worst of $1.39 million in cuts under a $36.5 million fiscal year 2026 budget proposal would be avoided, even though the budget would still be short of the 10% overall increase needed to preserve level services.

“Our suggestion is that the regional committee approve, or instruct the superintendent, to develop a 7% budget,” Shiao said.

This “splits the difference,” Shiao said.

But in using a modified statutory method to calculate the assessments each town would have to pay to contribute to the overall budget, it’s uncertain whether such a budget could get support from Town Meetings in the smaller towns and from the Amherst Town Council.

Amherst would see a 5.3% increase, adding another $338,948, to create a $19.8 million assessment, Pelham would go up by 23.5%, adding another $181,483, to reach a $1.32 million assessment;  Leverett would rise by 14.6%, adding another $132,659 to get to a $1.87 million assessment, and Shutesbury would get an 8.2% increase, adding another $43,359, to meet a $1.79 million assessment.

The Regional School Committee was unable to reach a consensus Tuesday on whether this budget plan should be recommended to Superintendent E. Xiomara Herman and Finance Director Shannon Bernacchia.

Part of the concern is the large percentage increases for the smaller towns. Leverett representative Tilman Wolf said officials there say they can’t go above a 6.5% assessment increase.

“The percent increases that are listed here for Leverett specifically are not feasible,” Wolf said.

Bernacchia, too, said she is worried, based on conversations she’s had with the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, that the four towns may not be allowed to deviate from the statutory method of calculating assessments, even though modified formulas, with so-called guardrails that prevent any town from rising above a certain threshold, have been used in recent years.  Bernacchia said she was told by state officials that the Regional School Committee has no authority to amend the statutory method and that this could be challenged by voters and taxpayers.

“Basically what they are saying is we should be sticking to the regional agreement, we should not be doing this alternative method,” Bernacchia said.

What she presented instead is plan for a 5.7% overall increase that would reduce cuts from 18 to 12 positions by adding $492,000 to the original budget. Under this, though, Pelham and Leverett would both face double-digit percentage increases, leaving uncertainty about whether three of the four towns would approve the spending plan. If all but one town approves the budget, the fourth town is required to come up with money for its assessment.

Shiao acknowledged that the 7% budget proposed by her subcommittee would also be a challenge.

“It’s not going to be easy, and no one is going to like it, but this is where we are,” Shiao said.

“The FSS (Fiscal Sustainability Subcommittee) acknowledges this is not an easy decision and, even if we approve it as a committee, it still needs to be approved by the four towns,” Shiao said.

Still, those on the subcommittee believe this is the best approach and would respond to the concerns from families about drastic cuts.

“If we want to have the schools we feel good about sending kids into, we absolutely cannot make those cuts at the middle school,” Hynes said.

Leonard cited the problems at the middle school in recent years, including a frequent change in leadership and the bullying of trans students that was allowed to happen, as reasons to protect staffing as much as possible and not make fundamental changes.

“I just can’t do anything to that school right now, until it’s stable, and we haven’t had stability in years,” Leonard said.

Amherst representative Irv Rhodes said he endorses the 7% budget, but that the schools also that needs to find ways to make tough decisions on cuts. He suggested putting together a task force soon.

Herman said the district needs to move toward efficiency, but not in a manner that causes more trauma to the school system. 

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