Tyler Barnett: Same facts, different priorities

I’m responding to Bill Dwight’s Feb. 21 letter, “Facts about school budget matter,” which suggests Support Our Schools (a community group advocating for increased school funding from the city) is spreading misinformation.

SOS uses the same facts and figures from the same government sources as those Mr. Dwight references in his letter, but we interpret them differently due to different priorities.In April 2024, the School Committee approved a $42.8 million FY25 school budget. In the final FY25 budget approved in July 2024, the City Hall reduced this figure to $40.77 million, resulting in 20 lost positions. We interpret a budget that reduces critical staffing as a slashed budget.

Mr. Dwight believes it’s unfair to compare Northampton, which chose to separate its general and enterprise reserve accounts, to cities without separate enterprise reserve accounts (enterprise funds are self-sustaining through fee collections, like water and stormwater). SOS believes this comparison is fair because in a scenario like a costly emergency sewer repair, Northampton would not need to draw on general fund reserves, but Amherst would.

SOS’s interpretations of these facts are not misinformation; they are positions staked in a healthy democratic debate. Defenders of the status quo treat Northampton’s fiscal strength as an end in and of itself. SOS wants to use our fiscal strength as a means to achieve what we hope is a common goal: safe, equitable, and high-achieving public schools.

Tyler Barnett

Northampton