As former school committee members who voted for the new elementary school building plan, we urge Amherst residents to vote yes on Question 5.

A yes vote on Question 5 gives the town the authority to borrow its share of the cost of the new school building, $33 million. The Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) will pay the remaining 52 percent of the project’s total cost of $67 million.

The project will replace the Wildwood and Fort River K-6 schools with one new building, located on the Wildwood site. This new building will house two schools, with each school enrolling about 375 second through sixth graders. Crocker Farm would expand its pre-kindergarten and also enroll all kindergarten and first graders in Amherst, transforming into an Early Childhood Learning Center. By comparison, enrollments at the current schools are: Wildwood, 425; Fort River, 361; and Crocker Farm, 427.

At the Jan. 19 Amherst School Committee meeting, we cast two of the four votes in support of this plan (the vote was 4-1). We looked very carefully over a long period of time at the pros and cons of all plans presented. For us, the pros of this plan far outweighed the cons. Consider:

Yes on 5 moves our children and teachers out of the badly designed, problem-plagued Fort River and Wildwood buildings in the fastest and most affordable way possible. Anyone who has had a child in Fort River or Wildwood understands how hard it is learn in open classrooms. Noise from adjoining classes makes it hard to concentrate; on the flip side, our kids can’t express their enthusiasm for learning, because they have to try to be quiet – almost all the time. This is hard for all children, and doubly hard for any child who has particular learning needs.

Yes on 5 enables more children to enroll in our excellent preschool, and creates a community of educators and learners focused on prekindergarten-first grade. Access to high-quality early education is proven to close opportunity and achievement gaps among low-income children and their more economically advantaged peers.

Yes on 5 will enable our district to use our precious public resources more efficiently, by averaging out class size – but keeping all classes under the ceiling set by the School Committee.

Yes on 5 eliminates the need for redistricting to meet our goal of balancing socioeconomic demographics among elementary schools. Redistricting is contentious and disruptive; yet we will have to do it periodically with the current three school districts.

Yes on 5 enables children enrolled in special needs programs to attend the same school as their siblings and neighborhood peers, not an option now for many children.

There are financial considerations of course. A yes vote on Question 5 will cause the average Amherst homeowner’s property tax bill to increase by approximately $318 (for the $306,000 average home value). We empathize with the burden this places on many people.

On the positive side, the plan will save between $400,000 and $500,000 in annual operating costs and reduces the need for capital expenditures by millions over the next 10 to 20 years. The new building will require close to zero maintenance for many years, while the Wildwood and Fort River buildings will require major repairs in the near future, including roof and heating systems.

For more information, we suggest watching the League of Women Voters Information Forum (9-28-16, amherstmedia.org/node/8761).

If we lose this opportunity, we must begin the process again, and we have no idea if and when we will be selected to receive MSBA funding. In the meantime, we will be forced to spend thousands of our tax dollars to minimally maintain our out-of-date, badly designed buildings. Our children and educators have waited long enough. Please join us in voting yes on Question 5.

Rick Hood and Kathleen Traphagen are former Amherst School Committee members.