AMHERST — Parents who endorse plans to build a 750-student elementary school for all children in Grades 2 to 6 and parents who want to preserve the three existing neighborhood elementary schools are preparing to make their cases to voters in advance of the March 28 town election.
The Save Amherst Small Schools Referendum Committee and Vote Yes for Amherst are competing ballot question committees that have filed paperwork with the town clerk’s office that will allow the organizers to raise and spend money to oppose and support, respectively, the $66.37 million project that would co-locate new elementary schools on the Wildwood School site, shutter Fort River School and turn Crocker Farm School into an early childhood education center.
Though the project to build the twin school was narrowly approved in a Proposition 2 ½ debt-exclusion vote at the presidential election in November, two Town Meeting votes failed to achieve the necessary two-thirds majority, prompting supporters to seek relief through a referendum.
To approve the referendum, both two-thirds of voters must authorize borrowing along with 18 percent of all registered Amherst voters, which based on past legal interpretation means at least 2,983 voters must vote in favor.
Though KP Law, the attorneys for Amherst, has not yet provided an opinion, Vote Yes for Amherst is working under that premise and is aiming to get at least 3,000 residents out to the polls on election day to support the project, said Johanna Neumann, a spokeswoman for Vote Yes.
While a steep hill to climb, Neumann said it is achievable.
“The fact is this is the last chance for Amherst to seize the opportunity before throwing the schools back into uncertainty,” Neumann said.
Neumann said there is a surge of support to replace both Wildwood and Fort River schools, and that national politics now has to be factored in, with federal money possibly drying up and President Trump naming Betsy DeVos, a critic of public education, to head the Department of Education.
Though critics have argued that the reconfiguration of schools would negatively alter the education, Neumann said she puts trust in teachers to do what is right for children.
“Ultimately I defer to teachers who are trained to educate,” Neumann said.
Neumann said people can pledge to vote yes on the Vote Yes website, voteyesforamherst.com, and learn about volunteer options, ranging from putting lawn signs to canvassing neighborhoods and calling supporters.
But SASS representatives say that the project remains the wrong plan for the town and that school officials should go back to the state with a plan that a large majority of town can get behind. The Massachusetts School Building Authority has pledged $34 million toward the project.
SASS member Laura Quilter said that both Fort River and Wildwood could get into compliance with codes for $20 million.
SASS Founder Maria Kopicki told the Amherst School Committee recently that officials should move onto a project that could gain widespread support, and that reapplying to the MSBA was sensible.
“The town is deeply split on this project that has never come close to garnering a super majority,” Kopicki said. “To vote on this again means only one thing for certain: we will miss a critical deadline and be unable to re-apply to the MSBA this year.”
The website for SASS is at saveamhersts smallschools.wordpress.com