AMHERST — A referendum vote coinciding with the annual town election Tuesday will decide, seemingly once and for all, the fate of the $66.37 million project to co-locate two new elementary schools at the Wildwood School site and turn Crocker Farm School into an early childhood education center.
After a narrow approval of the Proposition 2 1/2 debt exclusion at the Nov. 8 presidential election, Town Meeting has twice failed to achieve the necessary two-thirds majority to authorize borrowing.
The referendum, which will be a separate ballot from the one containing townwide races and Town Meeting seats, will also require a two-thirds majority, along with an 18 percent threshold of voters either turning out or voting in favor of the project. The town’s attorney, KP Law, has not yet rendered a decision on the meaning of 18 percent, though past legal interpretations have argued that at least 18 percent of voters, or 2,983 voters, must vote in favor of the school project.
Those who support the plan, and triggered the referendum through a signature campaign, say that momentum is on their side, even with the steep hurdles imposed by the referendum provision.
“There is such broad support for this school project,” said Johanna Neumann, a spokeswoman for the Yes for Amherst political action group that recently announced it had raised $10,000 for lawn signs, direct mailings and print advertisements.
Neumann said not only is the plan educationally sound, but it will provide better classrooms for children and teachers to replace the open classrooms in use at Fort River and Wildwood schools, which limit natural light and cause additional noise.
But those who have opposed the plans, many affiliated with Save Amherst’s Small Schools, remain worried about the loss of Amherst’s traditional neighborhood schools, with both Fort River and Wildwood eventually closing, the end of traditional K-6 education in town with a shift of kindergartners and first graders to Crocker Farm, and challenges for parents whose children may be split between multiple schools.
They also point out that the education plan, adopted by the School Committee in January 2016, never garnered support from teachers and parents, and have urged for starting the process over to end the divisions.
The project depends on $34 million from the Massachusetts School Building Authority that will be lost if voters defeat the project.
Neumann said that state aid is a reason the project should be supported by those worried about tax increases.
“Fiscal responsibility is a bottom line fact about the project,” Neumann said.
If the project fails, school officials will have to begin applying again next year to the MSBA, having missed this year’s application deadline. There will also be capital projects to consider at the current schools, including a new boiler at Wildwood at cost of excess of $400,000, and a new roof at Fort River for more than $1 million.
Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.
