On Tuesday, March 29, the Amherst School Committee voted unanimously to approve next year’s budget for Amherst elementary schools. The total budget of $25.5 million avoids cuts to current programs and restores funding to support full-time art and technology teachers within each school after being reduced this year.
While the budget relies on one-time federal grants from the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund (ESSER)of approximately $420,000, we also are asking the town of Amherst to direct $25.1 million to Amherst schools, or $52,800 more than the budget guidance it gave us.
The town manager will submit his budget recommendation to the Town Council by May 1 and the Town Council will make its decision by June; public input on the budget may be shared with them now.
The decision to not cut current programs and services was simple. Our students are still recovering after a pandemic year of online learning and their needs continue to be significant. The Amherst School Committee was clear at the beginning of this budget planning process that now is not the time to make cuts.
The decision to restore funding to support full-time art and technology positions in each school was more difficult. We reduced those positions this year as part of over $300,000 in cuts we had to make to meet the budget guidance from the town. Our community has been vocal about the negative impact this has had on students. School Committee members agree that art and technology are important and vital programs within our elementary program, but our struggle was in defining if and how we could fund the full-time positions in each school.
After much discussion, the committee decided to restore funding by asking the town for an additional $52,800 above its guidance budget and using one-time ESSER funds for the remainder.
There are multiple reasons we chose this approach instead of using ESSER to fund the entire increase.
First, ESSER is temporary and is available to us only for the next two years. By folding some of the cost into our baseline appropriated budget from the town, we reduce our reliance on one-time funds to support recurring and ongoing expenses.
Second, the $52,800 increase is a partial restoration of cuts the committee made a year ago in order to meet the budget guidance from the town. The committee has made substantial cuts to existing programs, services, and staff in order to stay within the budget cap from the town for five years in a row and totaling over $1.1 million. We have always submitted budgets that meet the town’s guidance, often requiring painful cuts.
Adding $52,800 for next year is a reasonable request.
Finally, the consolidated school being envisioned with the school building project will enable some efficiency savings when it opens in the fall of 2026. By using funding that is not one-time, we can help bridge the years between the ESSER sunset and the new school opening. To be clear, were it not for the significant money from ESSER, we would be having a very different conversation right now.
To continue the same programs that we provide today to support students’ post-pandemic recovery requires a 4.7% budget increase for next year. But the town guidance is to keep our increase under 2.7%, a goal that would require significant and painful cuts.
The Amherst School Committee therefore decided to use one-time ESSER funds to avoid significant cuts to existing programs and services at a time when our students most need them.
We hope that the town manager and Town Council will support our request for an additional $52,800 over the town guidance and enable our schools to restore the art and technology programming that our community so deeply values.
Allison McDonald is chair of the Amherst School Committee and can be reached at mcdonalda@arps.org.