Public Comment: Amherst Sunrise Members Weigh In On School Budget

The following public comments from members of Amherst Sunrise were submitted in writing to the Amherst School Committee for their meeting of April 27, 2022.  For commentary on the outcome on the school budget vote concerning the funding of arts and technology teachers, look here.

Anna Burns
My name is Anna Burns. I live in District Five and have lived in Amherst for almost my entire life. I have spent eleven years in the Amherst Regional Public School system. I am a member of Sunrise Amherst, a youth led activism organization fighting climate and racial justice for the current and future generations. Part of this fight involves ensuring a good and equitable education. The plan to cut funding for Amherst art and tech teachers and overall funding for public education is unacceptable for a student body that has gone through so much in the recent years. I was impacted greatly by the loss of extracurricular classes during the pandemic. The lack of a creative outlet and a place to learn and explore only assisted in declining mental health. Having those classes not be as available or as comprehensive is a disservice to students, teachers, and future generations. Town Council, Town Manager Bockelman, and Amherst School Committee, please prioritize the needs of the current and future generations in the 2023 Budget.

Amrita Rutter
I am Amrita Rutter. I live in District Two, I am a Sophomore at Amherst Regional High School and I am a co-hub lead of Amherst Sunrise. In our Amherst Sunrise Budget Forum which was held this Sunday afternoon, I heard around thirty community members voice their concerns about the FY23 budget. Each person brought a new issue to the table; the underfunding of fire department resulting in a vehicle losing its wheels, the senior center being too small and understaffed, lack of funding for public transportation and of course the issues Sunrise has been fighting for; lack of funding to the Amherst Public Schools, overfunding of the police, and underfunding of the new CRESS program. These are all unignorable issues. We cannot be a progressive example let alone a functional town without addressing them. Each person who spoke gave very compelling reasons for their budgeting issue and creative solutions for addressing it. I implore you to listen to each and every resident who comes to you with a problem this budgeting cycle. I have every confidence that this town has the means and the heart to address these issues. We will not stop showing up until you do. I challenge you to do better than last year, to take risks, and think of creative solutions. I can’t wait to see what comes of the FY23 budget.

Jane Scanlan-Emigh
My name is  Jane Scanaln-Emigh and I am writing on behalf of Sunrise Amherst, a local hub of a national youth organization working to stop climate change and create good-paying jobs. I am unable to attend tonight’s school committee meeting, but wanted to share with you Sunrise’s request of the Amherst School Committee. Sunrise Amherst is asking for enough money, either from Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) or from the Amherst Police Department, to be allocated in the school budget to maintain the current state of art departments and technology departments at Amherst Regional Public School. If insufficient funding is given to schools, art departments and technology departments will be among the first to suffer. So often, art and technology are looked at as secondary aspects of education, as unnecessary to a student’s education in and beyond high school. This perspective suggests that learning for the sake of learning and taking joy in knowledge should not be a priority in primary and secondary schools, and ignores the ways in which art and technology education is useful in understanding material taught in other subjects, and creates a barrier to students hoping to pursue art and technology-based careers, especially those who may not be attending college. Art and technology are essential to education, and while Sunrise Amherst understands that the school committee doesn’t have the ability to allocate money to specific departments within schools, we ask they support schools in a way that allows the schools to acknowledge that essentialness. 

Jesse Warren
Please give us more art and tech teachers. The money can be gotten from the police department and any rich people who are skipping taxes!

Lucy Thompson
My name is Lucy Thompson and I am a tenth grader at Amherst Regional High School. I am submitting this comment in the hopes that I can share my firm belief in the importance of our tech, art, and ELL teachers and the necessity for them to make higher and fairer wages, and for their departments to gain increased town funding so that they can continue to operate. ELL teachers are incredibly important to students still learning the English language so that they can thrive and flourish in an environment with a somewhat unfamiliar language, so it should be obvious why they deserve adequate funding.  For me, art and tech classes at school offer engaging and insightful times that allow for more creativity and hands-on participation from the students. Having this space is vital for high schoolers, who are figuring out who they are and need room to grow and find out what interests them so they can begin building a future for themselves. However, with funding for schools decreasing, I worry that less funding will be allowed for these departments. School should be a place of learning in all categories, and I hope that the Town Council will treat these aspects of our school as the important resources they are and utilize town money for the children of our school district.