Public Hearing and Council Vote on Regional School Budget Canceled. Bockelman to Submit Recommendation for Schools as Part of Town Budget

The Amherst Town Council was scheduled to vote on the Regional School District budget at its special meeting on April 29, but Town Manager Paul Bockelman sent a memo on April 22 to  Regional School Committee (RSC) Chair Sarabess Kenney and Interim Superintendent Doug Slaughter stating that, given the reluctance of the towns in the district to accept the eight percent budget increase requested, he will include a six percent increase in the school budget in his May 1 balanced town budget. 

The memo states, “Given the possibility that the RSC may change its requested budget amount and to clarify that the Town Manager’s Regional School budget proposal has not yet been made, I request that the Town Council cancel the public hearing scheduled for Thursday, April 25 and withdraw the referral of the Regional School budget to the Finance Committee on Monday, April 29.”

The RSC refused to accept the original budget proposed by Interim Superintendent Doug Slaughter, which held to the town guidelines of a four percent increase over the FY2024 budget, because of its $1.5 million reduction in level services. On March 14, the RSC proposed a compromise budget that maintains most student-facing positions that had been removed in the original proposal. This required  an increase of 8.2%, or $750,000, over the current level. Any budget must be approved by three of the four towns in the district.

The budget was discussed at the April 16 Finance Committee meeting, the Four Towns meeting on April 20, and the RSC meeting on April 24. The latter two meetings were not recorded, but the Daily Hampshire Gazette reported that representatives from Leverett and Shutesbury proposed a six percent increase in the regional school budget at the Four Towns meeting; those towns hold their annual town meetings on Saturday, April 27. Pelham’s town meeting is on May 11. 

In its April 16 meeting with Interim Superintendent Doug Slaughter, the Finance Committee also seemed amenable to recommending a smaller increase in the budget. Members asked Slaughter to justify the need for the requested increase and criticized the school administration for its seeming lack of planning for the anticipated shortfall, especially with the ending of the COVID-19 relief, or ESSER, funds. 

Finance Committee Chair Bob Hegner (District 5) asked Slaughter how the cost per student in Amherst compares to other towns. Slaughter admitted that Amherst’s costs are higher because it has more staff, but it offers more programs and has fewer out-of-district referrals. He said that although the number of students enrolled has decreased over recent years, the number of special needs students has remained stable, so a greater percentage of the budget is devoted to meeting their needs as mandated by the state. He added that the number of staff in the central office has decreased along with the decrease in enrollment. 

Slaughter was then asked about what would be the top priorities if the budget was increased by less than the $750,000 requested by the RSC. He replied that priority would be given to student-facing positions, core academics, special education, and courses with the greatest enrollment. He added that it was important that the schools be competitive in the market to maintain enrollment and offer the courses that students want to take.

Mandi Jo Hanneke (at large) said the schools should be more forthright about the long-term consequences of proposed cuts. For example, she said the cuts proposed for world language instruction in the middle school essentially make it impossible for students to qualify for AP language credit because they would not be able to double up on language courses in high school when years one, two, and  three of each language are taught in the same term. However, Slaughter said that the high school schedule might be modified to allow students to take two semesters of a language in the same year.

Hegner criticized the apparent lack of planning for the budget shortfall. He stated that the dire situation was not presented at the first Four Towns meeting, which took place in February. Andy Steinberg (at large) noted that while the school budget has had more reductions than increases in recent years, with inflation exceeding revenue, it is especially severe this year. He recommended that the district project the situation for future years for long-term planning. Slaughter said that Amherst’s situation is not as dire as some other districts. He pointed out that Chapter 70 funds from the state have not increased. A few years ago the state contributed 31% of the budget, but it is now only 27%. 

Hanneke stated that it is hard to find the school budget on the website. When she finally located it, she noted that the posted budget had not been updated to show the less than anticipated rise in health insurance cost, so it is hard to know what a level-funded budget would be. She added that the rest of the town has to live with a four percent budget increase, and even the elementary schools have managed to do so. Slaughter noted that increased teacher turnover has resulted in fewer staff at the maximum salary level, so more are due to receive larger step increases in pay. Cathy Schoen (District 1) suggested asking teachers to forgo the cost-of-living increases (for a year) in their recently approved contract. 

Finance Committee members then questioned Slaughter on what will happen if the towns do not pass the requested increase. Hanneke asked if the impact on the educational program in the original cuts in the four percent guideline budget, which included the reduction of more than 20 positions, was thought through or if these were just the easiest cuts to make. Slaughter noted that many costs, such as property taxes, transportation costs, and health insurance, are fixed, but most of the budget– salaries–are not. He also said that the changes in administrators make it difficult to do long term planning, and suggested the committee share its concerns with the next superintendent. 

Schoen pointed out that the town had offered the schools $500,000 in ARPA funds (COVID-19 relief money) for changes needed for the sixth grade to move to the middle school in 2026,  but the schools had not been  ready to make plans, according to Slaughter. Schoen worried that the money will be lost if the schools do not have a plan to use it, with contracts signed by the end of 2024. Slaughter replied that the Amherst School Committee is dealing with planning for the sixth grade move now. 

Steinberg then thanked Slaughter for meeting with the committee, acknowledging that he had been thrust into the superintendent role at a bad time and cautioned the committee to be careful about making more demands on Slaughter’s time.

Public Comment Supports School Committee Budget Request

In public comment, Vince O’Connor noted that if the schools don’t provide needed services, students will go elsewhere—to private or charter schools. He asserted that draconian budget cuts will make it hard to hire a new superintendent and middle school principal. He encouraged a new superintendent to make a multi-year deal with Amherst College to enhance curriculum. He also pointed out that the proposed state budget may increase the regional school allotment by $75,000 to $100,000 and that the town reserves stand at over $20 million. He asserted that using some of the reserves to increase the regional school budget would enable the new superintendent to “right a rudderless ship.”

Lamicko Magee, Dean of Students at the middle school and unsuccessful candidate for middle school principal (LINK) , noted that about 50% of the regional school students are nonwhite, in contrast to Amherst’s population, which is largely white. She hypothesized that the discrepancy is due to white parents sending their children elsewhere, and that further cuts will affect the ability to retain students.

Next Steps
According to RSC member Jennifer Shiao, if the towns in the district approve a six percent increase over the FY2024 regional school budget, the reductions to the school committee’s budget proposal needed to meet that target will be determined by the interim superintendent with input from the school committee. The specific cuts to be made will most likely be discussed at the next regularly scheduled RSC meeting.