Regional School Committee Endorses Reform of Charter School Funding, Prepares Recommendations for FY26 Budget

Report on the Meeting of the Regional School Committee, November 12, 2024, Part 2.  Read Part 1 here. 

This meeting was recorded and can be viewed here. 

After 30 minutes in Executive Session, the Regional School Committee resumed its regular meeting with public comment..

APEA Denies Involvement and Denounces Anonymous Letter Regarding Superintendent
Irene LaRoche, middle school teacher and Amherst Pelham Education Association (APEA) Vice President, read a public comment denouncing the anonymous letter in which Dr. Xi was criticized and the private information of a district employee was disclosed, stating:

“It’s come to the APEA’s attention that at least one member of the press received an anonymous letter containing a personal attack as well as confidential information with APEA written on the return address section of an envelope…this did not come from the APEA. I want that to be crystal clear, the Amherst Pelham Education Association strongly condemns the way in which anonymous criticisms were recently levied against Superintendent of schools Dr. Xiomara Herman and her administration as well as the harmful actions taken against one of the district employees by exposing confidential personal information to the press.” 

State Funds May Be Available for Middle School Roof Replacement
In a brief chair update, Sarahbess Kenney announced that the district had received a letter from the Massachusetts School Building Authority inviting it to apply for the accelerated repair program for the middle school roof.

Superintendent Reports on Budget and Security Matters
Dr. Xi  gave the Superintendent’s report announcing that the mental health services for students provided by River Valley Services had now been restored. She is also preparing for the December 14 Four Towns meeting and following up on the data breach investigation, which is how the anonymous letter situation is being treated. 

Regarding the upcoming Four Towns meeting, Dr. Xi said that the consensus was to go with scenarios one or two, in which the FY2025 base regional budget increase of 6% remains for FY2026 with either a 4% or 2.5% increase added to the higher base.

For the data breach investigation, she indicated that she was working with school district attorney Mark Terry and the Amherst Police Department to help protect the employee whose personal information was leaked and to create a district-wide Written Information Security Plan (WISP) policy, which the district is required to have and currently does not. The Massachusetts Attorney General’s office has also been informed of the incident and is now in the loop. 

Dr. Xi then announced that the middle school principal search has begun, and that next week is American Education Week. She also shared the draft findings of a Payroll Process Overview conducted by CBIZ. The initial findings indicate high and moderate risk issues in district payroll processing; Dr. Xi said she would bring the final report to the Regional School Committee (RSC) for discussion. 

School Committee member Bridget Hynes inquired about the Family Center reconfiguration and how it was affecting families in the district. Dr. Xi responded that the Family Center is still continuing its operations, but she is shifting the work to be done directly in the schools, as opposed to the central office. She said that because absenteeism is not decreasing, she felt that the Family Center services would be more effective at the school level. .

RSC Endorses Resolution to Reimburse Districts for Charter School Tuition
School finance reform advocate and ARHS graduate Jesus Leiva was invited to speak to the RSC about passing the Massachusetts Promise to Invest resolution, which asks the state to reimburse low and moderate income districts for the cost of sending students to charter schools. For Amherst, this amounts to about $2 million/year, and although the state considers Amherst a “wealthy” district, our per capita income is among the lowest in the state, according to Leiva. The school committees of other communities in the area have already signed on to this resolution, and it is supported by our state rep Mindy Domb and our state senator Jo Comerford. 

In public comment, Cathleen Mitchell, an Amherst community member, also asked the RSC to support the school funding resolution sponsored by MA Promise to Invest, which she indicated had 176 signatures from Amherst community members. She stated, “Changing the way that charter schools are funded in the state of Massachusetts is one of the only things that is going to bring meaningful funding changes to the Amherst Regional Schools.”

The RSC passed the resolution unanimously with a few minor tweaks.

The RSC also reviewed and approved a letter to be sent on its behalf to the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education opposing a plan to expand enrollment in the Pioneer Valley Chinese Immersion Charter School (PVCICS) based in Hadley. Among the arguments made by the RSC were that the school is not currently at full enrollment and that students of color, low income students, and students with disabilities are disproportionately underrepresented in the student body. The letter also passed unanimously. 

Finally, the RSC moved to a conversation and report back from Committee member Deb Leonard’s attendance at the November 8 Finance Committee meeting. The school committee members stressed the importance of requesting that a certain amount of the approximately $10 million in free cash this year be allocated to the schools. Sarah Marshall encouraged all community members who would like to see more funding go to the schools to attend the Town Council public forum on the budget  on Monday, November 18th, at 6:30 pm. The RSC is considering making a specific ask for a percentage of the free cash money to be allocated for the regional schools.

.