Public Urges Town Council to Support Public Schools

Report on the Meeting of the Amherst Town Council, December 16,2024

This meeting was held in a hybrid format and was recorded.

Present
Lynn Griesemer (President, District 2), Andy Steinberg, Mandi Jo Hanneke, Ellisha Walker (at large), Cathy Schoen and Freke Ette (District 1), George Ryan and Hala Lord (District 3), Jennifer Taub and Pam Rooney (District 4), Bob Hegner and Ana Devlin Gauthier (District 5). Staff: Paul Bockelman (Town Manager) and Athena O’Keeffe (Council Clerk)

Pleas for Support for Schools Dominate Public Comment
Fourteen people spoke during the public comment period, almost all of them urging support of the public schools during the formulation of the FY2026 budget and for the use of unspent funds from FY2024. Town Manager Paul Bockelman stated that he is consulting with the School Superintendent, E. Xiomara Herman, about possible capital requests from the school that can take advantage of some of the $5.7 million in free cash from FY2024. Because Herman began her tenure in July, she did not submit capital requests as did some other departments. Bockelman and the Finance Committee agree that budget surpluses should not be used for operating costs because there is no assurance that they will be available in coming years.

Teachers and parents advocated passionately for better funding of the public schools. Alex Lopez said, “I’m worried about the direction this town is heading—into an intellectual rust belt. We have all these monuments to great thinkers, and yet we can’t fund the next generation. I am afraid that we are slowly marching ourselves to a place where we say, ‘Look how great it used to be here.’”

Karen Baker called attention to the budget surpluses getting larger every year for the past five years. “These are clearly not one-time funds,” she said, “There’s more than enough money in Amherst to restore positions and programs that have been cut. I’m not asking for level services, I’m asking for enough money to restore services.” 

Deb Leonard noted that surpluses in the budgets have totaled $16 million over the past three years. She said that the regional school system operating budget must cover retirement costs and that the elementary schools’ budget is part of the municipal budget. She said that an annual 3 to 4% funding increase is not sustainable for the regional schools.

Georgia Malcolm spoke of the increasing diversity of the schools and at the same time, the  town’s lack of investment in them,  despite a stated commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion. “Our public schools, once known for their excellence, are now struggling,” she said. 

Arielle Templeton agreed, saying, “It’s been very frustrating watching the lack of support our district has from the town year after year. I subbed in the district 20 years ago, and the programs that we offered at the middle school and high school far surpassed what we have now, But we have many more students with higher needs, and we’re not able to serve them well.”

Elizabeth Patel stated that many families move to Amherst because of the school system. 

Jennifer Jensen and Vince O’Connor also advocated for using some of the town’s surplus cash to help meet the needs of the schools, as did Mildred Martinez, Allegra Clark, and Laurie Steinman.

Karrington Dowe was the student speaker at the first Town Council’s inauguration in 2018. He expressed disappointment that middle school world language programs and the restorative justice (RJ) program at the middle school and high school were cut. He spoke of the importance to him of both Spanish and the RJ program and concluded, “The resources and the opportunities that Amherst had, with me as a struggling student, laid the foundation for me to thrive in college.” 

Remy Fernandez O’Brien also lamented the loss of the RJ program, saying that “some of my students who faced the most challenges at school lost their biggest advocate.” He also spoke of the cuts to special education, which reduced the number of paraeducators, and the loss of dance at the middle school.

Council Approves Roundabout for Amity and University Drive, Money for Roads and Sidewalks
Superintendent of Public Works Guilford Mooring said the town has been looking to change the intersection at Amity Street and University Drive to make it safer (for cars) and allow better traffic flow since 2003. He believes a roundabout achieves this goal by making cars slow down when approaching the roundabout, and minimizing the time cars are stopped while they wait for the traffic light to change. Amherst recently received a state grant to build the roundabout. 

Town Services and Outreach Committee (TSO) member Andy Steinberg (at large) said TSO consulted with the Transportation Advisory Committee and Disability Access Action Committee members, who were concerned about roundabouts’ safety issues for bicycles and pedestrians. Steinberg said the town is committed to installing flashing beacons to stop cars so that bicyclists and pedestrians can cross. Mooring added that bicyclists are allowed to ride in the roadway of roundabouts.

Cathy Schoen (District 1) said she didn’t see the need to alter the intersection, which she felt works well. She noted that pedestrians can cross by pushing a button to stop traffic, and that there is a bicycle path, separated from the roadway, on the east side of University Drive. She was not convinced that a roundabout could handle the amount of foot traffic that happens with football games and other events at UMass.

The roundabout proposal passed by a vote of 11-1-1, with Schoen voting no and Ana Devlin Gauthier (District 5) abstaining because she joined the meeting after the discussion had concluded.

George Ryan’s proposal to add $500,000 from last year’s surplus for roads and sidewalks passed by a unanimous 13-0-0 vote. Bockelman had originally proposed $1 million additional funds for road and sidewalk repair, but councilors wanted to preserve some of that allocation for capital projects in the schools and defeated the allocation by a 6-6 vote at the previous council meeting. [Voting against the proposed $1 million for roads were Devlin Gauthier, Mandi Jo Hanneke (at large), Hala Lord (District 3), Ellisha Walker (at large), and Pam Rooney and Jennifer Taub (District 4)]. Although no capital projects have yet to be put forward from the schools, Bockelman said he has been meeting with the school superintendent to come up with a list of needed projects.

Hanneke (at large) suggested that the council wait until the FY2026 budget is formulated to vote for a larger allocation for roads and sidewalks, and Taub  wanted to be able to evaluate proposals from the schools before dedicating additional money to roads; but Mooring cited the need to contract for road repair over the winter. Steinberg noted the number of public comments the council received after defeating the motion to add more money for road repair; but Pam Rooney (District 4) said most of the comments she heard wanted more support to go to the schools.

Town Manager Receives Three Percent Salary Hike
Following his favorable evaluation by the Town Council and a council discussion in an executive session on December 2, 2024, Bockelman received a 2.5% cost of living adjustment and a 0.5% performance increase. The vote for the salary increase was 11-0-1 (Pat DeAngelis (District 2) was absent, and Schoen had not been present during the discussion).

“I sincerely appreciate this action by the Town Council,” said Bockelman. “I value the feedback—both positive and constructive—from each member and will continue to work to improve my performance. Working with the Town’s incredibly talented and dedicated staff makes this challenging work not only rewarding but also fulfilling.” 

Budget Guidelines Unanimously Approved
The Finance Committee has been developing guidelines for the FY2026 budget for several months, and the current nine-page draft offers few changes from earlier versions. Schoen noted that references to using possible surpluses from the new elementary school construction have been removed because it will not be known if there is a surplus until after the project is completed in FY2027.

Lord asked the significance of the guidelines developed by the council in the budgeting process. Hanneke replied that the guidelines say, “This is what you should do if you can.” According to Hanneke, the first thing the Town Manager will do in developing the budget is to eliminate the projected deficit in the early budget indicators, and then, if there is a projected surplus, the guidelines suggest how it should be used. Bockelman added that the budget guidelines communicate the council’s priorities. 

The guidelines state that the first priority for using surplus revenue should be to include Amherst’s full FY2025 regional schools assessment (plus additional support) in the region’s FY2025 base used to calculate the 3% year-over-year increase. At the time of the projections, this would result in a FY2026 budget line for the regional schools of $19,403,488, an increase of $366,103 compared to that shown in the November projections. Additional surpluses would be distributed proportionately to the town municipal operating budget, Jones Library, elementary schools, and regional schools, unless the surplus is greater than 0.5%, at which point the Finance Committee would recommend a distribution.

The council approved the guidelines by a 13-0 vote.

Discussion of Town Manager Goals Bogs Down
The Government Organization and Legislation (GOL) committee of the council presented a document outlining goals for the Town Manager in the coming year. Although there was general consensus on the six general goal areas, there was considerable controversy over the action items under each area. The six goal areas are: climate action; community health and safety, and social justice; housing and economic vitality; administration and leadership; community and strategic relationships; and infrastructure management, maintenance, and land stewardship. GOL Chair Devlin Gauthier noted that Bockelman participated in the development of the goals document.

Some councilors thought the 39 action items were too many to complete in a year. Hanneke felt that the town should not continue its work on a local solar bylaw that might be superseded by the state solar bylaw that will be passed soon. DeAngelis disagreed. She wanted development of a town solar bylaw to remain as an action item. At the same time, she wanted  the waste hauler reform that the town has been working on for several years to be deleted from the action items. 

The discussion got bogged down, and Council President Lynn Griesemer (District 2) suggested that councilor comments be sent to GOL, which will refine the document. Ryan objected, saying GOL has carefully crafted the document over several meetings,  reminding councilors that it will still need to  come before the whole council for approval.  He did not see how more consideration in GOL would be useful. Griesemer admitted that a council retreat might be needed to approve the goals, but she said that it is an important document to be conveyed to the Town Manager early in 2025.

The council next meets on January 13, 2025, when the Council President and Vice President for the year will be elected.