Opinion: Town Budget Should Prioritize Our Children

Elementary school should not feel like a job, but this is what it looks like when many students head out to school. There is a acronym TWSHOOL- the worst six hours of our lives.

Today I thought about what an advocate is. They are a person or group that speaks for a someone who is having a problem, or is not fully able to speak to a higher authority on their own behalf. Parents and educators have done their part in advocating for their children to be educated as whole children which includes more and more social-emotional support for all students. Schools should be able to provide enriching activities such as field trips and assemblies with invited speakers who address timely health subjects such as vaping, good technology use habits, and other community building activities. Libraries in the school need to be utilized more for student tutoring.

The town is in a better postion to fill in funding gaps in school deficits, and the town financial projections should take into account the increased needs that have not gone away since the pandemic. The Town Council should not make the school feel like they are doing something wrong when coming to them for help.

The town has set money aside for pot holes and extra trees.

The reality that the schools of the region are located in Amherst should mean that Amherst is leading in making up school budget deficits and the Town of Amherst should prioritize its public schools so that the deficits don’t affect teachers and special services.

Maybe the town should reserve a million dollars yearly for the school budget to make up deficits, until a change in state and regional  formulas can be made.

There will always be potholes and there will always be student needs that can and will increase if we are trying to educate the whole child, and want to see more students graduate with lifelong skills. Which is the priority right now?

Lauren Mills is a resident of Amherst‘s District Three.