Amherst-Pelham schools propose $38.8M budget below level services

AMHERST — A $38.8 million fiscal year 2027 spending plan for the Amherst-Pelham Regional Schools — $1.14 million below what is needed to provide level services — shouldn’t affect the quality of education for students, according to district leaders.

At the Regional School Committee’s budget hearing Tuesday, March 10, Tonya McIntyre, executive director of Student Academic Success, said the proposal reflects a continuing commitment to students and families, as well as the district’s values and legal responsibilities.

“Many of the adjustments are due to attrition, are shifts in the service delivery rather than elimination of a particular student support,” McIntyre said.

McIntyre said the budget also aims to realign the staffing structure that was in existence a decade ago, so that it can be sustainable going forward.

Enrollment at the middle and high schools, and Summit Academy, totals 1,183 students, a decline of 13% over the past decade. But needs and intensity have gone up, with about one quarter of students requiring specialized services and 12% coming from economically disadvantaged families.

Assistant High School Principal Miki Gromacki said administrators are confident that the plan doesn’t require laying off any individuals, and that adjustments will come through attrition, including anticipated retirements.

To get to the budget, $659,031 in cuts, or 9.17 full-time equivalent positions, are being made. This includes three paraeducators, among the 60 to 70 across the district, with 48 paraeducators at the high school.

The biggest loss, Gromacki said, is 1.34 full-time equivalent classroom teachers, which will come mostly from a retirement. Gromacki said there is no anticipated impact on average class sizes.

Also being eliminated is a full-time position in the STEPS program, which was designed to intervene with a high-risk group of ninth graders. That has been successful so that the program is no longer needed.

There are two additions, for $86,800, to meet student needs, with a combined 1.4 full time equivalents for a psychologist and a Board Certified Behavior Analyst.

To bring the budget into alignment with what the four towns can afford, $570,769 is shifted, rather than eliminated, by changing the funding mechanisms for 6.19 full-time equivalent positions. Part of this includes 4.76 full-time equivalents, saving $197,342, as they are shared with the Chesnut Street Academy, the sixth grade school that will be inside the middle school in the fall. Some positions are also put onto grant funding.

Based on the information provided by Finance Director Shannon Bernacchia, the assessments would be $20.43 million for Amherst, a $690,774, or 3.5% increase; $1.41 million for Pelham, a $101,821, or 7.8%, increase; $1.93 million for Leverett, a $66,841, or 3.6%, increase; and $1.79 million for Shutesbury, a $12,942, or .73%, increase.

Committee members had some reaction to the proposal, with Amherst representative Laura Jane Hunter most vocal with her concerns.

“I can’t in any good conscience vote for anything that cuts any of the positions we’ve been discussing,” Hunter said, pointing to reductions in clerical staff and secretaries, including through a method in which some employees wouldn’t be paid when school is out of session. “If we’re looking at cutting anything it has to be at the central office, it has to be looking at cutting at the top.”

Leverett representative Tim Shores said every part of the budget affects student education, even the administration.

“Cutting central staff ultimately negatively affects students,” Shores said.

Comments from the public were limited. Steve Weiss, a member of the Leverett Finance Committee, said he is worried the overall budget is still increasing too rapidly.

“I don’t see how this can continue,” Weiss said. “Our towns cannot afford 20% increases in the regional budget every four years.”

Angelica Bernal, speaking on behalf of the Special Education Parent Advisory Steering Committee, said cuts will affect the most vulnerable students. Bernal said 60% of
cuts appear to be targeting special education and mental health services.

Monique Shipman, an educator at the schools, read a statement with concern about clerical tasks, such as meeting the 48-hour attendance window, have been increasingly difficult due to limited clerical capacity, and also that special education secretaries have been removed from the schools and put in the central office.

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