On Monday June 16, 2025 the Amherst Town Council approved the FY26 Budget. It includes the 4.81% increase in funding for the Regional Schools and a 5% increase for the Elementary Schools, 1% ($269,704) of which is being considered as one-time funds which will not be included in the calculation for next year. As a reminder, the Elementary School Committee actually voted a 6% increase, so this is less than the Elementary Schools asked for.
At the last minute, Councilor Mandi Jo Hanneke attempted to claw back $269,704 in funding for the Elementary Schools. Her motion was seconded by Councilor George Ryan who joined Councilor Hanneke in arguing for withholding this money from the Elementary Schools. Ultimately, only Councilor Hanneke voted for her motion and the motion failed. During the meeting itself, Councilor Pat D’Angelis also argued for withholding money from the schools.
The stated objection to allocating these funds to the Elementary Schools was that Councilors were uncomfortable with using free cash to cover the $269,704, because free cash is supposed to be used for one-time funds, and they don’t see this as a one-time use. Councilor Ana Devlin Gauthier rightly pointed out that the Council uses free cash to supplement operating municipal budgets all the time – like when they give part of the surplus to the paving budget. The Finance Committee report to Town Council in fact states that “The Town Council found it necessary to provide supplemental funding [to the Department of Public Works] from Free Cash for the current fiscal year.” So, what’s different between giving $500,000 of free cash to supplement the municipal operating budget and $269,000 of free cash to support the schools? That’s a question for Town Councilors.
School Committee members Deb Leonard and Jennifer Shiao both made excellent public comments in support of not only the budget, but with respect to trusting and respecting the school leadership to make decisions that are best for our students. Deb Leonard’s comments are available here. A recap of the meeting also including Jennifer Shiao’s comments is here.
Toward the end of the meeting, the Town Council changed a vote they took at the last meeting about choosing Town Councilors to be part of a four towns meeting to discuss long term fiscal sustainability at the Regional Schools. Previously, they had voted Councilors Griesemer, Hanneke, Schoen, and Ryan to this meeting. Last night they replaced George Ryan with Ana Devlin Gauthier, which is a positive development, given their relative positions with respect to school funding.
On Tuesday night, the Amherst School Committee discussed the budget and exactly what positions are eliminated/restored with the 5% budget increase passed by the Council. The Superintendent’s update also included a tentative timeline and process for the planning phase of the Elementary School restructuring. The presentation and video recording are both available for those of you interested in more details.
This vote in Town Council for additional funding for the schools (beyond the 4% increase the Town originally wanted to pay) was only possible because School Committee members had the courage to take a difficult position and vote budgets higher than the Town’s guidance. Many Town Councilors have already said that they will not repeat these increases next year. All of the Town Council and School Committee seats are up for election in the fall, and some current members of each body will likely step down. Please talk to your networks about running for School Committee or Town Council. Future funding for our schools really depends on having folks on both of these bodies who understand the struggles facing our schools and who are willing to fight for our kids.