Same services means fiscal gap in schools
By Nick Grabbe
Staff Writer
Published on January 25, 2008
The Amherst Regional Public Schools are facing another year of unpleasant choices, primarily between spending cuts and asking voters to raise taxes.
If the elementary schools keep services to children the same next year and adhere to Finance Committee guidelines, there will be a $1.25 million gap, Superintendent Jere Hochman told the School Committee Tuesday. For the regional schools, the gap between projected expenses and revenues is about $400,000, he calculated.
"Clearly, this is a very sobering budget situation for the elementary schools, especially after we held them to a 1 percent increase last year," said Andy Churchill, chairman of the Amherst School Committee.
<h4>Asking for direction</h4>
Hochman said he will look for direction on the regional budget, which covers the middle and high schools and receives funding from Leverett, Shutesbury and Pelham, as well as Amherst.
"If the gap is $400,000, you could say to make cuts, or add revenues, or go back to the towns and say we can't live within this percentage," Hochman said. "I'm not going to recommend that we push on the towns to find additional revenues to support the region."
The budgets are not increasing because the schools are adding teachers or programs. The causes are the same as in past years: utilities, health insurance, special education and teacher salary increases.
As all motorists know, the price of gas has increased, and this affects the cost of heating school buildings as well. Despite conservation measures, the costs of heating oil are projected to increase by 17.5 percent in the regional budget. Utilities now take up $1.3 million in a $28.6 million regional budget.
The school district pays for 75 percent of the cost of employee health insurance premiums, and these are projected to go up by 12 percent next year. This increase alone accounts for almost half of the shortfall in the elementary school budget.
The projected regional increase in special education is $385,744. While regular education costs an average of $11,000 a child, programs for some special-ed students cost $50,000 to $100,000, and state reimbursement programs are inadequate, Hochman said.
The school district has just entered negotiations with teachers' unions over a new contract, so the cost of pay increases is unknown. From 2002 to 2007, the average salary for a teacher in the Amherst region increased 18.67 percent, compared to a state average of 16.23 percent, according to the Department of Education.
The schools have been cutting back over the past two years, and last spring Amherst voters defeated a three-year plan that would have imposed limits on spending while raising taxes.
Last year, the elementary schools cut aides, and this year reduced music, art, computer and physical education. The regional schools reduced staffing in academics, physical education, electives, administration and clerical positions, Hochman said.
Cuts for next year's budget haven't been proposed, and won't be until voters decline to have their taxes increased.
Meanwhile, the state has been shifting the burden of funding schools to the towns, Hochman said. While the main source of state aid to education in the Amherst region has increased by only 2.87 percent 2002-07 (and 9 percent statewide), the actual local contribution has increased 49 percent (23 percent statewide), according to the Department of Education.
On the regional level, Hochman's plan has one study hall per high school student and sets 15 students as the minimum class size, though this could be waived for higher-level courses, he said. It assumes typical class sizes of between 25 and 30, though the district is calculating how much staffing it would require to make 25 the ceiling, he said.
"We are adhering to our recommended class-size targets because it is in the best interest of students," Hochman wrote to the School Committee. "However, anticipated funding is insufficient to support this."
The superintendent said the amount of money that would be saved by raising fees or streamlining bus routes would be small compared to the headaches for students and parents. Teacher retirements don't save much money because principals are not encouraged to hire new teachers at the bottom of the salary scale, he said.
Under his preliminary calculation, the regional assessment to Amherst would increase by 3 percent over the current year. Leverett's would go up by 1 percent and Shutesbury's by 1.6 percent, but Pelham's would increase by 5.7 percent.
For the elementary schools, Amherst will have to consider its priorities for the revenues available, Churchill said. He hopes the Select Board will agree to a discussion of the problem at a special Town Meeting next month.
"An override isn't the only funding option," he said. "The options include allocating existing town funds differently, spending reserves, or asking for an override."
The numbers will change as more information becomes available from the governor's budget and legislative discussion. But even if the School Committee cuts $250,000 out of the elementary budget, there's still a $1 million gap, Churchill said.
"That's huge," he said.
Inherent in Amherst's DNA is being different from other school districts, Hochman wrote to the School Committee.
"(This means) accepting social challenges that other school systems purport to accept, at best, in an illusory manner, and avoiding the trappings of the stereotypical suburban meritocratic system," he wrote. "And we strive to prove, rise above, and model for all that excellence and equity are not mutually exclusive."
