Regional School Committee hears of 'bring backs'

BY Bob Dunn
Staff Writer

Published on April 06, 2007

The Amherst Regional School Committee is considering items that could be reinstated if the outlook for next year's budget improves.

The regional schools have prepared a budget that absorbs cuts of $1.3 million and adheres to a 1 percent increase over last year's budget.

To keep within that guideline, an estimated $1.6 million would have to be trimmed from the regional school's $27 million budget, which includes $272,000 worth of items that must be included in it.

Some of those items include: $40,000 for repairs to the middle school building, $10,000 for an autism specialist previously paid for through a grant which has since ended, $25,000 for a database analyst position, $4,000 for HVAC repairs, $12,000 for increased costs for bilingual tutors and $25,000 for additional part-time business office support.

If the town's financial plan, which includes a $2.5 million property tax override and a three-year spending cap, is approved by voters on May 1, then the regional schools would have an additional $320,000 to offset some of the cuts.

At the top of the "bring back" reinstatement list, if those funds become available, would be the equivalent of 3.1 full-time teaching positions at a cost of $156,910. This would eliminate the need for a second required study hall for high school students next year.

Other items that would be restored are $78,000 to the middle and high school supply budgets, and one more high school teacher at an estimated cost of $50,615.

That teaching position would allow the high school to keep class sizes down by enabling the school to open five more class sections in which to divide students.

Amherst Superintendent Jere Hochman said that if additional funds become available, either through increases in regional transportation revenue or an increase in state aid, they would be used to reduce class sizes in the regional schools by opening up additional class sections.

Director of Finance and Operations Robert Detweiler put the prospect of extra revenue becoming available into perspective. An extra $300,000 still means the regional schools are still cutting $1 million from their budget, he said.

Restoring $78,000 to the supply budget, for instance, only brings it up to about one-third of what that budget was in 2005, Detweiler said.