Pelham Elementary School Braves Severe Budget Deficit

Pelham Elementary School, located within the Amherst-Pelham Regional Public Schools district, is facing a severe budget deficit that has raised concerns about the school’s long-term viability, prompting serious discussion among school and town officials in recent months.

In December, the Pelham School Committee received a draft budget for the next fiscal year that revealed early signs of financial challenges. By early January, those concerns deepened as the committee learned that Pelham Elementary School would be level-funded — meaning the town’s allocation of money to the school would remain the same as last year, despite rising costs from scheduled salary increases and higher health insurance expenses. 

This level-funding places the school system in a $186,071 deficit, to the point where the continued operation of Pelham Elementary School — the only school solely funded by Pelham’s budget, since middle and high school students attend regional schools jointly funded by Amherst, Pelham, Leverett, and Shutesbury— may be in question in the coming years.

The Pelham School Committee has since held a series of meetings to discuss the situation and hear from the community. On Jan. 22, the committee held a special meeting outside of its regular monthly meetings to review the budget and consider possible responses.

On Jan. 27, the Pelham School Committee joined the Amherst Elementary School Committee and the Regional School Committee for a joint meeting. The meeting was originally intended to cover mandatory topics such as the school calendar for next year and the superintendent’s goals. However, due to growing concern about the Pelham school budget, the meeting also became a forum for extensive public comment.

“The Pelham budget was not on the agenda for that meeting, but … we had an hour and a half of public comment at that meeting, mostly from parents of [children] in Pelham who were concerned about the issue,” said Margaret Stancer, chair of the Pelham School Committee.

On Jan. 29, Amherst Regional Public Schools Superintendent Dr. E. Xiomara Herman met directly with parents and guardians in Pelham to hear their feedback and thoughts on the situation. Pelham School Committee members were also present.

These meetings outlined several potential paths forward. One proposed solution is to use more school choice funds — money provided by non-Pelham resident students who choose to attend Pelham Elementary School — in the short term to address the deficit. Currently, Pelham Elementary School enrolls more school choice students than resident students, and those students play a major role in funding the school. As Stancer explained, “without the school choice students and the $5,000 each that they bring to the town — because their town has to pay our town — we could not fund the school.”

As Stancer noted, the committee was already “planning to use half [of this money] for next year's budget,” but a newly proposed idea is to “use more of it to get [the school] through this year.” However, she cautioned that without having those funds available for future needs, “it leaves [the school] vulnerable for the following year.”

Another proposed solution is to send Pelham Elementary School’s current fifth graders to the new sixth-grade academy in Amherst — Chestnut Street Academy — next year. According to Stancer, this proposal was “one of the reasons we got so much public comment …[People] wanted their children to be able to stay in Pelham for their sixth-grade year.”

Stancer said the strong reaction from families was understandable. She noted that in Amherst, families had “multiple years to talk about and get used to the idea that sixth graders would move out of the elementary schools.” In contrast, Pelham families would have only “mere months” to adjust before their children would be required to move to the new academy. As Stancer explained, families and the children had no idea that this was a possibility, and “understandably, it generated a lot of emotions with those people.”

Stancer added that moving Pelham’s rising sixth graders to the Amherst sixth-grade academy would also require additional agreements with the Amherst School Committee, including decisions around cost and transportation for Pelham students.

While several proposals have been discussed, Stancer emphasized that “at this point in time, nothing has been voted [on] or decided about the budget.” She described the situation as especially challenging and unprecedented: “We've had some budgets that were in deficit, but we've never had a budget that's as severe as this one.”

Additionally, several unknowns are delaying committee members from drafting a budget solution. The committee is awaiting information on the governor’s budget, the final health insurance cost, and the amount Pelham will be required to pay the region for middle and high school students. “We are at a point where there are a lot of uncertainties about both money coming in, [and] money that needs to go out,” Stancer said. 

Looking ahead, on Feb. 3, the committee will hold one of its regular monthly meetings, where, according to Stancer, “discussion of the points that have been raised will happen,” and the committee will likely give the superintendent recommendations on what solutions she has proposed.

Stancer also noted that the Pelham Select Board plans to discuss forming a task force at an upcoming meeting to examine the long-term sustainability of Pelham Elementary School.

In the meantime, families are eager for clarity, particularly those with fifth graders at Pelham Elementary School who may be affected by future decisions. Many parents have asked when they will know whether their children will attend sixth grade in Pelham or Amherst, but such decisions have not yet been made.

Stancer acknowledged how difficult the waiting and complicated nature of the situation has been for students, families, School Committee members, and school staff alike.

“There’s a lot of emotion, which is quite understandable. But I think everybody cares about the kids and want[s] to try to do the best thing we can for them, living with the financial realities.”