Town Members Protest Proposed Amherst Public School Budget Cuts

On Saturday, roughly 75 parents and children protested proposed budget cuts to the Amherst public school system on the town green. The protest was organized by Support Our Schools (SOS) Amherst, a group of parents and other volunteers that formed in response to this new round of budget cuts, and aimed to pressure the local school committees against accepting the cuts during their budget vote in mid-March.

The proposed Town budget for the 2026 fiscal year (FY26) cuts nearly $3 million from Amherst public schools.  Though both the elementary and middle/high school district budgets increased from the 2025 fiscal year budget, the increases did not match inflation rates, leaving the elementary school district with a $1.5 million deficit and the Amherst-Pelham Regional middle and high school district with a $1,391,998 deficit. The districts have control over where to make cuts within the schools, but the Town Council determined the amount allocated to schools that resulted in the budget deficits. The Regional School Committee will vote on the middle and high school budget on March 11. One week later, on March 18, the Amherst School Committee will vote on the elementary school budget.

To explain the cuts, the Town Council FY26 Budget Guidelines pointed to “already identified structural budgeting issues resulting from the decline in student enrollment and the recent use of one-time funds to supplement operating budgets.” Town Communications Manager Samantha Giffen did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the protest and criticism of the budget.

The proposed changes will result in at least 17 teaching positions being eliminated. According to protest organizer Angélica Bernal, 70% of the positions eliminated are paraeducators and reading specialists. All special needs, music, and arts teachers in elementary schools who are not laid off will go from full-time to 0.9-time, although 23. 7% of students in Amherst elementary schools and 27.7% of students in Amherst middle and high schools have a disability.

Cora Fernández Anderson, a parent at the protest, was disappointed by the proposed budget. “In this particular political climate on the federal level, we’re seeing cuts and firings of [government employees and] disrespect for the values that we care about,” she said. “We really thought that at Amherst, we were going to see government that will respect inclusion and diversity and care for people with special needs.”

If approved, the budget cuts would eliminate four core teaching positions in language arts, math, social studies, and science at Amherst-Pelham Regional Middle School. Currently, students loop for two years with the same “team” of core subject teachers. With the cuts and reduced staffing, this would no longer happen.

On Feb. 24, 14 core teachers from the school wrote a letter to Interim Principal Michael Sullivan urging him not to eliminate teaching positions. While they understood the budget constraints on the school, they asked him to “make cuts the furthest away from students’ learning in classrooms.” Sullivan has not publicly responded.

Protesters said they understood that there was a need to fund capital projects, such as the new Jones Library, but they believe the school budget is not an expendable option.

Bernal said that, in addition to reducing staffing, budget cuts would jeopardize crucial repairs to infrastructure that has been struggling for years.  She explained that the middle school is facing serious mold issues and a leaking roof, which made a school hallway unusable after heavy rain last week.

“This is the third year we’ve been in this situation, but this time, the cuts are much more serious, because … there’s nothing left to cut,” Fernández Anderson said.

Attendees cited Amherst College’s lack of contributions to the town’s public school system as a major factor in the ongoing deficit. Last year, facing a proposed $1.7 million cut to the school budget, demonstrators gathered outside Converse Hall to call on President Michael Elliott to negotiate a Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILOT) program with the schools. Under these agreements, colleges and universities make sustained voluntary contributions to their local communities. Protestors on Saturday argued that Amherst has failed to match the contributions of peer institutions such as Williams College, which committed to a $5 million donation towards Williamstown’s new fire station in 2023.

Bernal criticized the college’s recent $2.5 million donation to the Town of Amherst as a “pittance” in comparison to the tax-free benefits the college receives.

“The fact is that we have a rich town. Our town property taxes are super high, we have Amherst College — [this] institution that is on tax-free land and is not bearing its burden. And it’s a burden in terms of helping pay for the schools,” Bernal said.

The town budgeting process requires that the Regional and Amherst School Committees vote on the proposed budget before a finalized budget, including any revisions made in light of the committees’ vote, is sent to the Town Council for review. The school committees may choose to vote against certain spending cuts; for fiscal year 24-25, they approved a budget nearly $1 million greater than that initially proposed by the Town Council.

“Our goal is to have no funding cut,” said Eva Browne, who attended the protest with her kindergarten-aged son. She worried that reduced staffing for paraprofessional positions and elective teachers — including library, physical education, art, and music programs — would have a disproportionate impact on the town’s youngest students.

“The principal at Crocker Farm Elementary School [said] that elementary school is like the foundation of life … To have them cut [these positions] in elementary school is really hard,” Brown said.

Other attendees echoed her concern regarding the long-term repercussions of reducing school funding. Bernal emphasized that the effects of the proposed cuts will not be restricted to the town of Amherst. “This is [part of] a national wave of devaluing education, of devaluing the most vulnerable populations, of devaluing special education, of devaluing the arts, of devaluing the humanities and all the things that enrich our stocks,” she said.

Organizers expressed hope that the protest would signal residents’ refusal to accept “austerity” measures from town officials.

“When cuts happen, I bleed twice,” Jonathan Sivel, a paraeducator and biology teacher at the Amherst-Pelham Regional High School (ARHS) and parent, said to the crowd. “They’re asking you to suffer the systemic violence of cutting your public services … We want to make a little noise that cannot be ignored because we love our kids and we love our schools.”