'Opening salvo' as Amherst schools eye cuts
But at least $800,000 in cuts must be made, school officials said, and another option on the table is closing Mark's Meadow.
Shuttering the smallest of the town's four elementary schools could save up to $687,000, according to preliminary figures school officials released for the first time Tuesday.
Proposed cuts that would save $799,000 involve eliminating not only the music program but cutting two English language learner teachers, two cafeteria aides, a computer teacher, math coaches and a custodian, among others.
About two dozen parents and others spoke out against both options, castigating School Committee members for lacking "vision" and focusing too narrowly on money.
Meanwhile, elementary school students played string instruments in the hall to call attention to the value of musical education and a group of Mark's Meadow students made a brief appearance to urge officials to "save Mark's Meadow."
It was just the "opening salvo" in the budget discussion, Amherst School Committee Chairman Andrew Churchill said of the evening's proceedings. The committee will consider the cuts in the budget school administrators presented Tuesday as well as two other plans under which more drastic cuts would be made. The committee is aiming to finalize a budget by the end of March to present to the Select Board and Finance Committee and then Town Meeting in May. Similarly deep cuts will have to be made in the regional school budget.
Seven teachers would be cut in the elementary school plan to meet the Finance Committee's request that the final budget amount to no more than 2 percent more than last year's total. An additional nine teachers would be cut under the plan that cuts $1.2 million from a level-services budget and eight more teachers for a total of 24 under the "worst-case scenario" budget proposed.
"This budget scenario we're facing is like saying to someone, #Do you want your left hand or your right hand cut off?'" said Irvin Rhodes, who is running for School Committee.
Community members should "reorient" their thinking away from any cuts and talk to their friends and neighbors about raising taxes to support the schools, one parent said.
At least a dozen parents talked about how important Mark's Meadow is to the community, and about a dozen others argued to keep the music program intact.
The instrumental music teacher said it had taken decades to build the music program that Amherst takes pride in now.
Another music teacher suggested the School Committee find a way to keep some of the music program going.
Ninth-grade musician Tess Domb Sadof said her classmates at the high school were upset to learn that younger children might not have the same opportunities they did to learn to play an instrument. Some 387 students at the high school have already signed a petition asking to preserve the program, she said.
"For me, music education is part of our core," said Tess' mother, Mindy Domb.
Some speakers offered suggestions for saving money that the School Committee never considered, with Town Meeting member Vincent O'Connor, for instance, suggesting that the Pioneer Valley Chinese Immersion Charter School be folded into the district so that Amherst children's per pupil aid from the state would not continue to be diverted to the charter school.
Megan Rosa and Steve Rivkin, who are also running for School Committee, explained their positions.
Rivkin said he supports closing Mark's Meadow and redistricting the elementary schools, because there are vast inequities among them now.
"All of it sucks, it just sucks," Rosa, a Mark's Meadow parent, referring to the divisiveness she said talk of closing Mark's Meadow has caused. But if the school must close, the community will make it work, Rosa said.