AMHERST — Ongoing concerns over diminished educational funding for Amherst’s public schools and the protections needed for vulnerable residents from federal immigration enforcement actions are being addressed by the town’s delegation in the state Legislature.
Sen. Jo Comerford, D-Northampton, and Rep Mindy Domb, D-Amherst, on Monday outlined their work to the Town Council, joining the councilors in the Town Room at Town Hall alongside a number of community members who spoke about their worries for school budgets and the toll from potential Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations.
The legislators stressed that they have been active in their work. On education, Comerford said she continues to push for opening the Chapter 70 education funding formula, allowing for an examination of the hold harmless provision of funding, which provides additional money for schools with declining enrollment.
A systemic solution can only happen, though, if the foundation formula is reopened and the target local contribution is looked at.
“The issue we have to focus on is that the foundation funding formula does not work,” Comerford said. “It’s really important to understand you have to change the formula so that it rewards a community that we are.”
Comerford said billions are flowing from the Fair Share Amendment and Amherst is getting $3 million more from the hold harmless buffer than if it only received per student school aid. The town also gets money from the special education circuit breaker.
“Is it enough to forestall the pain?” Comerford said. “No it is not, that’s why we have to change the formulas.”
Her idea is to have the formula work better for rural communities. “That’s what we need and that’s what we’ll get when we open the formula,” Comerford said.
Domb, too, said Chapter 70 is the culprit. “We have a lot of issues and concerns with Chapter 70,” Domb said. “It’s not good for Amherst; it’s actually bad for Amherst.”
Domb said she fields calls from constituents to advocate for more Fair Share Amendment for K-12 education, which she will do.
But Domb has been told by colleagues that any changes should wait until the Student Opportunity Act, which has helped shift resources to schools over a five-year period, has run its course. That happens in 2027.
“We have a year to organize,” Domb said. “We have to connect with other communities that are in a likewise situation, and we have to start to strategize.”
Comerford said what is needed is the “razor sharpest advocacy.”
Looking at the many who gathered to at Town Hall, Comerford appreciated their support. “We’re going to have to build muscle together,” Comerford said.
Immigration work
On immigration, the legislators noted several bills that have been filed, such as the PROTECT Act, which would keep courts and justice system safe space from ICE without a judicial warrant, the Immigration Legal Defense Act that would provide $5 million or more to help immigrants, the Dignity Not Deportations Act, and executive actions by Gov. Maura Healey and associated bills she has filed.
“I think the main thing we have to work on is expedited action by the Legislature, which is going to be challenging,” Domb said.
But Healey put legislation on supplemental budget track, which should make it faster for getting adopted, Domb said.
“What my constituents have told me, and I agree with, is they want all protections as quickly as possible,” Domb said.
“The despicable, outrageous, horrific behavior of ICE in Minneapolis has just been the incentive to move the legislation fast,” Domb said.
District 3 Councilor George Ryan asked what the council can do to assist. Domb said she wants to be effective without putting neighbors at risk, adding that ICE feeds on hate and division.
“One of the most important weapons we have is unity and caring for each other, and the council has an opportunity to model both and to be active,” Domb said
District 1 Councilor Jill Brevik said some state bills and legislative actions aren’t going far enough “to really help protect us and folks in our community.”
Public weighs in
Many were on hand to advocate for using town surpluses to infuse school budgets with millions of dollars in excess revenue at the end of each fiscal year.
Nina Mankin of North Amherst, whose child is in eighth grade at the middle school, said she has watched what had been a top-notch school district become barely above average.
“I do ask you, as town leadership, to work out of the box and to think creatively to help defray these catastrophic cuts,” Mankin said.
Angelica Bernal, a member of the steering committee for the Special Education Advisory Council, said the schools are in crisis and there is a moral imperative to fund schools, in the face of a full-scale federal attack on special education.
“After being the first on chopping blocks for four years, we have nothing left to give,” Bernal said.
Ellen Jedrey-Guidera of South Amherst said financial circumstances are dire, that 40 or more staff members at the elementary and regional levels could be eliminated, and that an additional $5 million to $6 million could stave off these cuts.
“Our schools cannot sustain these losses, our children cannot sustain these losses and we as a community cannot sustain these losses,” Jedrey-Guidera said. “School funding needs to be a high priority in this year’s budget.
Others who spoke, with Domb and Comerford remaining in attendance, cited the importance of dealing with ICE threats.
Josna Rege of Farview Way said that Amherst is home to people from around the world and that many townspeople are living in a heightened state of anxiety.
Rege referenced a resolution that will come calling for federal immigration agents to be held accountable for violations of state criminal law and would investigate incidents in which masked ICE agents attack, unlawfully discriminate and violate Constitutional rights and, when appropriate, to initiate criminal charges.
“The resolution will give Amherst an opportunity to do something actionable, not merely symbolic, in calling upon the town to give teeth to the promises to protect us,” Rege said.
Vincent O’Connor of North Amherst suggested a local government plan of action to confront ICE, which can be done when aware they are operating in town.
“We need to have a plan that will arrest people who engage in these criminal activities, even if they claim to be federal employees, instead of the masked and armed thugs they really are,” O’Connor said.
Leyla Moushabeck, a District 1 resident, called on the Town Council to use surplus funds to support the schools and advocated for “using every measure at our disposal, locally, to protect our public spaces, our students and every member of our community against ICE and government suppression of dissent.”
Esther Azar, also of District 1, said that fascism grows from harms caused to students, emphasizing the importance of funding the schools.
“If we really want to change this world, we need to start with our young people, they are the most vulnerable in this system,” Azar said.