Like many school districts across Massachusetts, the Amherst-Pelham Regional School District is facing a budget crisis, but unlike in some neighboring communities, our town government officials have not yet committed to helping solve this problem. Without the infusion of additional funds, the middle and high school will face drastic staffing and programmatic cuts.

Class sizes will rise again, special education support will be reduced, the restorative justice program will end, and changes to middle school language instruction will make it impossible for students to attain true proficiency. Our overburdened educators will work even harder, our school leaders will face impossible choices, and our new superintendent will be forced to start from a place of crisis at a time when it is critical we show her our full support.

We represent a growing number of families who have come together to advocate for solutions to the budget crisis in our schools because the answer can’t possibly be to just throw up our hands and short-change our children, and in turn our community, a little more each year.

At the very least, we are asking the Amherst Town Council to step up to support the Amherst Pelham Regional schools with a 6% budget increase. Pelham, Shutesbury and Leverett have already committed to this, while neighboring Northampton, faced with a similar budgetary crisis, has structured its town budget to provide even more support for their educators and students. Six percent will still require cuts, but they will be less deep.

We are not naive. We understand that a shrinking student population may necessitate some programmatic changes in our schools. But we refuse to accept declining school quality as inevitable and, frankly, we have been disappointed witnessing a budgetary process in which some of our leaders have blamed increased school costs on the schools themselves. Any “austerity” approach to balancing the school budget through drastic cuts to make the numbers work is not the answer.

This school funding crisis is not happening in a vacuum and it is certainly not the result of profligate spending or irresponsibility on the part of our district. Costs across our municipality have increased with loss of ARPA funding and steep inflation, and districts like ours are hampered by inequities and inadequacies of state funding.

The Chapter 70 formula doesn’t provide minimum aid districts with sufficient funds per student. The charter school reimbursement formula is unfairly diverting crucial funds from our schools. State special education funding assumes that only 16% of students in a given district have disabilities, whereas in ARPS that figure is 26.3%, meaning that every year ARPS provides special education services to approximately 125 students with no support from the state.

As concerned families, we have been advocating on a state level for more equitable education funding and are committed to continuing this advocacy. We are grateful to have Sen. Jo Comerford and Rep. Mindy Domb championing this cause on Beacon Hill, and for all the work our School Committee members have done to push for more school funding.

And now we need our town councilors to join us in the fight to preserve the quality of our schools — for our children and the good of our community as a whole. This starts with joining our regional partners and approving a 6% increase for the Amherst Regional Schools.

Cathleen Mitchell, Nina Mankin, and Rachel Hall authored this column along with 14 other Amherst parents.