District overview
Amherst-Pelham Regional School District
How a four-town regional district governs grades 7-12, and why it so often meets jointly with a separate town elementary system
Why does this district keep meeting jointly with a different school system?
The Amherst-Pelham Regional School District runs only Amherst Regional Middle School and Amherst Regional High School (grades 7-12), serving students from Amherst, Pelham, Leverett, and Shutesbury. It is governed by its own nine-member Regional School Committee. Amherst's own elementary schools (Crocker Farm, Fort River, and the Amherst Early Education Center) are a separate district run by the Amherst School Committee, and Pelham's elementary school is run by the Pelham School Committee. All three districts share one superintendent and one central office, and the three committees very often meet jointly on the same night to cover shared business like the budget, personnel, and district-wide policy - of the 24 Regional Committee meetings this page tracked over the past year, roughly half were joint sessions with Amherst and/or Pelham.
The Regional Committee only decides for grades 7-12
Its 9 elected members set policy, the budget, and hire the superintendent for the middle and high school only. Decisions about Amherst's elementary schools or Pelham's elementary school are made by those towns' own separate committees, even on a shared meeting night.
Each of the four towns pays its own statutory share
The FY27 budget the committee adopted was assessed to member towns by a statutory formula in the regional agreement: about $20.6 million from Amherst, $1.42 million from Pelham, $1.94 million from Leverett, and $1.86 million from Shutesbury. A town's assessment is not simply proportional to its enrollment share.
Big capital projects need every town's separate sign-off
When the committee voted 9-0 to borrow about $10.24 million for the middle school roof, that vote only authorized the district's side. All four member towns still had to hold their own votes to approve their share before the state grant and the project could proceed.
Joint meetings are the normal way business gets done here
Many of the year's most consequential votes - the roof financing, the anti-bullying policy decision, part of the budget process - happened at meetings held jointly with the Amherst and/or Pelham committees, not at Regional-only sessions.
None of this means the arrangement is confused or badly run. Sharing one superintendent and central office across a small regional 7-12 district and a separate town elementary district is a common, cost-saving structure for small Massachusetts towns, and frequent joint meetings are a practical way to coordinate shared staff, shared buildings, and a shared budget calendar across four towns - not a sign that anyone is unclear about which body decides what.
Where the district stands
Adopted 8-0 on March 24, 2026, after the underlying cost centers passed 8-1. Funds only the regional grades 7-12 program; the separate Amherst and Pelham elementary districts have their own budgets.
Approximate; the read motion authorized about $10,241,600. The state (MSBA) is expected to reimburse up to 61.95% of eligible costs, so the district and towns are not on the hook for the full amount.
Grades 7-12 only, across the two regional schools.
Amherst, Pelham, Leverett, and Shutesbury. Only Amherst and Pelham also run their own separate elementary districts under the same shared superintendent.
Calculated: the $38,845,229 FY27 town-assessed budget divided by the 1,182 students NCES reports for the regional grades 7-12 program. This is the town-funded operating total, not a complete picture of all revenue (it may exclude some state Chapter 70 aid or grants recorded separately).
Major projects
Middle school roof replacement (MSBA-funded)
District authorized borrowing; awaiting all four towns' votesThe middle school roof is over 25 years old, actively leaking, with failing drains and hazardous material from a prior roof project. The district applied to the state (MSBA) for accelerated-repair grant funding, and the Regional Committee voted 9-0 to authorize borrowing about $10.24 million, with the state expected to reimburse up to 61.95% of eligible costs. All four member towns still need to authorize their own share.
- Committee briefed that the MSBA application was submitted at an estimated $9.88 million with a 61.95% reimbursement rate
- Committee votes 9-0 to authorize roughly $10.24 million in borrowing for the project
Funding
Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) grant, reimbursing up to 61.95% of eligible costs, plus district/town borrowing for the remainder
The roof section above the auditorium is not old enough to qualify for MSBA funding and is being pursued as a separate, town-funded project (see below).
Middle school auditorium roof repair (town-funded)
Committee request sent to Amherst Town CouncilThe auditorium section of the middle school roof is not covered by the MSBA-funded project above. After the Amherst Finance Committee flagged a window to use town free cash, the Regional Committee voted unanimously to formally ask Amherst Town Council to fully fund an estimated $1.6 million repair, ahead of a February 2, 2026 town deadline.
- Committee votes unanimously to request full town funding, designating it a high capital priority
Funding
Town of Amherst free cash (not eligible for MSBA reimbursement)
Estimated at $1.6 million; the committee's motion asked the town to fund the actual cost even if bids come in higher.
This page is built from the Regional School Committee's own meeting recordings and their auto-generated caption transcripts, published by Amherst Media (the local public-access broadcaster) to the Internet Archive, plus NCES district data. Every dollar figure and vote result cited here as verified was read directly from a meeting transcript or an official federal data source.
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