Amherst Town Hall shrouded in fog
Neither of course does Amherst Regional Public Schools website.
I guess when you're the town's chief administrator, making $62,100 more than the Mayor of Northampton, maybe you don't want to remind people of that $142,100 salary or, like the Mayor of Hamp, that you are not the highest paid municipal employee.
Only in Northampton, however, a bevy of people make more than the Mayor. In Amherst only the Superintendent of Schools, Maria Geryk @ $147,000, costs taxpayers more than the Town Manager.
Although if you compare the other higher paying department head positions in Amherst town government they are further apart as a percentage from the Town Manager's top dog salary.
That is also the case, even more so, in the Amherst school budget. Far more glaring is the total number of school employees in the $85K and up club.
And yes, basic ARPS teachers make a tad more than average: $66,484 vs state average $63,000. And our one teacher to ten student ratio is lower than state average of 13-1. But these two factors alone do not add up to our exceedingly high $17,116 average cost per child to educate vs state average of $13,361, or Northampton's $12,596.
According to the Mass Department Of Education website, Amherst "administration" costs are at $735 vs state average of $447, or 60% higher than state average. And pesky critics have been pointing that out for years.
