AMHERST — A 100-student enrollment increase at the Pioneer Valley Chinese Immersion Charter School in Hadley is being opposed by the Town Council, which has adopted a resolution similar to ones passed by the Amherst, Amherst-Pelham Regional and Northampton school committees and the Northampton City Council.

The Town Council at its Dec. 2 meeting voted 7-1 in support of the resolution that will go to the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. The Board of Elementary and Secondary Education in February is expected to act on any amendments to existing charter schools, including expansion requests, brought forward by Acting Commissioner Russell D. Johnston.

The resolution states, in part, that “without fundamental reform, the charter school funding formula will continue to undermine our schools and resources to educate our children” and the state’s “funding formula is in effect a tax on local districts without regard to the drain on schools and local budgets.”

The K-12 charter school, located on Route 9 and with a second campus proposed on Venture Way, is aiming to have its enrollment rise to 684. Previously, the school has been denied in attempts to get enrollment up to nearly 1,000 students.

Town Council’s resolution was sponsored by District 5 Councilor Ana Devlin Gauthier, Council President Lynn Griesemer, District 1 Councilor Cathy Schoen and At- Large Councilor Andy Steinberg. All except Schoen, who was absent, voted in favor of the resolution, along with District 1’s Ndifreke Ette, District 5’s Bob Hegner, District 4’s Pam Rooney and District 3’s George Ryan.

District 2’ Pat De Angelis, District 3’s Hala Heather Lord, District 4’s Jennifer Taub and At-Large Councilor Elliosha Walker were also absent.

The lone vote against the resolution came from At-Large Councilor Mandi Jo Hanneke, who said there were inaccuracies in the resolution, including that state aid had declined due to the charter formula, when in fact Amherst schools have seen more state aid between 2020 and 2025. She also disputed that the charter school having a surplus is problematic, when the town of Amherst maintains significant surpluses.

Hanneke added that advocating for a change in the state formula should be made independent of the fact that 5% of the town’s school-age children go to the charter school, which she observed means that families are finding something there that isn’t in the town’s public schools.

“I find it specious to make arguments about this related to a public school that has served residents of Amherst well, to say we can’t have that and that we don’t need expanded schooling, when clearly there are families in Amherst that are choosing to go to this school,” Hanneke said.

Devlin Gauthier, who chairs the council’s Governance, Organization and Legislation, said the resolution was clear, consistent and actionable, and had solid data and numbers from the Amherst and Amherst Regional schools.

Hanneke said she also objected that the Town Council is not weighing in on Pioneer Valley Performing Arts Charter School’s request to maintain its 400-student enrollment at its South Hadley campus, but shrinking its service area from 50 communities and school districts to just 18 communities and school districts. By eliminating almost all of Franklin County, as well as Monson, Southwick and Ware, that could lead to more Amherst students.

The performing arts school has indicated the change is to respond to where about 95% of its students already live, hoping to offer free bus transportation to students within a newly revised region, and alter bus routes so that no student lives more than two miles away from a bus stop.

Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.