Politics & Government

Board of Education Approves 2012 Budgets

The board rejected last-minute amendments proposed in an effort to address the achievement gap.

 

ANNAPOLIS—The Anne Arundel County Board of Education approved the fiscal 2012 operating and capital budgets 8-1 Wednesday, though some board members expressed concerns with the budgets.

Board member Eugene Peterson (21st District) proposed last-minute amendments that were denied by the board. Only Peterson and board member Solon K. Webb (30th District) voted in favor of the amendments.

Find out what's happening in Croftonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Peterson proposed amendments to expand the AVID program to include fifth grade at six elementary schools in the Annapolis area. AVID is a countywide college-preparation initiative that targets students with mid-range academic performance.

“AVID works. Let us commit today to begin the expansion of the AVID program to grade five in our elementary schools with the largest concentrations of African American, Hispanic and [students receiving free and reduced meals],” he said.

Find out what's happening in Croftonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Peterson also proposed adding one pupil personnel worker (PPW) position.

“We’re not here to balance the budget. We’re here to advocate for children. That’s the sole reason [school boards] exist,” Peterson said.

Board members said while they agreed with the intentions behind Peterson’s amendments, they weren’t comfortable with expanding AVID in just one area of the county or making changes to the proposed budget so late in the process.

“I understand the sentiment, but I don’t want to single out once specific area,” said Board Vice President Teresa Milio Birge (32nd District).

Board member Victor E. Bernson Jr. (33A and 33B districts), who voted against the $968.6 million operating and $156.9 million capital budgets, said he thought the budget proposed by Superintendent Kevin M. Maxwell last December was “empty posturing” and “almost identical to last year’s budget.”

“It doesn’t even make a pretense [of making real cuts],” he said, arguing that the budget asks for money to pay for the “excessive compensation for teachers … We need to cut spending now. We’re not providing for our kids, but providing for our unions.”

Timothy Mark Mennuti, president of the Teachers Association of Anne Arundel County (TAAAC), said he was not surprised Bernson opposed the budget.

“I’m just surprised he’s never presented an alternative budget,” he said of Bernson.

Board member Deborah T. Ritchie (31st District), who is going through the budget procedure for her first time, said it was interesting to be on the other side of the process but expressed her disappointment in the community.

“We received 67 comments online. We have over 75,000 students in the school system,” she said. “I’m disappointed and dismayed [at] that … You cannot get what you do not ask for.”

Ritchie noted that many of the comments received were from members of the Point Pleasant Elementary School community who urged the board to approve a revitalization project that would bring all students into one building. The school currently is comprised of two buildings separated by a football field.

The board approved a budget that is about $108,000 less than the amount proposed by Maxwell in December. The change in the amount is the result of an agreement made with TAAAC last month that resolved wage and stipend issues.

For the second consecutive year, the proposed Anne Arundel County Public Schools budget avoided layoffs and furloughs while increasing requested funding in areas such as textbooks and cutting more than $800,000 in existing programs and initiatives.

The proposed budget for the 2012 fiscal year increased $37.3 million, or 4 percent, to $968.6 million, with the bulk of the money going toward salaries, wages and benefits.

The budget provisions $1.3 million for 20 mentor teachers required by Maryland State Department of Education regulations as part of Race To The Top—positions that need to be created in order to establish the maximum ratio of mentors to mentees in the county, Maxwell said in Dec. 15 a presentation to the Board of Education.

Other than the mentor teacher positions and the positions created by the expansion of the county's charter schools, Maxwell said the budget did not include an increase in the number of general fund positions for the third year in a row.

Of the $156.9 million capital budget, $46.7 million is allocated for ongoing construction projects at Northeast High School and Belle Grove, Folger McKinsey and Point Pleasant elementary schools. About $10.1 million is allocated for the modernization of the current Germantown facility, which will house Phoenix Annapolis students.

The Board of Education will forward the budgets to County Executive Leopold, who will develop his proposed county budget to present to the County Council April 15.

In a Jan. 26 discussion with the West Anne Arundel County Chamber of Commerce, County Councilman Jamie Benoit (D-4th District) said closing an estimated $35 million budget shortfall could result in education cuts, despite a state law requiring school spending to at least be level to the year before.

In recent years, the council has blocked attempts by Leopold to request a waiver of the school spending law, but Benoit said this year, the council could allow Leopold to make the plea to the state legislature due to the different dynamic with so many new councilmen. Benoit is one of only two councilmen to return to office, with five being new to the council.

The county budget must be adopted by June 1, at which point the board would work to reconcile any changes the county executive or council made to the budgets.

The budgets then will be adopted at the scheduled June 15 board meeting.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here