Apr. 17—By Thomas Goodwin Smith — thsmith@baltsun.com

PUBLISHED:April 17, 2024 at 4:53 p.m.| UPDATED:April 17, 2024 at 5:41 p.m.

Howard County Executive Calvin Ball’s proposed fiscal 2025 operating budget provides the school system with $47 million above its required minimum funding level, and would supply $5 million in one-time funding to schools, Ball told the County Council Tuesday evening.

The $5 million in “pay-as-you-go” spending, which funds capital projects with money from the county’s rainy-day fund, will “support one-time school transportation needs,” according to the proposed budget. Maryland’s Department of Education must approve the expense.

“This funding creates pathways to restore key educational programs that are valued by our community and fully funds this year’s implementation of the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future,” Ball said Tuesday.

Ball’s $2.4 billion proposed budget would allocate $766 million to the school system, a 6.2% increase over the current fiscal year.

On Monday, Ball said his priorities for the school system budget include fully funding third grade strings, elementary gifted and talented, hands-on environmental education, and Black student achievement programs. Those programs were cut in Acting Superintendent Bill Barnes’ proposed budget, and the school board did not request full funding for the programs, though some parents and students have been vocal about their value.

The Howard County Public School System in fiscal 2025 needs to bridge a $99.3 million funding gap, which Barnes has said was created by a $27.6 million decline in revenue paired with $71.7 million in mandated and priority expenditures. Fiscal 2025 begins July 1.

Barns proposed a school system budget in January that would increase county funds by $47 million, but would slash programs and cut 348.75 full-time staff positions and increase all classroom sizes by an average of two students.

The school board’s budget request for $55.2 million above the funding minimum would result in cutting 132 school-based employees and 92 non-school-based positions, increasing the average middle and high school class sizes by one.

The school board’s decision to cut third-grade strings and elementary gifted and talented programs at all schools except those where at least 40% of the student body receives free or reduced-price meals, which amounts to 13 elementary schools, has been unpopular among some county residents.

Protestors several times gathered to ask Ball to provide the school system with the additional funding needed to restore programs that were cut. More than 600 people submitted written testimony to the school board ahead of the budget request, advocating for program funding to be included. A petition to restore third-grade strings has more than 5,900 signatures and a petition to restore elementary gifted and talented programs has over 2,000 signatures, as of Tuesday.

Story continues

Restoring the gifted and talented program to all 41 elementary schools would mean adding back nine full-time teachers, or about $596,700 to the budget. Restoring third-grade strings at all schools represents three full-time teachers, or $198,900, according to budget documents.

The school system’s county funding grew by $47 million in fiscal 2024, marking the largest ever single-year increase in local funding.

The Blueprint for Maryland’s Future is a multibillion-dollar public school reform effort entering the second year of its decade-long rollout. It is designed to make Maryland’s schools among the highest performing in the country by redesigning the public education funding formula, providing more time for teachers to plan lessons and develop skills outside the classroom, and offering universal prekindergarten for 3-year-olds, among other initiatives. Although the Blueprint increases state education funding, it also restricts how funds must be allocated, in an attempt to better achieve equity for all students.

The school board will formally adopt a fiscal 2025 budget on May 23. Public hearings are scheduled for May 2 and 16 at 7 p.m., and school board work sessions are set for May 7 and 13 at 1 p.m. The Howard County Council will hold additional budget hearings and work sessions, including an education work session with the school board on May 1 from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.

Anyone who wishes to testify before the school board may register at https://www.hcpss.org/board/meeting-participation/#hearing.

Share this:

— Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)

— Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)

—