Howard school board working to finalize budget discussions

Mar. 5—By Thomas Goodwin Smith — thsmith@baltsun.com

PUBLISHED:March 5, 2024 at 12:28 p.m.| UPDATED:March 6, 2024 at 2:00 p.m.

The Howard County Board of Education could request a fiscal 2025 operating budget about $61.8 million higher than this year's, which would maintain average class sizes and restore several programs and staff positions proposed for elimination.

The school board voted against requesting a fiscal 2025 budget that would fund third grade strings, elementary gifted and talented programs, gifted and talented summer programs, and the Black Student Achievement Program Summer Institute. Those programs will almost certainly be discontinued this summer and next school year.

Acting Superintendent Bill Barnes' proposed fiscal 2025 operating budget for the Howard County Public School System would cut programs in an attempt to bridge a $98.6 million funding gap, which Barnes said was created by a $26.9 million revenue decrease paired with $71.7 million in mandated and priority expenditures.

To close the gap, Barnes has proposed using all of the remaining $10.2 million in the school system's reserves and also asking the county government to provide $47 million above its mandated "maintenance of effort," funding. Even if the county executive and County Council agree to that number, the school system will still be facing a $41.4 million deficit.

The school board on Thursday voted to request additional funding from the county for several programs that would be cut. The board approved an option labeled "scenario B" as a starting point for program funding restorations, which includes an estimated $9.5 million to ensure that class sizes would remain the same systemwide; $93,522 for photography; $593,686 to maintain library media staff funding; $358,020 for paraeducators; $225,000 to fund the cut summer programs in summer of 2025; $110,049 for the conservancy teacher position; and $3 million in benefits associated with the staff positions that would be restored to the budget, if approved.

"The really interesting thing that we're trying to do is not make such catastrophic cuts that our permanent superintendent has to live with and can't function," Board of Education Chair Jennifer Mallo said. "So we need to deliver an executable budget on behalf of someone who we don't yet know who they will be."

The motion to use scenario B as a starting point passed by a vote of 5-2. Linfeng Chen, Vice Chair Yun Lu, Jacky McCoy, Jolene Mosley and Antonia Watts all voted in favor; Mallo and Robyn Scates voted against.

Student member of the Board of Education Lamia Ayaz, who votes on all issues except those pertaining to the budget, said smaller class sizes are significant to student learning and teacher burnout.

Scates said class sizes are one important factor among many, amid a particularly tight budget this year.

A motion to restore third grade strings, which would cost about $1 million and represents 12 full-time employees, failed by a vote of 3-3-1. Lu, Chen and Mosley voted in favor of the measure while Mallo, Watts and Scates voted against; McCoy abstained from voting.

"I really don't have to explain," Chen said. "A lot of people already explained the benefits of the music."

Hundreds of people sent written testimony to the school board in the last month, voicing their concerns about potential cuts to the public school system's budget next fiscal year and trying to get officials to change their minds about trims to programs such as gifted and talented, environmental science, libraries and music.

A motion to restore gifted and talented programs in elementary schools, which would cost about $1.7 million and represents 20 full-time employees, failed by a vote of 2-4-1. Lu and Chen voted in favor of the motion while Mallo, Watts, Scates and Mosley voted against; McCoy abstained from voting.

On Feb. 15, a motion to offer the Black Student Achievement Program Summer Institute and a gifted and talented program this summer failed by a 3-2-2 vote, with Lu, Chen and Scates supporting the programs and Mallo and McCoy voting against. Watts and Scates abstained from voting.

At the school board's Feb. 22 meeting, a motion to offer the programs by rescinding the board's Feb. 15 decision failed by a vote of 5-3. A 6-2 supermajority was required for a rescinding motion to carry. Mallo, Ayaz and Watts voted against the restoring the programs while Lu, McCoy, Mosley, Scates and Chen voted to reinstate the programs.

McCoy said she regrets voting on Feb. 15 to cut the programs and moved again on Thursday to rescind the board's previous decision. Thursday's motion to rescind failed 4-3-1, with McCoy, Lu, Mosley and Scates voting in favor while Ayaz, Mallo and Watts voted against and Chen abstained from voting.

The school board is also requesting nearly $3.6 million to fund temporary special education employees that would otherwise be removed by the budget cuts. The motioned passed with a vote of 4-3, with Lu, Watts, Mosley and McCoy voting in favor while Mallo, Chen and Scates voted against.

A $100,000 third-party comprehensive review of special education in Howard was also added to the budget, passing by a vote of 4-3. Mallo, Lu, Watts and Mosley voted in favor while McCoy, Chen and Scates opposed the measure.

The board also voted to restore three positions that would be cut from Diversity, Equity and Inclusion costing $351,900; adding a special education speech and language pathologist for $128,510; funding $248,933 of assistive technology for special education; and retaining two print services positions for $70,949.

Howard County may fund some, none, or all of the school board's budget increase request.

Budget adoption is set for Tuesday, after which it will be forwarded to the county. In April, the county executive will submit his proposed fiscal 2025 budget to the County Council, and in May the Board of Education and County Council will host additional work sessions. The final budgets will be adopted at the end of May.

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