The Anne Arundel Board of Education has less than two weeks to amend next year's budget request to reflect a County Council figure that was considerably lower. But school officials acknowledged that the council's cuts could have been much deeper and said that making adjustments won't be arduous since they've been down this road before.
"It happens every single year," said Alex Szachnowicz, the schools' chief operating officer. "At no time since I've been here has the budget been fully funded."
The school board will now work on revisions and is to adopt a budget at its June 15 meeting.
The council approved an overall operating budget of $936.7 million for the schools, which includes $626.5 million in funding from the county. The latter figure is identical to the amount proposed by County Executive John R. Leopold and includes a nearly $53 million debt service item that the school system says it won't be able to use. The school board had asked for $968.6 million and said the amount Leopold proposed is $6 million less than last year.
Similarly, the council approved a $116.4 million package for the capital budget, a steep cut from the $156.9 million the school board had sought.
Asked whether the school system had considered possible cuts in expectation that the budget would not be fully funded, Szachnowicz said, "We did that tentatively, but we don't invest that much time into it before the budget gets struck. The County Council has a fairly good amount of latitude to either add to the budget or delete from the budget. Anything prior to their adoption would be speculative in nature."
The council considered three measures that could have trimmed the school board's request by $8 million more, but they were struck down.
Superintendent Kevin Maxwell released a statement applauding council members who voted against the measures. "They are to be commended for standing up for our children, employees, and community and business partners," he said.
School board President Patricia Nalley said the budget process has gone as well as can be expected considering the economic climate.
"We have to align our budget with our resources," Nalley said at Wednesday's board meeting.
In public testimony at the meeting, a county resident suggested that the school board offices on Riva Road in Annapolis were overstaffed and that the board should make deep cuts to its budget and payroll.
"There is a perception that Riva Road is overstaffed," Nalley responded. "Riva Road is absolutely not. When I came on the board four years ago, coming from working as a principal, I kind of had that impression myself. And I went from department to department, and I was surprised to find out how lean we were, and since that time we are even leaner.
"When they say the school budget has increased, so has our number of students; you don't get 2,000 additional students and not have that cost you any money," she said.
Board member Victor Bernson said the panel should have made hard decisions about trimming the budget before presenting a proposal that does not address the school system's needs in tough economic times.
"We have a disassociation from reality," said Bernson. "It's painfully obvious to anyone who's willing to be responsible about this that we need to do something about spending, and we're not. We're not even considering it."
Bernson said payroll and benefits are the key issues to be addressed because they account for 83 percent of the school budget.
"All we do is we talk about the other 17 percent of our budget," he said. "That means a gigantic debate regarding facilities and programs, and that's not where the money is."
Bernson said he has consistently argued in favor of a budget that he believes would be more fiscally responsible.
Asked Wednesday whether he believes the school board has heard his pleas, he said, "No, not at all. I'm not even included in discussions."