The request for the annual schools budget in Baltimore County is now on the table. And it's an eye opener.
Schools Superintendent Dallas Dance's opening bid asks the county for one of the biggest budget hikes in a decade. He seeks $1.5 billion, which is 8.7 percent more than the current spending plan. It includes a 5 percent wage increase for teachers and staff, which would amount to their first cost-of-living increase in five years, and more money to educate the county's growing population of students who speak English as a second language.
The funding request goes to County Executive Kevin Kamenetz and, subsequently, to County Council. The Kamenetz administration declined to make an immediate comment, a spokeswoman saying only that "this will be a very challenging year."
Challenging, indeed.
Dance makes the case that "my job is to identify need." And that need is formidable because demand for school services is not static. Not only is enrollment rising, but part of that rising enrollment is from immigrant families whose children need instruction in learning English. The school administration wants to hire 31 new teachers who specialize in working with immigrants. Meanwhile, the number of low-income students — those who qualify for subsidized school lunches — has doubled to 40 percent in the past decade.
Kamenetz well knows that any additional money he gives to schools has to come at the expense of other county budget allocations. One alternative is to raise the property tax rate, something the county has not done in 25 years. Raising the property tax rate would be politically difficult and — since the county already enjoys rising property tax revenue derived entirely from rising property values — this looks like a long-shot option.
Nor can we expect much more from state coffers, where there is a $750 million deficit to cope with. The state has an obligation to schools, mostly to help offset the cost of rising enrollment, but don't count on more than that.
When the Kamenetz administration does show its own cards, it will certainly reflect the county's own budgetary constraints. In the end, the schools budget is a negotiated settlement and we're watching the opening rounds.
We need to weigh all our priorities, school and nonschool alike, as we look to fund county government. And, the county needs to keep in mind there are no money trees out there. It's our pocketbooks, and there's not a lot in them. That's not to say that Dance's suggestions are out of line. But the reality is that we can't have everything in these tight budget times. Setting priorities and making compromises are going to be the budget reality this coming year.