Howard County public school officials presented Superintendent Sydney Cousin's operating budget proposal to the Board of Education on Thursday night. The plan asks for $7.5 million more than last year and includes $3 million for 38 new positions needed to address enrollment growth.
The budget was presented a day after school officials announced that Cousin had taken a medical leave of absence for unspecified reasons. Spokeswoman Patti Caplan said Chief Academic Officer Linda Wise, Chief Financial Officer Raymond Brown and Chief Operating Officer Theresa Alban will carry out Cousin's day-to-day duties, reporting to chief of staff Mamie Perkins.
The school system does not have a deputy superintendent, who would normally fill in, but Caplan said interviewing for the post has begun.
"We miss him dearly, and we wish him a speedy recovery," board Chairwoman Janet Siddiqui said about Cousin after Thursday night's school board meeting. "I spoke with him two days back, and he's doing some work from home. We missed him at this presentation, but the staff did an excellent job."
The total budget for next fiscal year is $682.8 million, and it calls for 68.5 percent to come from county funds. Its largest increase is in "fixed charges" — salary funds associated with Social Security, health insurance, retirement and tuition reimbursement benefits. The proposal calls for $116.7 million for next fiscal year, an increase of $2.6 million.
The budget calls for adding 15 teacher positions at the elementary school level, 10 at the middle school level and four at the high school level to account for enrollment increases. The school board expects 50,062 students in the system next year, an increase of 71 over this year's enrollment.
"No surprises," said Siddiqui. "I am pleased that we will be meeting maintenance of effort. I'm pleased that it will have no impact on the classroom, on the classroom size and programs and the staff ratio."
Other highlights in the proposal include $120,000 for the planning and development of a World Language Program in elementary schools and $279,310 for an allied sports program for students with disabilities.
The system's World Language Program is designed to enable students to use a language in everyday situations. Current instruction at the high school level includes Chinese, Italian, Russian, Spanish, French and German, and high school students can take two levels of American Sign Language. At the middle school level, French and Spanish are offered.
The Allied Sports Program would include fall soccer, winter bowling, and spring softball and golf. The budget proposal says that the program would be offered to "students with disabilities who are unable to participate on a traditional interscholastic sports team and general education students who have never been a member of a junior varsity or varsity interscholastic athletic team."
The budget also includes funds to replace library furnishings and shelving at one elementary school, to be named later, and funds for courses and afterschool programs for students of the Class of 2012 and beyond who fail required high school assessment exams. And it includes an anticipated $2 million to cover costs of bus contracts and route changes.
The Board of Education will hold a public hearing and work sessions on the budget in February. The budget is to be approved by the County Council and adopted by the school board in May.