The Howard County Public School System is expecting 395 employees to take the system's early retirement offering, about 200 fewer than had been projected, according to Budget Director Beverly Davis.
Davis announced the figures Tuesday at the quarterly meeting between the Howard County Board of Education and County Council.
In November, the Board of Education approved the early retirement package for employees with at least 15 years of experience in Howard. The package pays employees up to 100 percent of one year's salary in installments over a five-year period.
February 27 was the deadline for employees to submit the necessary paperwork for the program and Friday was the final day for employees to revoke their decision.
Educators Preferred Corp., a consulting firm hired by the school system to administer the incentive, had projected that 594 employees would take advantage of the offer, creating $1.5 million in savings for fiscal year 2016 and more than $7 million in savings over an eight-year period.
About 2,600 school system employees were eligible for the incentive and of the 395 employees who have elected to take it, 217 are teachers and 21 are school administrators, either principals or assistant principals, according to Davis.
Davis said Tuesday that she did not have a full report on the demographics of who took the incentive, including what schools these employees work at, but added a full report that includes updated cost savings projections will be prepared in the coming weeks.
She estimated that most of these employees are probably nearing retirement age.
Last year, 109 teachers retired, according to Sue Mascaro, school system chief of staff.
Budget review committee audit ongoing
David Clark, the school system's internal auditor, said his review of the Board of Education's Operating Budget Review Committee is ongoing and he will soon have a draft of his findings for the board.
In September, the school board suspended the citizens budget committee for one year as it undergoes a performance audit requested by Superintendent Renee Foose.
The committee — chartered to include 19 members, although it typically was comprised of less — is a group of community stakeholders tasked with reviewing the Superintendent's budget proposal annually and reporting back to the Board of Education with questions.
At a September board meeting, Foose and some board members questioned the value of the current committee format, particularly with the zero-based budgeting approach installed by Foose last year.
In his review, Clark said he is specifically looking to ensure the committee operated according the board's charter and evaluating how many of the committee's recommendations — there were 70 from 2013 to 2015 — have been implemented by the board.
Clark clarified that this audit is not covering whether the committee should be reinstated by the Board of Education.
In his research, Clark has found that no other school system in Maryland has an operating budget review committee. Nationwide, he said only a few exist.
The Operating Budget Review Committee was chartered by the board in 2005.
More relocatable classrooms coming to Howard High School?
At Thursday's Board of Education meeting, board members will consider a request to move one relocatable classroom building, which includes nine classrooms, to Howard High School next school year to address overcrowding.
The high school, which is at 123 percent capacity, already has six relocatable classrooms on campus to alleviate crowding issues.
The building proposed to be moved to Howard was previously used as swing space during the Atholton High School renovation.
According to school planning officials, the school system is not planning on another redistricting until 2019 to coincide with the opening of a new elementary school.