Gov. Larry Hogan's budget proposal isn't expected to cause significant adjustments to Howard County Superintendent Renee Foose's proposed budget because of conservative projections. But the budget from County Executive Allan Kittleman in the coming months could tell a different story.
In January, Foose released a $780.8 million operating budget proposal — 70 percent of which is funded by county government.
While the school system is looking at an additional $1.4 million in state funding than it had budgeted, Foose said Thursday that she has been informed full funding from the county is "not at all likely."
"What it means is that after the board sends their proposal to the county government, there is a strong likelihood that deeper cuts are going to have to be made," Foose said during the Board of Education's first budget work session. "I don't see any way around this."
The worst-case scenario, according to school officials, is the school system being handed a budget by the county executive that funds education at maintenance of effort — the lowest level of funding allowed by state law. The superintendent's request is $11.5 million over the maintenance-of-effort threshold.
"If we have to execute a maintenance-of-effort budget, we have a problem. We have a very big problem," Foose said.
According to County Press Secretary Andy Barth, it's too early to predict what the county executive's budget will look like.
Barth said Kittleman has had preliminary discussions on the budget, but recommendations from the county's spending affordability committee are not expected to be received until early March.
After a series of work sessions, the Board of Education is scheduled to approve and submit its budget request to the county by mid-March.
Support for paraeducators
One aspect of Foose's proposed budget that has generated significant interest is the reallocation of 68 kindergarten and secondary media paraprofessionals.
The school system is looking at reassigning these paraeducators to different roles throughout their respective school buildings. Foose and school system Budget Director Beverly Davis have said multiple times that no staff members will lose their job through this reshuffling.
In a blog post on this topic, Foose wrote "Every school will continue to have paraeducators in kindergarten; however, some schools may have fewer paraeducators on the kindergarten team. Middle and high schools will continue to provide full media services, but adjustments may be made in how those services are supported."
But during the Board of Education's budget hearing on Feb. 3, paraeducators, teachers and students criticized the move, saying it would limit student success and potentially eliminate some media center hours for students who do not have a computer or printer at home.
"I feel taking the cupcake out of the kindergarten classroom was extreme, but to remove even a portion of a paraeducator would be extreme and irresponsible," said Tracey Heller, PTA president at Lisbon Elementary School.
Heller was one of the 40 speakers who provided testimony at the hearing with nearly two-thirds of those speaking in opposition of reassigning the paraeducators. Hundreds of paraeducator supporters wearing red packed the board room and a separate viewing area at Homewood for the hearing.
Howard County Education Association President Paul Lemle said the school system can't expect the same level of assistance for students with only half the staff members left to provide the help.
"Your educators uniformly believe our media centers are community centers, a place where highly skilled staff attack the digital achievement gap for families without Internet, computers, and printing capability at home," Lemle said in his testimony. "Taking away the support staff from every secondary school makes the services we provide today impossible to continue next year."
The school system employs about 1,300 paraprofessionals countywide, according to Deputy Superintendent Linda Wise.
Board member Bess Altwerger believes that it should be an "absolute priority" for the board to keep kindergarten paraprofessional positions and find somewhere else to cut the budget.
"I don't think we can afford to cut those positions and have a quality kindergarten program in our county," she said.