Howard County School Superintendent Renee Foose proposed a $780.8 million operating budget last week for next year, a modest 4.2 percent increase over current spending. During better financial times, it might not even trigger a second thought, especially when the system plans to add 1,645 new students next year.
After all, it is for the kids. And in Howard, it is all about the schools, as it should be.
What's a bit troubling is the limited number of opportunities for community feedback for what is more than half of the overall Howard County budget. A lone public hearing is set for Feb. 3 with an online feedback forum this coming Wednesday.In these tight budget times, this level of feedback hardly seems enough, especially when the county and new County Executive Allan Kittleman are working with a budget shortfall of $14 million in this current year and has signaled a need for more belt-tightening next year.
But, for at least this year, it's all the community feedback the Howard County School Board will be getting. Last September, the board suspended the duties of the formal operating budget review committee while a performance audit is conducted after Foose and some board members questioned the value of the committee format. This appointed committee has done a lot of the legwork for the board, gathering feedback on the educational priorities of the citizens in a much more detailed way than the nine-member school board could ever do.
Paul Lemle, president of the Howard County Education Association, told us last week that he wasn't surprised by the board's shutting down the committee, in part, because views that don't come from the superintendent or members of the school system are "almost always rejected before they're even presented." If that's even remotely true, it's an arrogance that the board needs to shed. A board too insular and self-reliant is not what we need, particularly when it comes to spending a large chunk of taxpayer dollars.
Lemle says the committee plans to continue doing the work as it has done in the past, even though it lacks an official affiliation. We'd urge the school board to listen intently to the feedback and work toward a more formal committee structure for next year — a committee that not only will provide good citizen feedback but will challenge some of the assumptions that the board and system have.
No one is saying that the board is doing a poor job in handling the budget. But a more open process will give citizens greater confidence in how their money is being spent.