Howard school budget survey results released

Just ahead of a Howard County Council budget decision, school officials have released the results of a survey in which they asked community members to choose what they would &quot;cut&quot; or &quot;keep&quot; under County Executive Allan Kittleman's proposal of $562.2 million in county funding for schools next year.Although Kittleman's budget represents an $18.1 million increase over the current year's funding level, school officials have painted it as a potentially devastating &quot;cut&quot; because it is $50.4 million less than the Board of Education's request for $616.6 million; by percentage, that's the largest increase requested by the school system since Superintendent Renee Foose took office in 2012.The County Council, which is set to adopt a budget May 26, has the power to increase funding to schools over what Kittleman's budget provides or to approve the County Executive's budget as is.Each option in the online survey was labeled with a monetary value. Respondents were required to choose enough cuts to total $50.4 million, representing the difference between the board's request and Kittleman's budget; or at the end of the survey could request that the budget be increased.Selections on the budget survey, the results of which were presented at a school board budget work session Thursday, included cutting funds for expansion of world language instruction and pre-kindergarten programs, and cost-saving measures such as implementing staff furlough days and deferring a negotiated salary increase for teachers.Of the 1,104 responses to the survey from community members, parents and school system employees, the top four cuts chosen by more than 75 percent of respondents were to buyer purchasing, central office's telephone system, conference attendance and a new diversity coordinator position proposed by school board member Janet Siddiqui in February. Siddiqui is running for reelection this fall.The four least-preferred cuts, selected by less than 38 percent of respondents, were to outdoor education; technology teachers; instructional materials; and field trips.A majority of respondents identified themselves as &quot;parent-only&quot; (752); 173 respondents identified as &quot;employee-only&quot; and 94 as both employees and parents and 85 as other community members.School finance director Beverly Davis and Board of Education Chairwoman Christine O'Connor have said that Kittleman's budget would require increased class sizes in all grades except for kindergarten and three staff furlough days.Fifty-three percent of survey respondents said they would choose the staff furlough option, and 56 percent would choose increased class sizes. There were more than 20 other cuts that ranked higher than these two options.Several parents, school system employees and community members have criticized the survey for its inclusion of cuts to negotiated employee contracts approved by the Howard County Education Association and Board of Education in March. More than 60 people demonstrated and testified at a school board budget hearing on May 13.&quot;Teachers are not lines on a balance sheet. Principals are not pawns. Children are not a product,&quot; wrote parent Nikki Schmidt in testimony read before the board.School officials have said that if the school system does not have enough funding, they are legally able to renegotiate contracts.At the hearing, Superintendent Renee Foose said, &quot;Optimistically, we will have to make decisions that honor the contracts. We've never suggested we weren't going to do that.&quot;Critics of the survey have also found fault with its premise that Kittleman's budget requires $50.4 million worth of cuts to school resources.&quot;The thing that rubs me the wrong way is the fact that they're saying they have to find $50 million in cuts, when in fact what the County Executive has approved is an increase over last year's budget,&quot; said parent Alyssa Cotler. &quot;Just because it doesn't equal what the school system request was, doesn't make it a cut.&quot;But school finance director Beverly Davis and Superintendent Renee Foose have repeatedly said that Kittleman's budget, if approved as is by the County Council, will require the Board of Education to make &quot;tough decisions.&quot;They point specifically to Kittleman's funding proposal for the category that includes employee benefits, which is $4.7 million more than current funding and $39 million than the board requested, saying it will lead to a $15 million deficit in the school system's health fund — unless funds are taken from other categories, such as instruction or administration.Howard County Education Association President Paul Lemle and members of the Howard County Council have questioned the validity of this deficit projection, citing past years in which school officials have been wrong.Lemle also asked the more than 4,000 teachers and school counselors that the Association represents not to fill out the school system's budget survey, and instead to select an option at the beginning of the survey to report the questionnaire as &quot;abuse.&quot; School communications director John White said this action led the survey to be taken down by the company hosting it on May 3, when the survey was initially posted.School employees worked quickly to correct the issue, White said, and the survey was reposted without the option to report it.Moving forward, the survey results will be used as public input &quot;when the board is considering how to make difficult funding decisions,&quot; White said.&quot;If you think about how many people provided input at public hearings or work sessions — that was a small number,&quot; he said. &quot;For the first time, we have the input of more than 1,100 people who answered the survey, in addition to those who attended the work sessions.&quot;It presents a unique opportunity.&quot;

Howard school budget survey results released

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