While the Baltimore County school board grappled at a recent meeting with a request for more than $5 million to pay for raises for all teachers, the debate over an item that represented a fraction of the school system's proposed spending plan brought into focus some board members' concerns about a process in which the county executive and council have final say over the education budget.

If $152,945 for supplies for the district's Chinese language program would be better used to expand a college-preparatory program, should the money be shifted? That would heed the direction of the county executive, who stressed the need for the board to hold the line on its budget request.

Or should members go with their gut feelings and pay for both by adding money to the $1.18 billion spending plan.

"Where would it come from?" asked board member Ramona N. Johnson, an advocate for expanding the college-preparatory program to help students at what she called the county's "nine most challenging schools."

"We ask the county for it and tell them how important it is," board member John A. Hayden III said. "We should not be shy about making the recommendation that the number ought to be higher. And not only should we not be shy about it, we have got to be out there pressing to have these kinds of things happen. This isn't a passive exercise."

The board, which receives slightly more than half of its budget from the county, narrowly approved a budget that contains money to buy computers, expand programs, reduce kindergarten classroom sizes - and purchase supplies for the Chinese language program.

But it did not add money to expand the college-preparatory program or anything else - including across-the-board cost-of-living increases for employees, which were sought by teachers.

As a result, the union that represents district's 9,000 teachers is threatening to picket or refuse to take on extra assignments to get the attention of county officials and the public.

County Executive James T. Smith Jr. is grappling with cuts in state education funding and a sagging real estate market, a spokesman said. No county employees are expected to receive cost-of-living increases in the coming fiscal year, which starts July 1, added the spokesman, Donald I. Mohler.

"It's a very, very challenging year, and I think folks understand that," Mohler said. "It's unfortunate that the economy is where it is at this time. But in Baltimore County, folks, over the years, have expected an extremely fiscally managed county."

The proposed school budget for the fiscal year that starts July 1 includes a request for about $12 million for longevity and step increases for some teachers, but it does not include an across-the-board raise.

Cheryl Bost, president of the Teachers Association of Baltimore County, has said that without those raises, hundreds of teachers will receive no increase, and some will take pay cuts after paying more toward pension and health care costs.

"Teachers are hard workers and are always looking out for students," Bost said. "They really need the public and officials to look out for them."

Bost said she was disturbed by the apparent pressure board members felt to avoid adding to the budget. She said county schools Superintendent Joe A. Hairston and board members should develop a reasonable budget based on the system's needs for Smith to review.

"It's a misuse of the checks and balance in the budget process ... for [Smith] to set a target and if you go over the target you get punished" with cuts, Bost said.

The school board must present a budget by March 1 to Smith, who may add or delete funds before sending it to the County Council. The council cannot add to the spending plan.

Bost contends that the county has enough surplus funds, such as the "pay-go" account, for raises.

But Mohler said the county has wisely used those funds only for one-time projects, instead of long-term operating costs such as salaries. He said this is why the county has been able to avoid raising income taxes for nearly 15 years.

Also, after subtracting about $83 million from the pay-go account for the county's "rainy day" fund and $72 million for construction projects scheduled over the next couple of years, the fund's net balance is about $28 million, Mohler said.

School system budget officials have estimated that a 1 percent raise for teachers would cost about $5.2 million and 1 percent increase for all employees would cost about $7.9 million. Bost said teachers in neighboring counties, including Howard, Anne Arundel and Montgomery, might be getting raises of 4 percent to 6 percent.

The county school board's vice president, H. Edward Parker, said that while the group needed to be financially pragmatic, its discussion on the budget made the case for giving all Maryland school boards taxing authority to raise funds.

"Then we would not have these discussions about begging for money," he said.

Without taxing authority, Parker said, it was best to set a budget that is in line with the county executive's recommendation.

"If we don't carefully consider all matters of this budget, what you're going to do is [turn over] the management of your budget to a county agency because they're not gonna come back and say, 'What do you want cut?' They're just gonna cut."

But board President JoAnn C. Murphy said the budget is fair and the result of working in "the spirit of collaboration" with Smith.

"I don't think we're being held hostage with this particular budget," Murphy said. "But I hope it is fully funded because it's tight. This is a very tight budget, and we need every single penny of it."

gina.davis@baltsun.com