Budget Adopted by Board, Moves To Leopold
Members of the Anne Arundel County School Board adopted capital and operating budgets for fiscal year 2013 with only one opposer.
Photos
11:30 a.m.—Meeting concludes. The board is set to gather once more at 1 p.m. to discuss various action items including the Compromise Street parking garage.
11:19 a.m.—Board is discussing "Award of Contracts" topics and addressing businesses that have acquired contracts to work on local schools. The list of items is below:
- Interior/locker room painting at Crofton Middle and Glen Burnie High
- Interior/locker room painting at Brooklyn Park, Crofton Woods and Sunset Elementary
- Interior/locker room painting at Glen Burnie Park Elementary, J. Albert Adams Academy, Meade High, North County High, North Glen Elementary
- Asbestos removal and re-insulation at Arundel Middle, MacArthur Middle and Millersvile Elementary
- Replacing fire alarms at Crofton Middle
11:10 a.m.—Board is wrapping up its discussion of legislation proposed at the General Assembly.
11:00 a.m.—The board passes a motion eight to zero for a "concessions stand bond up to $150,000" at Meade High.
10:56 a.m.—The board is discussing the possible installment of concessions stands and new bathrooms at Meade High's athletic fields. Peterson says his daughter went to Meade and that the school's concession "wasn't pretty."
"I watched school after school get their act together. It's a wonderful project that will enhance the school," he says.
10:47 a.m.—Board members are now discussing legislation proposed in the general assembly and how the county should address the various topics, ranging from school diet plans to boundaries between state and county school of official decisions.
10:35 a.m.—"There's an unprecedented amount of funding in the capital budget," said board member Teresa Birge. She's referencing the $340 million Gov. Martin O'Malley said he wants to use for school construction projects throughout the state.
10:32 a.m.—Councilman Eugene Peterson is addressing the board room. Says he's glad the proposed budget has allotted money for 62 new teaching positions, but says it's not nearly enough to address all of Anne Arundel County's problems.
10:26 a.m.—Board has no discussion or opposition from board members for the capital budget and passes eight in favor, no opposed. Motion passes seven in favor, one opposed for the operating budget.
10:23 a.m.—Ray Leone, president of the Anne Arundel County Council PTA, is now addressing the board. He's sharing some upcoming events.
"We want to reiterate our support of the superintendent's budget. The bottom line though is the budget presented is what's right in continuing to provide our children a high quality of education," Leone says.
10:20 a.m.—A representative of the Citizens Advisory Committee expressed the CAC's approval and support of superintendent Kevin Maxwell's proposed budget.
10:18 a.m.—Two student leaders are addressing the board. Both are heads of Student Government of Anne Arundel County.
10:11 a.m.—And we're live! Stay tuned for live reports from the board room at Riva Road. Currently, board members are discussing "school/community highlights."
Members of the Anne Arundel County Board of Education are scheduled to adopt the fiscal year 2013 operating and capital budgets Wednesday morning before sending the proposal to County Executive John R. Leopold.
No public testimony will be taken at Wednesday's meeting, but parents have made their concerns known through several public hearings, including one in January where more than 70 south county parents and teachers filled the board room.
Stay tuned with Patch to receive up-to-the-minute reports of the discussion from the board room at Riva Road in Annapolis.
Updates will be posted above.
Addie Conte
11:35 am on Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Tracey's parents are glad to see the requests for 62 new teachers as we are in great need of another fourth grade teacher and another fifth grade teacher next year. We will be sending letters to the County Executive and County Council voicing our needs and supporting this budget as well as attending and speaking at their budget meetings in May.
Michelle Ohrvall
11:56 am on Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Edgewater parents are glad to see they don't give a blank about the health and safety of our children and educators before they paint a locker room. Way to go. Shows where the priorities are.
Casey Ireland
12:58 pm on Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Hopefully when they return at 1pm they mention Health and Safety concerns! To me that seems more important then Concession Stands and Paint on Lockers.
Amy Leahy
3:07 pm on Wednesday, February 15, 2012
How much money did they add to their budget to make up the teacher pension deficit that the state is going to straddle the counties with this legislative session? Probably none. Let the county government worry about that....After all, even though the schools get half of the county budget I'm sure the superintendent and the school board members don't think teacher pensions are their problem to deal with.
Rob Allen
5:41 pm on Wednesday, February 15, 2012
My wife pays $600 a month into the teacher pension fund and will likely never see a dime, but she cant invest it into her own IRA due to union contract rules. So how much more should she pay for someone else who is retired? She pays $7200 a year, plus union dues $700,federal, state, local, FICA, health, dental, vision, and when its all deducted we can buy lunch. The current contract is nothing like the contracts from 1995 and before.
John Thomas
7:36 pm on Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Rob : why does your wife pay $600 a month into the pension? is that mandatory ? why $600 and not $200 ?
Amy Leahy
7:00 pm on Thursday, February 16, 2012
Unions John Thomas. Did you not see that in his comment?
Loretta Hall Faulkner
7:29 am on Thursday, February 16, 2012
If the decision is in Leopold's hands, then I strongly recommend Edgewater Elementary parents (now/future) to email Leopold and share your concerns. His email is on the PTA E-BLAST.
Casey Ireland
10:32 am on Thursday, February 16, 2012
I have sent Leopold more than one email I'm hoping I'm not the only one which I doubt
Kathy
12:19 pm on Thursday, February 16, 2012
Please accept the School Budget and give our kids the best education they deserve. Teachers are these childrens support system don't let them down. Jobs lost can hurt all and everyone around us.
John Thomas
8:26 pm on Thursday, February 16, 2012
Amy: the Union cannot force a teacher to put away $600 a month into the pension fund. How can the Union dictate how much a teacher has to contribute to the pension per month ?
Amy Leahy
11:20 am on Monday, February 20, 2012
Because unions have contracts with the school board and that's what dictates everything: from salaries (as approved by the county government because they ultimately hold the purse strings) to working conditions to retirement benefits, health benefits, holidays, how much money each teacher has to pay for all of these things; Have you never worked a job that was unionized? By the way, the teachers have no choice in whether they want to be represented by the union in this state. The money gets taken from their paychecks anyway.