ANNE ARUNDEL COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION: Board Of Education Adds $11.5 Million to Superintendent’s Recommendation, Approves $1.37 Billion Fy2021 Operating Budget Request

By Press release submission

Feb 24, 2020

Anne Arundel County Board of Education issued the following announcement on Feb. 20.

The Board of Education this morning finalized a $1.37 billion Fiscal Year 2021 Operating Budget request, adding $11.5 million and 58.5 positions to the recommendation Superintendent George Arlotto put forward in December.

The overall request, approved by an 8-0 vote, contains a total of 564.7 new positions – more than 92 percent of which are allocated to personnel who have daily contact with students – and more than $41.6 million in compensation increases for employees.

The Board added $7.2 million – the equivalent of a 1 percent cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) increase for all employees – to the $34.4 million in compensation increases recommended by Dr. Arlotto. If funded by the County, the compensation package would be sufficient to fund a step for all eligible employees, a 3 percent COLA for all employees, and a back step for eligible employees who were in an eligible bargaining unit or position in the 2011-2012 school year. The specifics of final compensation packages must be negotiated between the Board and employee bargaining units.

The Board’s request is $96.6 million more than the Fiscal Year 2020 approved budget. It represents a 7.6 percent increase over the current year’s funding.

Among other items, the Board added requests for nine school counselors, two bilingual teaching assistants, two bilingual facilitators, and three community ambassadors. It also added funding to increase by 50 the number of STEM magnet seats at South River High School.

The Board also passed amendments that added 43 special education positions to the 73.3 contained in Dr. Arlotto’s recommendation, including 11 positions to maintain the special education program currently being run by Kennedy Krieger at Southern High School. Kennedy Krieger is ending its participation in the beneficial special needs program, after this school year.

The Board’s approved budget request will now be forwarded to County Executive Steuart Pittman. The County Executive’s proposal will be considered by the County Council before it adopts a budget that allocates funding within prescribed state categories in June. The Board retains the ability to shift funding within operating budget categories before it approves a final school system budget no later than June 30.

A complete list of amendments considered by the Board can be found here.

Original source can be found here.