The Carroll County Board of Education will have another chance Wednesday to revise the proposed preliminary fiscal 2024 school system budget before its scheduled adoption at the regular monthly board meeting Feb. 8.
Once approved, the preliminary budget will be submitted to the Board of Carroll County Commissioners for its review. Work sessions and meetings on the budget are scheduled through the spring, and final approval of the school system’s fiscal 2024 operating budget is set for May 10.
Wednesday’s meeting, scheduled for 6-8 p.m., in the board room at 125 N. Court St. in Westminster, will feature a budget presentation followed by public comment, according to Brenda Bowers, communications coordinator for Carroll County Public Schools.
Anyone who wishes to participate during the public participation portion can request to speak by filling out an online sign-up form at https://www.carrollk12.org/board-of-education/meeting-information or calling the communications office at 410-751-3020 on Tuesday from 8 a.m. until 9 p.m.
Although passing a workable budget involves making difficult decisions for Carroll County schools, implementing items required by the landmark Blueprint for Maryland’s Future will be a special challenge, with ramifications felt for years to come, Board of Education President Marsha Herbert said.
Blueprint’s list of mandates — inlcuding free community college dual enrollment for high school students, expanded pre-kindergarten for 3- and 4-year-olds from low-income households and salary boosts and professional development incentives for teachers — must be fully in place within the next 10 years, but the implementation begins now.
“It’s going to be a big effort to get this completed in 10 years,” Herbert said.
According to the draft implementation plan released by the state in October, the state will invest an additional $3.9 billion (a 45% increase) in public schools by fiscal 2034, while local governments will invest at least $700 million (an 8% increase) above pre-Blueprint levels.
Carroll County Superintendent Cynthia McCabe’s proposed fiscal 2024 budget plans for a $26.5 million spending increase over fiscal 2023. About $11.5 million will be accounted for by an increase in state funding (which represents about a 7.8% increase from this year), while the superintendent has asked the county commissioners for $13.4 million in funding above fiscal 2023 levels, half of which is already budgeted.
McCabe said the biggest budgetary challenge will be the restrictive nature of the Blueprint’s funding formula, which allocates state money to be spent on specific programs designed to promote equity.
If the request for an additional $6.7 million is granted, Carroll County Commissioners’ President Ed Rothstein said it could mean passing the costs on to local taxpayers.
Director of Management and Budget for Carroll County Ted Zaleski supported Rothstein’s assertion that in order to accommodate the budget increase, the commissioners could raise income taxes from the current 3.03% to about 3.13%. Another option would be to increase property taxes by 3 cents, Zaleski said.
Roughly 60% of education costs in Carroll are funded by the county, with about 40% of expenses coming from state sources, Carroll’s Assistant Superintendent of Operations Jonathan O’Neal said.
The expected $11.5 million increase in state funds is only an estimate, O’Neal said, and that number is also based on enrollment. Enrollment was up by 717 students in fiscal 2023, and higher enrollment invites infrastructure challenges compounded by the need for more physical classrooms to support mandated universal pre-kindergarten.
Two feasibility studies are expected to build on the work of the Southern Area Redistricting Committee. The studies assessing Freedom Elementary and Sykesville Middle schools should be completed by May and will be instrumental in determining how the school board approaches the idea of redistricting.
The new funding formula will disperse funds based on a county’s relative wealth, number of English language learning students and number of compensatory education students (or those who receive free or reduced-price meals at school, sometimes called FARM students). Although Carroll County is average in terms of relative wealth, it has a lower number of English learners and FARM students, making Carroll among the lowest-ranked Maryland counties in terms of funding.
Hebert said the new formula will put a burden on Carroll County schools.
“Though I understand that we’re not really a wealthy county, we just don’t have as much poverty as some other jurisdictions,” board member Donna Sivigny said, “but we also don’t have the upper end to kind of balance it out.”
O’Neal warned during a Nov. 30 meeting that class sizes could double in the county as a result.
The biggest expense continues to be employee salaries, which comprise a proposed $15.9 million spending increase. McCabe said that number has been cut in recent years and schools are already understaffed.
“I don’t see anything on [the budget] that we’re not already currently doing or that we don’t think we have to do in order to keep our schools running,” McCabe said.
New teachers will be eligible for a $60,000 salary under Blueprint and updating salary schedules for existing teachers and administrative staff will pose a challenge, Herbert said. She said it would be ideal to increase teacher pay above that mark so Carroll is competitive with neighboring counties in hiring and retaining staff.
“We have got to try to maintain and retain these teachers,” Herbert said, “and even with these salaries we’re just gonna fight right now with neighboring counties. You have got to remember that people were not going into the teaching profession like they used to 20 years ago and that hurts us also — that really hurts. We are all going to be competing for the same few educators that come out of college every year now.”
During January’s meeting, the school board passed a pay bump of at least $30 per day worked for substitute teachers in an attempt to keep rates competitive and to address staffing shortages. The new pay rate represents a more than 25% increase for substitute teachers who possess a degree or an educator certificate in Maryland and a more than 30% pay increase for those who don’t. The pay bump carries an expected fiscal impact of $700,000 for the remainder of fiscal 2023, and will cost about $1.4 million in fiscal 2024. McCabe said savings realized by the new policy in other parts of the budget should cover the additional expense.
Blueprint necessities alone represent about $3 million in spending increases, while inflation accounts for a roughly $2.8 million increase, according to Carroll County Public Schools Chief Financial Officer Robert Burk. An additional $2.1 million in transportation spending would have been included in inflation expenses if it wasn’t a significant cost in and of itself.
A recent funding formula update that amounts to better pay for bus drivers has helped alleviate the driver shortage in Carroll. But Carroll County School Bus Contractor’s Association President Dianne Grote requested an additional $600,000 during the public participation portion of the previous budget meeting to ensure another pay bump for drivers and a change to the way bus driver sick leave is handled. A vocal proponent of increasing bus driver pay, Herbert said the request will be among the difficult decisions that must be made in this budget.
Blueprint will also put the school board in charge of providing about $1.6 million to a workforce development board for career counseling for middle and high school students, starting this year. O’Neal said details about the workforce development board remain unclear and it is possible the school system might pay less than the mandated $62 per student by providing career services in schools.
The Accountability and Implementation Board also could request more adjustments to the Blueprint’s timelines and funding in the coming months. Carroll County Public Schools must submit a plan to the state by March 15 for how the county will implement the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future education reforms.
Funding for school playgrounds, which Carroll County parents have said are outdated and in some cases hazardous, is not included in the school board budget, but could garner support in Maryland’s legislature during this year’s session, if submitted by the county’s delegation to the General Assembly.
Carroll County Public Schools Board of Education and budget meetings are open to the public and will be live-streamed on the CCPS YouTube channel and are viewable on the right side of the Board of Education’s website at carrollk12.org/board-of-education/meeting-information, under CETV Livestream. Meetings are also broadcast live throughout the month on Carroll Educational Television, Channel 21.
