The following letter is strictly my own opinion. It appears as though St. Mary's County has more money than was anticipated. The county has a 30.1 million dollar surplus. It goes back to the state and then back to us. After adjustments we could get less if the adjustments trend downward. I agree with Jack Russell, President of the County Commissioners, that we must use caution as we move forward. Hurricane Irene and the earthquake are proof of that. We have not had to absorb teacher retirement, but that could change in the future. Many hands are outstretched for that money, but again, we must use caution as we spend this money.
Our goal was to preserve the skeleton or integrity of the school system for FY12. With ingeneous moves Dr. Martirano and the Board of Education managed to keep our magnificient, outstanding system in tact. We kept our class sizes near but not over cap, kept our several paths (Global and International s
Studies, Fairlead, The Academy of Finance, AP Courses, STEM, etc.). We also kept our dedicated paraeducators and instructional resource teachers.
We need to bring our classes closer to goal; especially since more cildren are entering our county. We need to keep all of our learning pathways. Our school system staff must have a long deserved raise.
Last, we need to thank the County Commissioners who helped us stay at the top in the state. As a board member I am grateful for what we have.