The St. Mary’s County Board of Education on Wednesday approved a $181.5 million budget request that includes almost $5 million more than what the county commissioners have proposed to fund for schools.
The request, which was expected to be hand delivered to the commissioners, includes $1.45 million to save 22 teacher positions, $1.49 million to avert the need for three furlough days and $2 million for Other Post-Employment Benefits (OPEB). The OPEB amount would add to the trust fund to cover future employee pension and health insurance costs. A federal grant covered those costs this year.
School Superintendent Dr. Michael Martirano will discuss the budget with the county commissioners at a work session next Monday. The commissioners must make a budget decision by the end of the month.
Martirano told the board members that he had been asked why they weren’t using the remaining $2.4 million fund balance to close the budget gap. He explained that the fund balance started the fiscal year at $6.2 million and has been whittled down to a dangerous level. He noted that a new elementary school will be coming on line in August of 2015 and $3 million more has to be found to operate that school.
Martirano expressed optimism, even though an initial vote failed on a 2-2 tie, that the commissioners would at least fund the monies needed to avoid the layoffs. Other school board members expressed the same optimism.
To get to this point the school board has pared the budget in a number of areas. Board member Cathy Allen expressed concern about the effect on school programs. Martirano said no program has been cut even though there has been some serious trimming. “We are running very, very thin,” the superintendent said. In all, the budget reflects almost $3 million in “categorical spending” cuts.
Also to get to this point 34 administrative positions have been eliminated and 42 employees have either retired or resigned. Of those retirements, Martirano said, “We are losing an incredible amount of horsepower.”
The budget has been delayed because of lack of final figures on state funding. Allen said, “This has been more of a moving target than I can ever remember which has presented a challenge in and of itself.”
Board member Mary Washington said, “This has been a very long and difficult process,” calling it the most difficult of her 15 years on the board. She added, “The board is not happy with this budget. We are in bad shape but we are in good shape compared to other counties.”
Responding to that, Martirano said he is scared about the serious funding problems in other counties that is leading to a move afoot to lower the baseline budget levels for computing the state formula for “Maintenance of Effort.” That could cause another multi-million hit on the school system.
School Board President Sal Raspa noted, “Whatever the commissioners have asked us
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