The Anne Arundel school system still will be short on some staffing next year even though the County Council provided its full request for special education teachers and staffing at the new Gambrills-area school, a schools official said.
“Although we were fully funded in the 44 special education teachers we asked for [in the operating budget], we had recently identified the need for about 69, leaving us about 25 short,” said Susan Bowen, the school system?s director of budget and finance.
The County Council on Tuesday restored about $14 million to the school board?s proposed $968.8 million operating budget request and more than $13 million to its proposed $189 million capital request.
The school system is short $6 million on the operating side and short roughly $30 million on the capital side.
Among the major restorations are fully staffing the new Gambrills-area elementary school at $880,718 and funding 44 special education teachers at $3.1 million.
“Every member of this council has engaged in a very collaborative process with our school system and spent an inordinate amount of time trying to find money” for the school system, Superintendent Kevin Maxwell said in a statement.
On the capital side, six feasibility studies at Belle Grove, Annapolis, Germantown, Folger McKinsey and Point Pleasant elementary schools and The Phoenix Center, a special school, would be funded.
“It means that the pipeline of our projects that had been valved off from entering the system in ?09 and 2010 will begin forward progress,” said Alex Szachnowicz, the school system?s chief facility officer.
In addition, almost $3.2 million was restored for permanent walls to be installed in open space classrooms at schools like Oak Hill Elementary School in Severna Park.
County Executive John R. Leopold said Wednesday much of the funding directed back to the school system?s operating budget came from one-time revenue sources.
“We?ll see how the school board spends the money in the end ? will it go toward pay raises for administrators, or will it go … in the classrooms?” he said.
Staff Writer Jason Flanagan contributed to this report.
