Montgomery County officials are counting on the state legislature and school board to save them from more than $50 million in additional cuts to the fiscal 2011 education budget.
County Executive Ike Leggett’s budget proposal cuts nearly $138 million from the school system’s request to the county. But friendly moves from state lawmakers would make it more likely that about $53 million comes back to the county, so the final cuts would be less than Leggett proposes.
To put cuts into perspective, the school board’s decision to increase class size by an average of one student saves $16 million. Other savings are expected to come from eliminating contributions to a retiree health benefit trust fund, axing pay raises, and other reductions.
Montgomery County Public Schools hopes to land the $53 million through an increase in state aid because of an expected increase in student enrollment. But that aid will come only if the county can convince the State Board of Education that the county cannot fund the schools at last year’s level, as required by state law.
Some lawmakers are trying to make it easier for counties to receive a waiver from the requirement in times of economic hardship.
If the state board grants Montgomery the waiver, the aid would not be in jeopardy. If the schools don’t win the waiver, they would lose the aid, in addition to a possible financial penalty for thwarting the law.
Without the waiver, the schools would need to cut about $150 million, instead of $100 million as planned.
Bills to make waivers easier to receive are “winding their way through the legislature,” said Leggett’s spokesman Patrick Lacefield. “It looks like one will pass, and waivers will be granted in a more common-sensical way. If that doesn’t come to be, there will need to be more cuts.”
