Maryland should “abolish” its local boards of education to help clamp down on growing teacher pension costs, Montgomery County Council President Valerie Ervin said on Monday.
Local boards of education have the authority to set salaries and benefits for public school employees, while state and county governments pick up the tab.
In Annapolis, state lawmakers have proposed shifting some teacher pension costs onto the counties to help rein in retirement spending at the state level.
Ervin said she would not agree to a measure splitting costs with the state unless lawmakers would “abolish the board of education altogether and let the county councils make the full decisions on everything.”
“I just don’t see how you can continue to keep it the way it is … splitting the decision-making authority,” said Ervin, D-Silver Spring. “It’s got to be all or nothing.”
The county has about 20,000 school system employees, which is roughly twice the number of government employees. In fiscal 2011, all employee salaries cost roughly $2.1 billion, or about half of the county budget. Employees receiving county health benefits cost another $315 million in fiscal 2011 and those enrolled in the Montgomery’s pension system cost $193 million — up 226 percent from $59 million in fiscal 2002.
