Montgomery Superintendent Jerry Weast came up with a “cut list” of people and programs that might go if the county does not approve his $2.2 billion budget request. Here is a sampling of the 534 job losses and $43 million in possible savings:
Action
Savings
Jobs lost
Increase class size by an average of one student per class
$15.4 million
240
Reduce teachers assigned to support struggling students
$1.7 million
24
Eliminate transportation for magnet, language immersion, and other optional programs
$4.9 million
65
Reduce media assistants in elementary schools
$2.3 million
40
Reduce counselors, psychologists, and pupil personnel workers (who support, for example, students at risk of dropping out)
$2.3 million
18
Buy regular diesel rather than biodiesel fuel for school buses
$400,000
0
Montgomery schools Superintendent Jerry Weast threatened increased class sizes and hundreds of job losses if the County Council does not approve his requested 2011 budget, but officials said on Wednesday that approval is far from guaranteed.
Weast requested about $26 million more than last year’s budget for a total of about $2.2 billion, or about half of total county spending. He also requested about $80 million be allowed for educational purposes that last year were used to pay debt service.
County Council President Nancy Floreen joined the school board and union officials in saying “it’s too early to tell” if the budget will eke past the cash-strapped council. But the prognosis is grim.
“This is the superintendent’s budget, and the Board of Education will have to decide how it wants to handle this,” said Council President Nancy Floreen, explaining that the board’s approved budget is what the council will consider in the spring, with County Executive Ike Leggett’s recommendations.
“I’m not going to say I have the answers,” Floreen said. “What I do know is that Montgomery County has 14,000 more people out of work this year than last year at this time,” out of about 960,000 residents.
Income tax revenue came in about $85 million short of last year’s estimates, and Leggett has cautioned the council to anticipate overall “a six-hundred-plus million dollar problem,” Floreen said.
Weast defended his pricey proposal with a graph-filled presentation on Wednesday touting academic gains and past-year savings that have brought the school system to its breaking point.
His 2011 budget allows no room for new programs or initiatives. Its higher price tag is a result of enrollment increases, higher benefit and retirement costs, and salary increases for teachers who reach milestones pertaining to time teaching or educational attainment.
School Board President Pat O’Neill called the budget “not full of optimism,” but “realistic.” Even so, she acknowledged that a battle with council and the community awaits.
“This road will be filled with boulders and people throwing rocks at us,” she said.
Even Weast — who called this his toughest budget in more than 30 years as a superintendent — expressed doubts.
“This budget is about getting through this valley without hammering those kids. I’m not sure we’re gonna be able to do it this time … but we’re going to try,” he said.
