Teacher salaries and benefits consume the biggest chunk of Howard County?s proposed school budget, but the anticipated spike in energy costs also has left its mark.
The School Board wants to spend $247 million for expenses in the instructional category, which includes teacher salaries, and $90 million for the fixed charges category, which includes employee benefits and insurance coverage, said David White, budget director. The combined increase over last year is around $28 million.
The plant operation category, which includes gas and electric costs, has a proposed budget of $34.8 million, an increase of more than $4 million from last year.
The proposed budget would:
» Add 19 teachers and eight assistants at 10 schools and cover four teachers and three assistants formerly paid by a state grant for the all-day kindergarten program;
» Add an elementary math support teacher and four math instructional teachers for lower-performing middle and high schools;
» Provide high school math tutoring.
To trim electricity costs, the School Board approved Pepco Energy Services as its new supplier in a joint bid with Anne Arundel and Carroll county schools to hold increases with a long-term fixed contract.
“We?ve had long-term priced contracts, and it?s been one way to hold down the increases,” White said.
On the revenue side, the system is slated to receive $152 million from the state, $396 million from the county and $540,000 from the federal government. Another $20 million in federal grants also is included.
