Budget shortfall, dropping enrollment lead to cuts As many as 700 teaching positions will be slashed in Prince George’s County next school year, marking another year of reductions for the cash-strapped school system.
More than 500 teachers have accepted an early-retirement incentive program, so fewer than 200 teachers will be laid off to eliminate the 700 jobs, according to school officials. Fewer than 300 nonteaching positions also will be cut.
| Programs that were saved |
| $8.6 million to transportation for specialty programs |
| $2.3 million to 24 Reading Recovery positions |
| $510,000 to the Schmidt Outdoor Education Center |
| $370,000 to the Howard B. Owens Science Center |
| $190,000 to transportation for Middle College High School |
The public school system has eliminated more than 3,100 jobs since 2008, about half of which were teaching positions, according to the Prince George’s County Educators’ Association, continuing what the teachers union called a “troubling trend” in the county. The system has 18,000 full-time employees, half of whom are teachers.
The school board voted 8-1 early Tuesday morning to adopt the $1.6 billion budget. About $13.3 million was cut from the fiscal 2011 budget, a 2 percent decrease in funding from last year as enrollment drops.
School employees and teachers have been urged to apply for the early-retirement incentive plan aimed at softening the blow of another year of steep cuts.
Officials are working on the final tally of employees who were accepted for retirement, but confirmed that more than 500 teachers have been accepted. Teachers have until July 15 to file.
“As a result of the school district’s retirement incentive program and administrative cuts, the number of classroom teachers impacted has been significantly reduced,” school spokesman Briant Coleman said. “While we faced very difficult decisions as a result of our budget shortfall, we were able to preserve — to the greatest extent possible — our academic programs.”
Officials have watched the budget shrink since 2008 as the county’s main revenue source — property taxes — dropped with rapidly dwindling property values.
At the same time, enrollment has dropped steadily — about 5,000 students fewer than in 2008, down to what officials project will be a total enrollment of 125,000 in the next school year.
The budget saves several programs, including a Reading Recovery program, transportation to specialty schools, and a popular outdoor education center.
Students will face growing class sizes and new fees. Class sizes will increase by about one student in most grades, particularly in middle schools, where about 250 positions are targeted for reduction. A new athletic fee will charge high school students $50 to participate in school sports.
Prekindergarten programs will be reduced to a half-day.
Even the Reading Recovery program, saved by the council’s extra millions, will be just a fragment of its former self. After cutting 55 specialists from the program, Superintendent William Hite used the additional dollars to fund 24 teachers to serve as a “literary strike force” capable of moving from school to school.
