Prince George’s County schools will have fewer teachers in classrooms and central administrators as a result of a stripped-down $1.7 billion operating budget expected to be adopted today by a reluctant school board.
School Superintendent John Deasy blamed strained state and local economies for a steep reduction in revenue coming into the system, precipitating a need to transfer money from areas such as instructional supplies to areas like employee benefits.
“The magnitude of the decline in growth for fiscal year 2009 is so severe that proposed expenditures reflect only those services essential to preserving our core business,” Deasy said in a letter introducing the financial plan for 2009.
State funding for the system is expected to rise at a much slower rate for the year to come than in years past.
“Poll after poll shows education is a top priority in this state,” said school board member Heather Iliff. “As Marylanders, we need to come together and rethink how we’re financing public education.”
Iliff said she and her colleagues on the board are ultimately even more worried about 2010, when flexibility will not exist in the form of excess funds transferred year to year.
She also voiced concern for meeting the requirements of No Child Left Behind in the wake of cutting central administrators.
“Systems are already working at all levels to meet the requirements of the law, and the requirements get more difficult each year,” Iliff said. “It’s a very difficult position to be in.”
Currently, 68 of Prince George’s 196 schools have been identified for “improvement” under No Child Left Behind, meaning they face a loss of local control or even closure if they do not show improvement on Maryland’s standardized tests.
Declining enrollments, though, may help to offset 275 lost staff positions in the schools. Total prekindergarten through 12th-grade enrollment is expected to taper by 1 percent, or 1,364 students in 2009 to 129,555.
Board members expected to give final approval for the budget at their meeting today.
