The $2.1 billion budget adopted Tuesday by the Montgomery County Board of Education cuts funding levels for the most poorly prepared non-English speakers and severely disturbed special education students.
And once County Executive Ike Leggett has a chance to work over the numbers in the board’s proposed 2009 budget, even those reductions might not be enough.
“This may all be up for grabs come June” when Leggett issues his recommendations to the County Council for a final vote, said board member Pat O’Neill. “No school community should hold their breath till they get any of this.”
In order to go forward with priorities, such as reforms at middle schools, without demanding additional funds, the board stripped around $10 million from other programs.
The budget saves $775,000 by cutting eight teachers who worked with a special category of non-English speakers whose education had been interrupted at some point — for example, students who had lived in refugee camps.
Other cuts came in the form of teacher support staff.
“The cuts are going to hurt, but they’ll hurt less because there are other positions that will continue to provide support,” said Bonnie Cullison, president of the county’s 12,000-member teacher union. Her organization worked closely with Superintendent Jerry Weast in drafting the budget, she said.
In addition, the budget chops $1.1 million with the accelerated closure of the Mark Twain High School, a program designed for special education students with emotional disorders. The school has failed to meet state achievement standards for three consecutive years.
In Tuesday’s meeting, the school board made one change to Weast’s proposal, issued in December. Instead of spending $432,000 for 16 additional lunchroom aides, they expanded middle school reform from nine schools to 10 in the 2008-2009 school year.
The reform process involves additional classroom technology, staffing and a retooled curriculum.
School board President Nancy Navarro said the budget reflected the board’s priorities as well as it could in a difficult budget year, highlighting a 5 percent increase in teacher salaries and a focus at the middle school level. The salary increase is the most modest since 1997, Navarro said.
