WASHINGTON – March 12, 2015 – (RealEstateRama) — The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has announced a $818,182 grant to the Garrett County Community Action Committee for Head Start. Head Start is a federal program that promotes school readiness for children under five. –
Category: school funding
Garrett school board approves consolidation recommendations
From Staff Reports
OAKLAND — The Garrett County Board of Education voted to approve the six consolidation recommendations made by the School Attendance Area Committee. The 4-0 vote was taken during a special business session Tuesday. Matthew Paugh, associate member, wasn’t present during the meeting.
The recommendations will assign a boundary for the 2014/2015 school year to Swan Meadow Elementary School using the existing transportaion routes and will allow students currently attending Swan Meadow to continue to do so. Students who currently attend Yough Glades Elementary School will have the option of remaining there or attending Swan Meadow. The recommendations also suggest that Swan Meadow’s goal of enrolling 12 additional students be reviewed in April 2015 and that the kindergarten program at the school be implemented for the 2014/2015 school year.
An additional recommendation includes assigning the mobile modular classrooms, already approved by the board and the Garrett County commissioners, to Broad Ford Elementary School. Another recommendation includes reassigning the Glades West to Tomar Drive area to the Crellin district.
The consolidation plan has been a challenge, Jane Wildesen, supervisor of elementary education for the board and a member of the committee, said in a previous interview with the Times-News.
Bus transportation will remain as is and will not be extended to encompass any of the proposed changes for the school year. Any student who can use established routes will continue to be provided that bus service.
Crellin and Swan Meadow start and end times will be adjusted to be consistent with the remaining elementary schools in the county beginning with this school year. Parents/guardians of students who attend Crellin and Swan Meadow schools will be notified how the time change will affect their children as the school year approaches.
The consolidation plan in its entirety can be viewed at http://www.garrettcountyschools.org/news/2014/06/-board-of-education-approves-committees-recommendations.
Garrett budget includes increase for school board
Funding at same level as fiscal 2014
Elaine Blaisdell
OAKLAND — Mostly Garrett County Board of Education staff attended a public hearing on the county’s fiscal 2015 operating and capital draft budget and most of the comments were based on funding for the board, according to Monty Pagenhardt, county administrator.
The county commissioners committed additional funding to the BOE that will maintain an operating funding level equal to that of fiscal 2014. The Garrett County Public School system was faced with a $2.2 million projected deficit for fiscal 2015 due to the loss of state funding and had initiated the required process to consider closing three elementary schools.
“The board of county commissioners then committed to a funding appropriation that would assure that the $2.2 million deficit would be eliminated,” said Pagenhardt. “This commitment by the county would prohibit the closing of these schools.”
The school system’s deficit would be funded by directing $1 million of the BOE’s escrowed funds in the Coalition Health Care Trust, $500,000 in additional county funding and $500,000 in potential state funding and a $200,000 reduction in current operating costs, according to Pagenhardt.
“The county had agreed that if the additional state funding was less than the projected total, the county would be responsible for the difference — a net difference of $1 million,” said Pagenhardt. The county was also required to fund $235,544 in additional teacher pension costs for fiscal 2015.
The fiscal 2015 budget will confirm a $535,897 increase in operating funds to the BOE thanks to $464,103 in actual state funding, which equals the net difference of $1 million. The BOE is seeing a more than $770,000 increase for fiscal 2015, and funding of all other county agencies is being held at the same level or less this year, said Pagenhardt.
The draft budget contains an estimated $5.4 million difference in revenues and estimated expenditures, according to Pagenhardt.
“This is the biggest gap of revenue loss from one year to the next,” said Pagenhardt. “This was without a doubt the most difficult budget review and approval cycle that we have been faced with. Fortunately, our financial policy and past budget practices have positioned the county to maintain the high quality of public services that our residents, taxpayers and visitors ex-pect.”
O’Malley signs bill for added state funding to schools
Law mandates supplements for shortfalls in aid formula
Matthew Bieniek
CUMBERLAND — A bill that will aid Garrett County Public Schools and other school systems hit hard by the state school funding formula due to declining enrollments has been signed into law by Gov. Martin O’Malley.
The new law will supplement state funding by adding $464,103 for the coming year. The cash-strapped school system has been forced to consider school closures in the past few years.
“This should be very helpful to the school system and we are still waiting for the legislation introduced by both Del. (Wendell) Beitzel and I to pass that would help the county out financially until the wealth study is completed,” Sen. George Edwards has said. Edwards was the Senate sponsor of the bill.
A study of the wealth formula is planned to begin in the fall of 2014 and is slated to be complete in 2016. The existing state funding formula can hit school districts with declining student populations hard. The bill applies to the whole state, not just Garrett County.
“At the rate we have been impacted by the wealth formula … any help we can get from the state is appreciated,” said Janet Wilson, Garrett County superintendent of schools. The money will help the system move forward and restore some services that have been lost, she said.
The bill mandates the state to supplement shortfalls in the state aid formula. “For fiscal years 2015 through 2017, if a county board’s total direct education aid in the current fiscal year is less than the prior fiscal year, then the state shall provide a grant to the county board equal to 50 percent of the decrease in total direct education aid from the prior fiscal year to the current fiscal year,” according to the language of SB 534.
The state budget provides $1.7 million in aid for affected districts in fiscal 2015, according to a floor report on the bill by the Senate Budget and Taxation Committee.
Garrett school system asks commissioners for funding bump
Elaine Blaisdell
OAKLAND — The Garrett County Public School system is requesting $26,179,897 from the county for fiscal 2015, according to a budget presentation made by Larry McKenzie, director of finance.
The funding request is $820,897 more than the prior year’s request. The additional funding is needed to pay a portion of the costs associated with the teacher pension passback, which increased to more than $1 million, McKenzie said during a county commission meeting Tuesday.
“Since I’ve been here I have been accused of running the school system like a business — actually it is,” said Superintendent of Schools Janet Wilson. “It has to be run that way with our bottom line being very different.”
Capital requests include $582,400 for the design phase of the Southern Middle School renovation project, which is set to begin next year. In January, the commissioners approved the money for the design phase. The renovation will include a performing arts venue, a third of which will fit in the original footprint of the building, according to Wilson.
“This would be for a facility that looks like Mountain Ridge’s (performing arts venue) in terms of its size,” said Wilson.
Mountain Ridge has the capacity to seat 500 and is 9,000 square feet, according to Bill Swift, director of facilities, maintenance and operations at GCPS.
“We are the only county in the state that does not have a performing arts center,” said Swift.
Capital requests also include $415,000 for the Dennett Road maintenance pole building and $213,000 for lighting projects at several middle schools.
“It’s important to understand that $213,000 and the $582,400 were basically appropriated for in fiscal ’14,” said McKenzie. “Those aren’t really new requests.”
Aging Schools and Qualified Zone Academy Bond funds have been appropriated in the fiscal 2015 budget for several school-based maintenance and operations projects. The school system has applied for and received QZAB funds, according to McKenzie.
Funding sources include 54.25 percent local, 39.08 percent state, 6.33 percent federal and 0.34 percent miscellaneous funding. The 54 percent local puts the county over the maintenance of effort, which requires that the level of state and local funding remain relatively constant from year to year, according to Commissioner Gregan Crawford. The school system expects to receive $19,254,093 in state aid, which is similar to the amount received in 2005, according to McKenzie.
Locally, the county has increased funding to almost $8 million since 2005, according to Commissioner Jim Raley.
Contact Elaine Blaisdell at eblaisdell@times-news.com.
Garrett County cannot provide funding necessary to prevent school closings
Elaine Blaisdell
FINZEL — An accountant confirmed that Garrett County doesn’t have $2.2 million to help the school system when County Commissioner Jim Raley met with concerned citizens at the Finzel Fire Hall on Thursday about the proposed closing of Route 40 Elementary and two other schools.
The county doesn’t have $2.2 million this year and won’t have it in the future, according to Jeff Conner of Fike, Conner & Associates CPAs, who looked at the county’s financials.
“We are going to have to dip into our coffers. We do have some rainy day funds but it’s only going to buy us a couple years,” said Conner.
One citizen asked how commission chairman Robert Gatto came up with $2.2 million that he motioned to give to the board of education to close the funding gap during a commission meeting Tuesday and asked if that money was part of the county’s maintenance of effort.
Educators, citizens offer ideas to close funding gap
Elaine Blaisdell Cumberland Times-News
OAKLAND — Educators and citizens in attendance at the county commission meeting Tuesday suggested a variety of solutions to help close some of the $2.2 million funding gap that the Garrett County Board of Education is facing.
Mike Robison, a concerned citizen, suggested that the commissioners commit to $2.2 million for the next three years until the wealth formula changes.
“I believe in my heart that the $2.2 million will stop it (school closures) and I believe if not then we can hold the board accountable to that. If it (wealth formula) doesn’t change, then we close schools,” said Robison. “I’d like you to stand up and say either we have the money or don’t have the money.”
Robison said that he would like the commissioners to commit to doing whatever it takes to keep the schools open.
Both Superintendent of Schools Janet Wilson and board president Cynthia Downton agreed that closing schools isn’t pleasant but that it needs to be done. Last year, Dennett Road and Kitzmiller elementary schools closed as a cost-cutting measure.
Garrett officials hope state comes through with money to help keep schools open
Friendsville, Route 40, Crellin at risk of closure
Elaine Blaisdell Cumberland Times-News
OAKLAND — Garrett County Commission Chairman Robert Gatto, who serves as an ex-officio member on the board of education, made a motion at Tuesday’s commission meeting to designate $2.2 million to the board for fiscal 2015 with the amount to be reduced if funding is secured from the state. The motion died for lack of a second.
Gatto made the motion after numerous educators and residents pleaded that the commission provide a funding number.
“I came here tonight thinking we were going to get a number,” said board president Cynthia Downton.
Commissioner Jim Raley indicated that he would like to provide the board with a funding number Dec. 17.
“I’m concerned that we are going to walk out of this room tonight without some form of solution. I can tell you the board of commissioners is not prepared to give some kind of a number because I’m not sure what that number needs to be,” said Raley.
Garrett County may close 3 schools
Crellin, Friendsville, Route 40 elementaries fall victim to budget deficit
From Staff Reports Cumberland Times-News
OAKLAND — Garrett County Public Schools is proceeding with the school closure process for Crellin, Friendsville and Route 40 elementary schools, according to a news release provided by Janet Wilson, superintendent of county schools.
The school system is facing an estimated $2.2 million deficit for the 2014–2015 school year, resulting in the decision to proceed with the school closure process.
At last week’s board of education meeting, the board released information concerning the elementary school facility needs assessment and master plan study for its public schools.
The $61,680 study recommended closing two schools in the northern end of the county and one school in the southern end and reconfiguring all grades in the northern schools and adjusting school boundary lines.
Elementary school closure possible in Garrett
One study option recommends shuttering three facilities to close budget gap
Elaine Blaisdell
OAKLAND — The Garrett County Board of Education released information concerning the elementary school facility needs assessment and master plan study for its public schools as well as information on potential school consolidations done by Bushey Feight Morin Architects Inc. of Hagerstown during a meeting Tuesday.
The study was done by Facility Engineering Associates of Fairfax, Va., and the board paid $61,680 for it, according to Jim Morris, supervisor of research, evaluation and information for Garrett County public schools.
Even if the board of education chooses the most extreme option of the study, the savings wouldn’t be enough to close the $2.2 million budget gap, Paul Swanson, of Facility Engineering Associates, indicated during a presentation of the study in October.
The most extreme option proposes closing two schools in the northern end of the county as well as one school in the southern end and includes reconfiguration of all grades in northern schools and adjusting school boundary lines.
“If we were to take the most extreme option and still only realize an 83 percent gain towards the $2.2 million deficit that we anticipate, how would we come up with what’s left?” said Superintendent of Schools Janet Wilson during the presentation of the study.
If the schools were reconfigured, it would lead to reductions in teachers, according to Wilson.
“We have reduced our staff by 88 positions since 2009,” said Wilson. “We have lost 609 students; at a 1-to-20 ratio we probably should reduce the staff.”
If schools were to close, it would increase costs of transportation due to the distance traveled to get students to another facility, according to a letter to Wilson written by Michael Gehr of BFM Architects.
“The closed facilities will still require exterior maintenance and maintaining watertightness of buildings and possibly heating costs to prevent damage to the facility until repurposed, demolished, transferred or sold,” writes Gehr. “All options will have expenses for unknown durations though it could be mitigated if a closed facility is sold or transferred to another entity sooner than later.”
BFM Architects held a meeting in August to determine what could be done to absorb displaced students at remaining schools should some schools close.
“The current approach would be to realign the schools based on grade levels as all schools have the ability to handle additional students,” writes Gehr. “Consolidation of schools in Garrett County can be achieved based on the projected enrollments and the existing facilities as they currently exist. However some modifications will be necessary to achieve that goal.”
If the schools were to be consolidated, any savings wouldn’t be realized for at least a year because it would take more than a summer break to design and construct the modified layout for a fourth to seventh grade level school, according to Gehr. The timeframe for a complete renovation would take about two years.
To view Gehr’s letter as well as the study, visit the GCPS website at http://www. garrettcountyschools.org/public-information.
Contact Elaine Blaisdell at eblaisdell@times-news.com.
