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Apr. 7, 2011

Closing two of Garrett County’s 11 elementary schools this August was the final recommendation of Dr. Wendell Teets, superintendent of schools, given at the Board of Education meeting held at Southern Middle School on Tuesday.

This recommendation came at the conclusion of a presentation given by Teets on the school system’s current budget dilemma. In this presentation Teets assessed the current state of finance for Garrett County schools and made speculative assessments of the system’s future.

In a review of potential fiscal year 2012 state aid, it was stated that Garrett County was one of only six districts in Maryland that would see an increase in wealth. As the state’s wealth as a whole is projected to contract by 2.58 percent, it was stated that Garrett County will see a 4.95 percent increase in wealth and also an enrollment loss of 2.36 percent. The report went on to outline the adverse effects of these factors on future state aid to the Garrett County school system.

It was also stated that beginning in the fall of 2009, a system wide review was conducted of numerous budgetary considerations. These included a review of the school system’s transportation efficiency, the possible effects of redistricting, and the savings obtainable through central office staff reductions.

The findings presented the potential savings through the majority of these possible changes inadequate to the task of fiscal sustainability in the foreseen budget crisis. Though it would not be the only measure taken to correct the budget deficit, the one consideration shown to be potentially most effect and least detrimental to the school system as a whole was the closing of the most costly schools in operation, namely Kitzmiller and Bloomington elementary schools.

Of all the public school’s within Garrett County, Bloomington and Kitzmiller were shown to have the highest projection in future costs, as well as the lowest trend in growth in terms of enrollment. It was stated that the total cost per student for Bloomington and Kitzmiller was $13,305 per annum and $7,444 per annum, respectively.

Bloomington was also shown to have the largest costs in facilities per pupil of any Garrett County school. Though both schools were considered to be in good shape currently, it was presented that state aid would most likely be unavailable for future repairs and renovations due to low enrollment.

In a detailed proposal of best-case scenario reductions the closure cost savings of Bloomington totaled $443,861. It was also reported that Kitzmiller’s closure cost savings would be $371,705.

Read full article here.

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