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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.

More here.

Garrett budget includes increase for school board

Funding at same level as fiscal 2014

Elaine Blaisdell

Cumberland Times-News

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.”

More here.

O’Malley signs bill for added state funding to schools

Law mandates supplements for shortfalls in aid formula

Matthew Bieniek

Cumberland Times-News

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.

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School board approves Garrett County budget for fiscal 2013

State action somewhat eases impact on employees

Elaine Blaisdell Cumberland Times-News

OAKLAND — The Garrett County Board of Education’s fiscal 2013 budget includes fewer cuts to school employees than the draft budget, some of whom were able to be brought back with the $1 million-plus from the state Budget Reconciliation and Financing Act, according to Charlotte Sebold, board president.

The board approved the $50 million budget at its business meeting earlier this month. Salaries, which make up 58 percent of the budget, are down $1.9 million for fiscal 2013 compared to salaries from this year, according to the budget.

Also, administration and mid-level administration expenditures, which combined make up 7.9 percent of the budget, are down by $64,963 for 2013 compared to fiscal 2012. Administration includes the activities associated with the general regulations, directions, and control of the Garrett County Public Schools and are generally those types of expenditures that execute educational or financial policy and affect the system as a whole, according to the budget.

Administration expenditures include board services; superintendent’s office; business support services; research, evaluation and information; human resources; and data processing services. Mid-level administration includes the administration and supervision of district-wide and school-level instructional programs and activities. Mid-level expenditures include the office of the president, Career & Technology Program Direction and Instructional Program Direction and Improvement.

The closing of Dennett Road and Kitzmiller elementary schools will save the board an anticipated $1.4 million, according to the board’s five-year plan. The Parents for Garrett County Education has filed an appeal with the state board and the county had until Wednesday to respond. If the schools were to reopen, the board would be $1.4 million short for fiscal 2014, interim Superintendent of Schools Sue Waggoner told the Times-News in May. Waggoner was unavailable to comment Wednesday and Thursday.

Some residents were concerned about transportation congestion. Students who attended Dennett Road Elementary will attend Yough Glades Elementary, which will become the special education center. Students who attended Kitzmiller will attend Broadford Elementary.

The fiscal 2013 operating budget calls for $55,000 in transportation upgrades at Southern Middle School, Broadford and Yough Glades.

The goals of the fiscal 2013 budget are to support and maintain educational programs, services and facilities; maintain staffing levels to support educational programs and services; and fund the approved capital improvement program.

The largest portion of the county’s fiscal 2013 budget allotted $26,023,714 to the board. That amount includes $664,714 to fund the teacher pension obligations, which was offset by a like amount from the state.

Contact Elaine Blaisdell at eblaisdell@times-news.com

More here.

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Category: school budget

Garrett school board approves consolidation recommendations

Garrett budget includes increase for school board

Funding at same level as fiscal 2014

O’Malley signs bill for added state funding to schools

Law mandates supplements for shortfalls in aid formula

School board approves Garrett County budget for fiscal 2013

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