Elaine Blaisdell Cumberland Times-News
OAKLAND — Sen. George Edwards and Delegate Wendell Beitzel are currently proposing a bill — Senate Bill 586 — that will cap losses of state funding to any school district to a 5.5 percent limit, said James Raley, Garrett County commission chairman, during Tuesday’s meeting. Raley said commissioners supported the bill and encouraged residents to do the same, stating that, “education funding is critical.”
“Any action on the part of the board of commissioners as the funding source is not intended to usurp their difficult decisions,” said a public statement, read by Commissioner Gregan Crawford, during the meeting.
The county has committed to funding education said Raley, adding that last year the county gave an extra $1.7 million towards education.
“We stand to say that we are willing to give some additional funding this year even though we are going to have to look long and hard as to where we are going to find that funding. Because there is not a new Wind Turbine project, there is not a Marcellus Shale Gas extraction severance tax, there is not any real new revenue that is coming to the county,” said Raley.
The commissioners vowed that the county will emerge from this financial crisis and asked the community to keep faith.
“We ask that we remain respectful of one another as we continue to work through this evolving process,” said the public statement.
In fiscal year 2012, the Garrett County Board of Education funding level was reduced by the state by $1.5 million, according to the public statement. Until last year, the state was required to fund education at the same level as the previous year, according to Raley.
“Garrett County government has been experiencing a financial shortfall status and there are numerous challenges to secure funding for the provision of all public services for the residents, property owners, and visitors to Garrett County without operating with a structural deficit,” said the public statement.
In order to fix the financial situation that the Garett County Public School system is facing, Sue Waggoner, interim superintendent, developed a five-year plan that reduces the budget $3 million by eliminating programs, reducing budgets and positions, providing retirement incentives, reconfiguring fifth graders into middle school and by closing Dennett Road, Kitzmiller and Friendsville elementary schools.
The commissioners encouraged the board to review the retirement incentives and allow for the reduction of staff numbers without eliminating the jobs of new employees. The commissioners also encouraged the board to work with them to identify areas of overlapping services and practices.
“We have deliberated and identified the fact that public education is not only our number one fiscal priority, but also a notable objective of our future economic development vision. The downturn in the economy, reductions in state-level school funding require that all parties cannot continue to operate under the same paradigm. The new paradigm insists that we must not only do more with less, we must do better with less.”
To read the commission’s public statement in its entirety, visit www.garrettcounty.org.
Contact Elaine Blaisdell at eblaisdell@times-news.com.
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