Megan Miller
Cumberland Times-News
Oakland — OAKLAND — The Garrett County school board will wait until May to discuss a policy change that would impact families in the eastern end of the county.
The board is considering abolishing a decades-old policy that allows some Garrett children to attend schools in Allegany County. Currently, 48 students take advantage of that option. Many Finzel-area families now send their children to nearby Allegany County schools after they attend Garrett’s Route 40 Elementary School through fifth grade.
Superintendent Wendell Teets said Monday he expects the board to discuss and act on the proposal during its May 11 meeting.
“We weren’t ready, after we had the hearing, to bring it to the board in April,” Teets said. “We’re doing a little more research on some things.”
The board held a special meeting March 30 to hear public comment on the proposal. About 16 people addressed the board during the 1 1/2-hour meeting, most in strong opposition to the change. Parents argued that it would create a financial and scheduling hardship for their families, especially because many of them work in the Cumberland area.
Teets said in an earlier interview that the school board is considering the policy change because declining enrollment and other factors have reduced the school system’s state funding, leaving it to wrestle with a significant budget shortfall.
“We pay tuition and provide transportation for those students to go to Allegany County schools,” Teets said. “Ultimately, by changing this policy, we would eliminate the busing expenses, the payments to Allegany and gain state aid by keeping those students in Garrett schools. So that’s a significant amount of funding.”
If adopted, the policy change will go into effect for the 2010-11 school year. Garrett children who now attend Allegany schools would be allowed to continue through graduation, but their siblings would only be allowed to do so if they attend the same facility at the same time. That provision is intended to prevent parents from having two middle- or high-schoolers in different districts.
The board will hold its April public meeting today at the board office, 40 S. Second St. Time is set aside for public comment at 4 and 7 p.m.
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