Superintendent George Arlotto will present his recommended operating and capital budgets for Fiscal Year 2021 at the next meeting of the Board of Education of Anne Arundel County, scheduled for 7 p.m. on Wednesday, December 18, 2019.
The budgets chart the course for the school system for the coming fiscal year, which begins July 1, 2020. The Board will conduct two public hearings and a public workshop on the budget before adopting a budget request to forward to County Executive Steuart Pittman in February. The County Executive’s proposal will be considered by the County Council before it adopts an operating budget that allocates funding within state-established categories and a capital budget that prescribes funding for school construction projects in June.
The December 18 meeting, including Dr. Arlotto’s budget address, can be viewed live here.
Wednesday’s meeting will be held in the Board Room at the Parham Building, located at 2644 Riva Road in Annapolis. The Board will meet in a public session at 5:30 p.m. for the sole purpose of voting to immediately go into closed session, during which time it will discuss confidential matters as permitted by the Maryland Open Meetings Act including, but not limited to, legal advice, personnel, and negotiations. Closed session is not open to the public. The public session of the meeting will resume at 7 p.m.
BUDGET HEARINGS, WORKSHOP
The Board of Education has scheduled two public hearings and a public workshop on Dr. Arlotto’s budget recommendation. Public hearings will be held on Tuesday, January 7, 2020, at Old Mill High School, and Thursday, January 9, 2020, in the Board Room at the Parham Building in Annapolis. Both hearings begin at 6 p.m. Those wishing to testify can sign up in person beginning at 5 p.m. Testimony will be limited to three minutes per person.
The Board will also hold a public workshop on Dr. Arlotto’s budget recommendation at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, January 14, 2020, in the Board Room at the Parham Building.
No budget-related public testimony will be taken at the workshop or at the February 19, 2020, meeting at which the Board is scheduled to adopt its budget request. Should the Board offer amendments at the February 19 meeting, testimony will be taken on the amendments only. The Board has also scheduled time to meet on February 20, 2020, if it is necessary to complete work on its budget request.
PUBLIC TESTIMONY SIGNUP PROCESS
Members of the public wishing to testify before the Board on December 18 can sign up online or by phone. Signups will close at 4 p.m. on the day before the meeting. Members of the public can sign up here or by calling 410-222-5311.
The Board will continue to hear testimony on agenda items when those items are before the Board. Testimony on items not on the agenda will be heard during the Public Comment portion of Board meetings.
Regardless of whether the testimony is offered on an agenda item or during Public Comment, student-specific concerns, personnel issues, and items under appeal or pending appeal cannot be discussed before the Board.
Members of the public may only sign up themselves to testify before the Board.
Testimony can also be submitted to the Board of Education via email at any time at BoardOffice@aacps.org. Signups for those wishing to testify at Board meetings will not be accepted by email.
A complete agenda for the meeting accompanies this news release. More information on agenda items will be posted on the AACPS website in the Board Docs section under the Board of Education tab.
The general session of Wednesday’s Board meeting will be broadcast live on AACPS-TV, which can be found on Channel 96 on Comcast and Broadstripe, and Channel 36 on Verizon. High definition broadcasts can be seen on Channel 996 on Comcast, Channel 496 on Broadstripe, and Channel 1961 on Verizon. Rebroadcasts are scheduled for 7:00 p.m. the day after the meeting and 2:00 p.m. on subsequent Sundays.