Superintendent George Arlotto today released the following statement following the County Council’s adoption of the county’s Fiscal Year 2016 Operating and Capital budgets:
“Chairman Walker and the County Council took a quantum step forward for the children of Anne Arundel County today. While cutting taxes for citizens across the county, the Council also provided our school system with funding significantly above the minimum legal requirement for the first time in seven years. That funding provides modest compensation increases for our hard-working employees and will allow our Board of Education to move forward with additional instructional staffing in key areas and provide increased opportunities and school choice options for all of our students, including those who wish to attend charter and contract schools or magnet programs. It will also allow us to begin to examine what efficiencies can be gained in our bus routing as we continue the discussion about later school start times.
“The well-crafted capital budget proposed by County Executive Steve Schuh and adjusted by the Council allocates funds to continue our efforts to improve, expand, and enhance the educational environments for our children. It will also allow us to examine the viability of a Crofton-area High School as we await the results of the new school facilities study.
“We have had many discussions with members of the Council and the County Executive in recent weeks about finding ways to move our school system forward. These budgets do that, and our children and county will be better off because of it.”