The Board of Education of Anne Arundel County today approved a $1.12 billion operating budget that supports 100 new critically needed positions and provides funding for employee compensation increases to be implemented once negotiations with employee bargaining units are complete.
Of the 100 new positions, 88.5 are classroom teachers or school-based staff members who have direct daily contact with students. The operating budget includes:
- $3.2 million for 33 new teaching positions to break even with ongoing enrollment increases and 10 additional teaching positions to begin to assist in the goal to reduce growing class sizes.
- $1.5 million to add seventh grade at the Monarch Global contract school and support AACPS’ charter schools.
- $449,000 for six special education teachers.
- $358,000 to add four English Language Acquisition classroom teachers and an interpreter for the International Student Services Office.
- $169,000 for three additional bilingual facilitators to provide critical assistance and support to non-English speaking families.
- $1.2 million for 11.5 teaching positions to expand the Enhancing Elementary Excellence (Triple-E) program to the nine elementary schools in the Chesapeake and Northeast clusters.
- $654,000 for four positions to enhance the STEM programs at Lindale and Central middle schools.
“This is an incredibly generous budget of which we can all be proud, and one which came about through the collaborative hard work of our school system, the County Executive, and the County Council,” Board President Stacy Korbelak said. “I am disappointed that we have not reached agreement with three of our employee bargaining units and therefore cannot provide pay increases to those employees at this time, but I hope that we will be able to come to an agreement soon because our hard-working employees deserve to be compensated.”
The Board today ratified an agreement with the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Local 1693, the group that represents custodial and maintenance workers throughout the school system. That agreement provides a step increase to all eligible AFSCME employees, effective July 1, 2016, and an additional annual leave day for AFSCME employees not eligible for step increases.
In the absence of negotiated agreements with the bargaining units representing teachers; principals and assistant principals; and secretaries and administrative assistants, the Board adopted Terms of Employment for those groups for Fiscal Year 2017. The Terms of Employment delay any compensation increases for employees in those groups until such time as a negotiated agreement is reached and ratified.
In addition, the Board adopted Terms of Employment for non-represented support staff employees that provide a step increase for eligible employees effective July 1, 2016. Compensation increases for senior and executive staff, who are also not represented by a bargaining unit, will be delayed until the completion of negotiations with other bargaining units.
CAPITAL BUDGET
The Board also approved a $243 million capital budget that allocates more than $74 million to pre-existing renovation projects, including Severna Park High School and Manor View, High Point, George Cromwell, Jessup, and Arnold elementary schools.
It also includes:
- $3 million for feasibility study and design funding for renovations to Edgewater, Tyler Heights, and Richard Henry Lee elementary schools, and $6.2 million in design funding for a new Crofton area high school.
- $10.5 million for prekindergarten and kindergarten additions at Odenton, Woodside, and North Glen elementary schools.
- $10 million for a classroom addition at Odenton Elementary School and gymnasium additions at Woodside and Millersville elementary schools.
- $7 million for open space enclosures at Chesapeake High School.
“These budgets are a clear indication that the leaders of our county and our school system are committed to working together to advance our educational system,” Superintendent George Arlotto said. “We are accomplishing great things for our children, and working together we can accomplish even more.”
More budget information can be found here.