Superintendent of Schools Dr. Mark Bedell will present his recommended Fiscal Year 2024 operating and capital budgets at the next meeting of the Board of Education of Anne Arundel County, scheduled for Wednesday, December 14, 2022.
The budgets chart the course for the school system for the coming fiscal year, which begins July 1, 2023. The Board will conduct two public hearings and a public workshop on Dr. Bedell’s recommendation 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.
At Wednesday’s meeting, the Board is also scheduled to adopt its 2023 Legislative Program, which sets forth the Board’s adopted positions on issues related to education and the school system. The document is primarily used to advocate for school system interests during the Maryland General Assembly session.
The meeting will begin at 6:30 p.m. and will be held in the Board Room at the Parham Building, located at 2644 Riva Road, Annapolis. It is open to the public and subject to normal space limitations in the Board Room.
The Board will also meet in a public session at 4:30 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.
PROCESS FOR PUBLIC COMMENT ON AGENDA ITEMS
The Board will hear in-person and virtual public comment on agenda items from up to a total of 10 speakers per agenda item during a single section in the early portion of the meeting.
To provide the most equitable and orderly opportunity for speakers with a diversity of viewpoints and varying technology access, the Board will employ a randomized, computerized lottery to select the 10 speakers for any agenda item on which more than 10 people sign up to offer comment.
The link to register for in-person or virtual testimony at the meeting will be posted online here at 3 p.m. on the Friday prior to the meeting and will close at 11:59 p.m. on the Sunday prior to the meeting. Those wishing to provide either in-person or virtual testimony must register through that link. Speakers may sign up for no more than two agenda items.
For agenda items with more than 10 registered speakers, the lottery selection procedures will be as follows:
- If more than 10 people indicate their first choice for a specific agenda item, the lottery for that agenda item will be conducted among those registrants only. Those who indicate that agenda item as their second choice will not be considered and may provide written comment as outlined below.
- If fewer than 10 people indicate their first choice for a specific agenda item but a sufficient additional number of people indicate that agenda item as their second choice, spaces will be allocated to the first-choice registrants and a lottery will be conducted for remaining spaces.
Speakers who secure a slot to speak will be notified by email at the email address they provide when they register. All speakers will be allotted 2 minutes and must address the specifics of the agenda item for which they sign up. For details on the specifics of agenda items, including the courses listed above, click on the Board Docs link found at www.aacps.org/board.
Written comments on agenda items can be submitted through an online form that can be found here beginning at 3 p.m. on the Friday prior to the meeting. Written comments must be no more than 250 words and must be submitted by noon on the day prior to the Board meeting. Comments can also be dropped off at the Parham Building by that time.
Comments on non-agenda items are only accepted in writing.
The complete process for registering to speak and submitting testimony in writing can be found here.
Those who require the services of an interpreter to offer comment to the Board or who need other accessibility accommodations for Board of Education meetings should call 410-222-5311 to make those arrangements.
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.
The meeting can also be viewed live on AACPS’ YouTube channel.
Archived videos of Board meetings can be found online here.
BUDGET HEARINGS, WORKSHOP
The Board has scheduled a public workshop and two public hearings on Dr. Bedell’s budget recommendation.
The workshop will be held at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, January 17, 2022, in the Board Room at the Parham Building. Public hearings will be held on Tuesday, January 24, 2023, at Old Mill High School, and Thursday, January 26, 2023, in the Board Room at the Parham Building in Annapolis. Both hearings begin at 6 p.m.
Testimony at the hearings will be limited to two minutes per person. No budget-related public testimony will be taken at the workshop or at the February 15, 2023, meeting at which the Board is scheduled to adopt its budget request. Should the Board offer amendments at the February 15 meeting, testimony will be taken on the amendments only. The Board has also scheduled time to meet on February 16, 2023, if it is necessary to complete work on its budget request.
The January 17 public workshop and the January 26 public hearing will be broadcast live on AACPS-TV and on AACPS’ YouTube channel.
Dr. Bedell’s full Fiscal Year 2024 operating and capital budget recommendations, as well as a text of his budget address and a Budget in Brief document, will be posted at www.aacps.org/fy24budgets no later than December 15.
UPCOMING BOARD OF EDUCATION MEETINGS
The Board of Education’s committees will hold upcoming virtual meetings according to the following schedule. The meetings will not be broadcast, but those wishing to listen to the meetings can access them through the codes listed below.
- Budget Committee: noon, December 12, 2022. Call 301-960-3676, enter the Conference ID 629 811 384#.
- Policy Committee: 3:00 p.m., January 3, 2023. Call 301-960-3676, enter the Conference ID 116 235 703#.
- Equity Committee: 3:00 p.m., January 24, 2023. Call 30-1960-3676, enter the Conference ID 428 209 249#.