The Board of Education of Anne Arundel County will discuss and is scheduled to vote on adoption of its Fiscal Year 2024 operating and capital budget requests at its next meeting, scheduled for 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, February 15, 2023.
Superintendent of Schools Dr. Mark Bedell’s $1.68 billion Fiscal Year 2024 operating budget recommendation contains $80.8 million for additional compensation for employees, contracted bus drivers, and substitute teachers, sufficient, subject to negotiations with applicable bargaining units, for a step increase or step equivalent for all eligible employees and a 6 percent cost-of-living increase for all employees. It also includes a $2,000 bonus for special education teachers, funding for 30 additional minutes of additional work per day for eligible Unit 4 employees; fulfillment of costs for Blueprint-mandated stipends for National Board Certified Teachers; the third straight year of a $5-per-day increase for substitute teachers; and the second consecutive year of a 10 percent COLA for contracted bus drivers.
The recommendation also includes funding for 148.8 positions in special education; 21 English Language Development teachers and assistants; 12 assistant principals; and 10 teaching assistants and permanent substitutes. There also is funding for 62 positions to move the Virtual Academy from grant funding to the general operating budget as federal ESSER funds provided during the COVID-19 pandemic continue to expire.
Dr. Bedell is also recommending:
- $2.6 million for 18 social-emotional wellness positions that include four school psychologists, three social workers, three school counselors, two pupil personnel workers, and funding to create a new alternative education program in the Meade cluster and also expand one at the elementary level.
- funding for three additional bilingual facilitators, one additional bilingual assistant for the International Student and Family Welcome Center, and a bilingual receptionist for the Transportation Department.
- funding for 9.5 positions to expand the Triple-E program to the elementary schools in the Old Mill cluster.
- $6.3 million to open the Chesapeake Science Point Charter School elementary program next year.
- more than $2.7 million in the first phase of funding for West County Elementary School and Old Mill High School West, which will open in the 2024-2025 school year.
- $10.3 million for Blueprint mandates, including the dual enrollment initiative with Anne Arundel Community College, career counseling through the Anne Arundel Workforce Development Corporation, and funding to expand our community schools program.
Dr. Bedell’s $197 million FY2024 capital budget recommendation contains $132.4 million for major capital projects that include construction at the following schools, in priority order:
- West County Elementary School construction, $12.6 million
- Old Mill Middle School South construction, $37.3 million
- Center of Applied Technology – North construction, $58.4 million
- Old Mill Middle School North design/construction, $11.4 million
- Old Mill High School design/construction, $12.7 million
The Old Mill High School request is for a new facility on the school’s current Patriot Lane site and separate from the construction of Old Mill High School West, which is being built on the former Papa John’s Farm in Severn.
BOARD-PROPOSED BUDGET AMENDMENTS
The Board has published two amendments expected to be introduced at the meeting and Board Members will hear testimony specific to the amendments under the protocols for public comment outlined below. Budget testimony must directly relate to one or more of the amendments and not the budget request in general. Text of the amendments expected to be introduced and other information related to the FY2024 budget can be found here.
The meeting will be held in the Board Room at the Parham Building, located at 2644 Riva Road in Annapolis. It is open to the public and subject to normal space limitations in the Board Room. Regulations adopted by the Maryland State Board of Education require that all persons inside school or school system facilities be masked unless exempted under the law.
A complete agenda for the meeting can be found here. More information on agenda items will be posted on the AACPS website in the Board Docs section under the Board of Education tab.
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, 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.
BOARD WORKSHOP AND PUBLIC FORUM
The Board of Education will hold a public workshop at 6 p.m. on Monday, February 13, to hear updates from Superintendent of Schools Dr. Mark Bedell and his staff on the school system’s work toward submitting its implementation plan as required by the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future and will follow that with an open topic public forum.
Both the workshop and the public forum are open to the public and will be held in the Board Room of the Parham Building, located at 2644 Riva Road in Annapolis. The workshop It is open to the public, but no public questions or testimony will be taken.
At 7 p.m. on Monday, February 13, the Board will hold a public forum to hear opinions and input from students, families, employees, and community partners on items of interest to them. Registration for those who wish to speak at the forum has already closed.
UPCOMING COMMITTEE 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, February 13, 2023. Call 301-960-3676, enter the Conference ID 801 786 042#
- Equity Committee: 3 p.m., February 28, 2023. Call 301-960-3676, enter the Conference ID 100 008 903#.
- Policy Committee: 3 p.m., March 7, 2023. Call 301-960-3676, enter the Conference ID 418 326 169#.