The Board of Education of Anne Arundel County will conduct a public hearing and is scheduled to vote on initial approval of Superintendent of Schools Dr. Mark Bedell’s proposed Fiscal Year 2025 Capital Budget at its next meeting, scheduled for Wednesday, September 20, 2023.
Dr. Bedell’s $234.5 million recommendation, which can be found here, was presented to the Board on September 6, and the Board will hold a public workshop on it at 6 p.m. on September 18. The workshop will be held in the Board Room and will be broadcast live through the outlets listed below. The workshop is open to the public but no public testimony will be taken.
After approval by the Board, the plan will be submitted to the State of Maryland for funding consideration. The plan will also be part of the school system’s overall FY2025 budget request, to be forwarded to the County Executive in February 2024 after the Board holds additional public hearings. The County Council will review that plan and adopt a final capital budget for the school system by June 2023.
At the meeting, the Board will also discuss and adopt its FY2025 budget priorities.
The meeting begins at 6:30 p.m. and 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.
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. Protocols, procedures, and expectations for those attending the meeting can be found here.
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 public comment:
- from up to 10 total speakers (combination of virtual and in person) per agenda item (excluding personnel items, reports, and recognitions) during a single public comment section in the early portion of the meeting.
- from up to 10 total speakers on items not on the agenda (excluding any student-specific or personnel items) near the end of the meeting.
The link to register to comment before the Board will be published at www.aacps.org/boardcomment at 3 p.m. on the Friday prior to the meeting. Registration will close at noon on the Monday prior to the meeting. Those wishing to provide comment must register through that link. Speakers may sign up for no more than two agenda items but only once on any individual agenda item.
The following also apply:
- For any item with more than 10 registered speakers, the Board will employ a lottery process to select the speakers.
- Registrants 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 aacps.org/board. Comments about student-specific items and/or personnel matters are not accepted. Because the Board will be holding hearings specific to any redistricting plans to be developed in the coming months, it will not accept comment on redistricting at this meeting.
- Written comments on agenda items can be submitted through an online form that can be at aacps.org/boardcomment beginning at 3 p.m. on the Friday prior to a Board meeting. Written comments must be no more than 250 words and must be submitted by noon on the day prior to a Board meeting. Comments can also be dropped off at the Parham Building, located at 2644 Riva Road in Annapolis, by that time.
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 complete process for registering to speak and submitting testimony in writing can be found here.
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 Astound, and Channel 36 on Verizon. High-definition broadcasts can be seen on Channel 996 on Comcast, Channel 496 on Astound, 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.
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 by telephone through the codes listed below.
- Policy Committee: 3 p.m., September 26, 2023. Call 301-960-3676, enter the Conference ID 569 313 93#.
- Budget Committee: Noon, September 18, 2023. Call 301-960-3676, enter the Conference ID 792 512 942#.
- Equity Committee: 3 p.m., September 19, 2023. Call 301-960-3676, enter the Conference ID 339 374 06#.