Superintendent of Schools Dr. Mark Bedell will present his recommended Fiscal Year 2025 operating and capital budgets at the next meeting of the Board of Education of Anne Arundel County, scheduled for Wednesday, December 20, 2023.
The budgets chart the course for the school system for the coming fiscal year, which begins July 1, 2024. 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 will also hear Dr. Bedell’s recommendation for formal names for the school system’s two newest schools, currently named Old Mill West High School and West County Elementary School, which are scheduled to open in August. Both recommended names will then be posted for public comment, with the Board scheduled to vote on officially naming the schools at its January 3, 2024, meeting.
Wednesday’s 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.
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 (virtual and in-person combined) per agenda item (excluding personnel items, reports, presentations, and recognitions) during a single public comment section in the early portion of the meeting. Additionally, up to 10 speakers can comment on non-agenda items, excluding student-specific or personnel matters, towards the end of the meeting.
To register for public comment, visit www.aacps.org/boardcomment from 3 p.m. on the Friday before the meeting until noon on the Monday before. Speakers can sign up for a maximum of two agenda items but only once for each item. If there are more than 10 registered speakers for an item, a lottery will be used to select the speakers.
Registered speakers will be notified via email. Each speaker has a 2-minute time limit and must address the specific agenda item for which they are registered.
Written comments on agenda items (250-word maximum) can also be submitted online or dropped off at the Parham Building in Annapolis. Those needing interpreter services or accessibility accommodations should call 410-222-5311.
The general session of the meeting will be broadcast live on AACPS-TV and on AACPS’ YouTube channel. Archived videos of past meetings are available online.
BUDGET HEARINGS, WORKSHOP
The Board has scheduled a public workshop and two public hearings on Dr. Bedell’s budget recommendation.
Public hearings will be held on Tuesday, January 9, 2024, at Old Mill High School, and Thursday, January 11, 2024, in the Board Room at the Parham Building in Annapolis. Both hearings begin at 6 p.m. The workshop will be held at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, January 16, 2024, in the Board Room at the Parham Building.
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 21, 2024, meeting at which the Board is scheduled to adopt its budget request. Should the Board offer amendments at the February 21 meeting, testimony will be taken on the amendments only. The Board has also scheduled time to meet on February 22, 2024, if it is necessary to complete work on its budget request.
The January 11 public hearing and the January 16 workshop will be broadcast live on AACPS-TV and on AACPS’ YouTube channel.
Dr. Bedell’s full Fiscal Year 2025 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/fy25budget no later than December 21.
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., January 2, 2024. Call 301-960-3676, enter the Conference ID 533 435 039#.
- Budget Committee: Noon, January 16, 2024. Call 301-960-3676, enter the Conference ID 167 431 216#.
- Equity Committee: Noon, February 27, 2024. Call 301-960-3676, enter the Conference ID 543 729 222#.