Commissioners hold Community Meetings

"BE PART OF THE CONVERSATION!"

 

Commissioners Howard and Shoemaker will be hosting a series of community meetings entitled Around the County in 80 Minutes. Each meeting will be 80 minutes long and will discuss a variety of important topics including Education, Economic Development and Public Safety.

 

Please contact Roberta Windham at (410) 386-2876 or email: rwindham@ccg.carr.org, for more information.

 

              

Thursday, January 24 @ 7:00 pm

North Carroll High School, 1400 Panther Drive, Hampstead 21074

 

Monday, January 28 @ 7:00 pm

Mt. Airy Middle School, 102 Watersville Road, Mt. Airy 21771

 

Tuesday, January 29 @ 7:00 pm

Francis Scott Key High School, 3825 Bark Hill Road, Union Bridge 21791

 

Wednesday, January 30 @ 7:00 pm

East Middle School, 121 Longwell Avenue, Westminster 21157

 

Monday, February 4 @ 7:00 pm

New Windsor Middle School, 1000 Green Valley Road, New Windsor 21776

 

Tuesday, February 5 @ 7:00 pm

Charles Carroll Elementary, 3719 Littlestown Pike, Westminster 21158

 

Monday, February 11 @ 7:00 pm

Liberty High School, 5855 Bartholow Road, Eldersburg 21784

Board Meeting & Budget Work Session Tonight

Board Meeting, Budget Hearing and Work Session TONIGHT

The Board of Education of Carroll County will hold the following meetings on Wednesday, January 23, 2013. All meetings will be held in the Charles I. Ecker Boardroom at the Board of Education offices, located at 125 North Court Street in Westminster. The public is encouraged to attend.

5:00 p.m. Administrative Board Meeting (without citizen participation)

6:00 p.m. FY14 Superintendent's Operating Budget Hearing (with citizen participation)

7:00 p.m. Board Work Session - FY14 Operating Budget (without citizen participation)

The agenda and back-up materials for the Board meeting will be available for review on the CCPS website at www.carrollk12.org and clicking on Online Meeting Agenda at the bottom of the home page.

The Board meeting will be streamed live on the Carroll County Public Schools website at www.carrollk12.org. Click on CETV Channel 21 on the right side of the home page and then CCPS CETV Webstreaming, or go directly to:

http://www.carrollk12.org/admin/commedia/cetv/streaming/default.asp.

The Board meeting also will be broadcast live on Channel 21, with rebroadcasts on Thursday, January 24, at 8:00 p.m.; Saturday, January 26, at 9:00 a.m.; Sunday, January 27, at 8:00 p.m.; and Thursday, January 31, at 8:00 p.m.

POINTS TO CONSIDER WHEN PREPARING TESTIMONY ABOUT THE BUDGET

 

~ I support the Superintendent’s proposed budget, including a modest increase of 1% - primarily to cover inflationary cost including teacher pension costs passed back to the county, the new educational mandates (Race-to-the-Top) and the operating costs of opening a new middle school (Mt. Airy).

~ While asking for an increase, the budget also identifies reductions to help balance the budget. Over the past five years, the school system has reduced its budget by $20M dollars.

~ Should the school system see a decrease over last year’s budget ($164.9 in FY13) we will not have the necessary infrastructure (wireless capabilities) to meet our statewide testing mandates and our teachers will continue to leave the system for better opportunities elsewhere.

~ Finally, as our elected officials ponder over the future of our county, especially in terms of economic development and growth, I ask you to consider what type of work force will be anxious to move to a county or neighborhood with poor-performing schools or one where local government does not value to educational system.

 

Board of Ed. forced to consider drastic cuts

If the County Commissioners reduce the school system budget to Maintenance of Effort (MOE), more cuts will be required beyond what has already been identified in the Superintendent's proposed budget.  These include reductions to Outdoor School, Media Clerks and Instructional Assistants. 

Also, depending on State funding levels, even further reductions may be necessary, including teaching staff and central office personnel.

Visit the Carroll County Times for a more in-depth article.

http://www.carrollcountytimes.com/news/local/school-system-considers-cutting-media-center-jobs-if-it-receives/article_33a1fd84-fdab-50d5-93c9-c4c97ed46bcc.html

Here's an excerpt from the article...

 

Even though Superintendent of Schools Steve Guthrie released a balanced proposed Fiscal Year 2014 operating budget request Wednesday, more budget cuts could still be coming down the line for Carroll County Public Schools.

 

In his proposed budget, Guthrie requested a one percent increase in revenue from the county, or $1.7 million more than the previous year’s approved budget, for FY14. Even with that increase, the superintendent and staff member Christopher Hartlove, Director of Administrative Services, announced more than $2.6 million in budget cuts at the meeting.

 

The reductions already in the budget include 20.5 full-time equivalent custodial positions that were cut through attrition, staff turnover, four central office positions and a Carroll Association of School Employees work-year reduction.

 

What Guthrie will receive from both the county and state for the FY14 budget is still unknown. The school system could get funded lower than his request at about the same amount from the county as last year or even lower than that at Maintenance of Effort, which is four million less than last year's funding. Flat funding could cause about a $3 million budget shortfall and Maintenance of Effort could cause a $9 million shortfall.

 

Being funded at the Maintenance of Effort level would be a hit to the school system because it is experiencing declining enrollment. Maintenance of Effort is a state law that mandates counties at least fund school systems at the same per-pupil amount for the upcoming year as they did the prior year. State mandates and inflationary costs still cause the school system funding needs to increase each year, according to Guthrie.

 

Some possible budget cuts that were discussed at a December work session if the school system has to cut about $9 million from its budget for being funded at the Maintenance of Effort level this fiscal year include cutting the full-time equivalent of 38 teachers, 88 kindergarten assistants, 24 media clerks and 3.8 media specialists. Another possible cut includes closing Outdoor School.

 

Those additional reductions add up to about $7.4 million in savings to add to the $2.6 million in cuts that have already been made for FY14.

Superintendent introduces FY14 proposed budget

At last week's Board meeting, Mr. Guthrie introduced his "proposed" FY14 school system budget.  This budget calls for a modest increase to offset rising costs and prepare for the mandates of the Race-to-the-Top curriculum.

Below is the link to Mr. Guthrie's presentation and highlights.

http://www.carrollk12.org/admin/financeservices/budget/proposed/default.asp

The dates for public presentation, review and input to the Operating Budget for Carroll County Public Schools System for the 2012-2013 school year are listed below:

• January 9, 2013. 5:00 p.m. Presentation of Superintendent's Proposed FY 2014 Operating budget during the Board of Education Meeting. Charles I. Ecker Boardroom, Board Offices.

• January 23, 2013. 6:00 p.m. Public hearing with citizen participation following 5:00 p.m. Board of Education meeting. Charles I. Ecker Boardroom, Board Offices. Board Work Session on the FY 2014 Budget (without citizen participation) immediately following the public hearing. Charles I Ecker Boardroom, Board Offices.

• February 5, 2013. 7:00 p.m. Public hearing with citizen participation. South Carroll High School.

• February 27, 2013. 1:00 p.m. Adoption of the Board of Education's Proposed FY 2013 Budget during the Board of Education Meeting. Charles I. Ecker Boardroom, Board Offices.

• May 1, 2013. 2:00 p.m. (Tentative date.) Board Work Session (without citizen participation). Charles I. Ecker Boardroom, Board Offices.