Superintendent: Leopold's Proposed Schools Budget 'Breaks the Law'
The primary disagreement is whether the county met Maintenance of Effort (MOE) requirements in 2012 and how those numbers impact fiscal year 2013.
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County Executive John R. Leopold’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2013 is more than $21 million less than the amount requested by Anne Arundel County Public Schools (AACPS).
Superintendent Kevin M. Maxwell recommended a total operating budget of $986.2 million but Leopold appropriated $965 million for the school system, asking for $572.5 million from the county.
Leopold, who released the budget Monday, adopted Maxwell’s recommendations for 62 new teaching positions and several school construction projects including funding the replacement of Severna Park High. Patch previously reported that Maxwell stated that about $4 million in “salary savings from all employee groups” will cover the funding of the new positions.
The county executive’s budget does not allow for teacher salary increases, meaning AACPS and teacher unions will need to renegotiate contracts.
AACPS Chief Operating Officer Alex Szachnowicz said the contracts have “if funded” clauses and because the county did not allocate money for the salary increases, the school system did not violate contract agreements to raise compensation.
Szachnowicz said the biggest conflict between the two recommended budgets lies in funding requirements for Maintenance of Effort (MOE)—the minimum sum of money per-student allotted by the county in order to keep school funding stable.
Maxwell and other school officials claim that Leopold’s recommended budget is $12 million short of its MOE requirements.
“It is the law to fund MOE. It was last year and he broke the law," Maxwell said about the county executive. "It is the law this year and he is breaking the law again. These aren’t opinions we’re talking about here. These are legal requirements that he is failing to meet.”
The primary disagreement is whether the county met MOE requirements in 2012 and how those numbers impact fiscal year 2013. Leopold’s office used debt service to calculate the MOE numbers for fiscal year 2012, but not fiscal year 2013.
“We believe we followed the rules and we met the MOE in 2012,” said John Hammond, the county's chief administrative officer and former budget officer.
Hammond said the Maryland Attorney General told them that the use of debt service was legal in 2012. However, according to a new bill passed last week by the Maryland General Assembly, debt service has been disallowed for use when calculating MOE requirements.
AACPS spokesman Bob Mosier said the issue is no longer the use of debt service by the county, but the $12 million missing from last year’s operating budget.
“They underfunded us by $12 million in 2012 and they did it against this year,” Mosier said. “The issue is they’re using that number they gave us in 2012, and the number they gave us last year is $12 million less than the requirement.”
Szachnowicz agreed that the MOE numbers from 2012 were "faulty."
"To use that as the launch point for 2013, the budget was artificially lower by that amount of money,” Szachnowicz said.
School officials also pointed out Leopold’s exclusion of three construction projects already approved for funding by the state government.
On April 2, the county executive wrote a letter to David Lever, executive director of Maryland’s Interagency Committee on School Construction, that said, “I am aware of no instance where the county has not supported a board of education project that has been approved for funding by the state.”
According to Maxwell, the county executive contradicted that very claim by “defunding” three projects in the capital budget.
Construction for a new gym at Maryland City and Waugh Chapel elementary schools and additional classrooms at Crofton Middle were already approved for state government funding but, in Leopold’s budget, the county’s contributions to the projects were eliminated.
The superintendent said the exclusion likely sends a negative message to the state government, scheduled to distribute a remaining $51 million for school construction projects throughout Maryland on April 24.
“I won’t be at all surprised to see the state factor into those allocations the fact that Anne Arundel is not meeting its commitment to three projects that were already approved by the state,” Maxwell said.
Crofton, Rolling Knolls, Benfield and West Annapolis elementary school parents hoping to see the start of the renovation or construction process in 2013 will be disappointed to learn Leopold’s budget pushes back those projects until 2016 and 2017. Any school previously expecting the process to start in 2016 or later has been pushed back indefinitely, Szachnowicz said.
More than 76,000 students are enrolled in county schools—the most ever, according to AACPS.
“We’re one of the few school districts in the state of Maryland who is operating with more kids and less operating money this year,” Maxwell said.
Listed below is a summary of approved budget items in both the operating and capital budgets proposed by Leopold:
- Sixty-two new teaching positions throughout the county.
- Funding for the new visual and performing arts school in Annapolis.
- Increased enrollment for addition grades at charter schools.
- Increased riders, routes and fuel for school transportation.
- Security-related upgrades, including new cameras, fences and key cards at various schools.
- The addition of all-day pre-Kindergarten and kindergarten classes.
- Replacing old school buses.
- Construction at Lothian Elementary.
- Construction at Mills-Parole Elementary.
- Replacing Severna Park High.
E
8:19 am on Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Why does Severna Park High need replaced?
Andrea
8:56 am on Tuesday, April 17, 2012
I was wondering the same thing about Severna Park high school. I have heard talk for some time about replacing it. But, I know there are other high schools even older (including Arundel). Arundel has been renovated several times over the years.
Leslie Brown
9:38 am on Tuesday, April 17, 2012
An independent company, MGT, was hired to determine the structural integrity of all of the county schools. Here is a link to the final MGT study which states the criteria used to determine building needs. http://www.aacps.org/html/press/finalreport.pdf
The private MGT study cited above rated Severna Park HS as one of the worst in physical structure. Issues with the building that have been discussed consistently over the past 5 years are plumbing, safety, hall way size - especially in the case of a wheel chair, electrical issues and the building not meeting current code in certain areas.
Tim Lemke
9:32 am on Tuesday, April 17, 2012
I have deleted a comment from Casey Ireland because it violates provisions in our terms of use regarding the use of profanity, including masked profanity.
Casey Ireland
10:56 am on Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Thanks!
Casey Ireland
10:57 am on Tuesday, April 17, 2012
It was pretty harsh!
Scott Gruber
1:44 pm on Tuesday, April 17, 2012
The Superintendent should be looking into one of his Principals breaking the law. The School board should investigate issues instead of covering them up.
Elizabeth
9:51 am on Sunday, April 22, 2012
Agreed Scott!
Amy Leahy
9:44 pm on Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Beware the lifting of the tax cap by the state of Maryland to fund schools. The school board in this county is appointed by the Governor and not elected by the taxpaying citizens…they have NO accountability to us. Maintenance of Effort has always been met by Anne Arundel County so for the superintendent to accuse the County Executive of breaking the law is a lie.
CJ
7:47 am on Wednesday, April 18, 2012
I don't think the school budget can ever be satiated until the local government that supports it collapses. So the schools get a larger percentage of the County budget every year according to the State MOI, and the State has made that law. This is simply math; It is unsustainable. The school is already more than 1/2 of the County budget. Proportionally, it will continue to rise under the current system. Has anyone asked how many years it will be until the school budget mandate 90% of the County budget- or even 100%? When do we have to dismantle the rest of the system~ close County Parks- or Health programs- or stop trash collection and road repairs? Is there any limit or safeguard for this scenario? It appears that as soon as the word "children" is invoked, common sense and spending restraint goes out the window. With the right teacher, who is motivated, passionate and well-trained, excellence could occur in a barn, or on a dock, or god forbid, in a portable classroom. I had more than a few classes in portable classrooms- and Really, I am just fine and bear no ill effects..... Accepting that we can't always live in the biggest house, with a housekeeper, grounds crew, and the newest TV or computer is a tough life lesson, but its reality. Even with such deprivation, students can thrive.
Jeff Andrade
9:39 am on Wednesday, April 18, 2012
When did Kevin Maxwell become a lawyer and judge to be able to determine that the anyone "broke the law"? I am so tired of Maxwell's whining and crying poor mouth every year. The schools got a $34 million increase in the County Exec's budget, all the requested teaching positions are paid for, as was everything else in the request except for pay raises. Does Maxwell and the BoE really think pay raises are justified after we are just coming off two years where all the other County employees had to be furloughed to balance the budget?
Maryland already has some of the highest per pupil expenditures in the country, and ranks third when it comes to spending on school administration. There are counties that spend less per pupil yet have higher student test scores than AACo, and those that spend more and have worse results.
The schools' share of the County budget has gone from 42 percent to 52 percent in the last two decades, yet Maxwell is always complaining. Maybe he's trying to divert attention away from his weak leadership and the mediocre peformance of the County schools (especially in the middle schools). He needs to stop whining, prioritize, set high expectations and demand better results, and work to increase the percentage of funds that are being spent on classroom instruction rather than administrative bureacracy.
Amy Leahy
5:38 pm on Thursday, April 19, 2012
Many years ago when I worked in the Anne Arundel County Budget Office the Board of Education would send an entourage to the private budget meetings with the county executive and employees of the Budget Office. Every other county department (and the Bd of Ed is just another county department) would send 2 people. Usually just the department head and either the deputy department head or the financial guru for the department. To me that spoke volumes about how the BOE viewed itself...
Bob Mosier
8:43 am on Sunday, April 22, 2012
To correct an error in Mrs. Leahy's post above, the Board of Education is not a department of the county government.
Bob Mosier
Public Information Officer
Anne Arundel County Public Schools
Amy Leahy
7:43 am on Monday, April 23, 2012
Thanks for the technical correction, Bob. You're right. Obviously the school system is a state agency principally funded by the county taxpayers, much like the Health Department, which we all know is referred to as a county department. The real point of my comment was that the Board of Education, just like county departments must come to the County Executive and County Council to request its funding. The big difference between the BoE and the county departments is that the County Council can vote to INCREASE its funding, where it has no such power over any other county agency or department or whatever one chooses to refer to it as.
John Thomas
9:31 am on Sunday, April 22, 2012
My question is then why is the Board of Education not a department of the county government ?
Amy Leahy
7:34 am on Monday, April 23, 2012
The school board is a creature of state law in the education article of the Annotated Code of Maryland.
Raymond Idleman
11:02 am on Sunday, April 22, 2012
Most of us are having to make do with less these days, yet the county Board of Education is whining that their INCREASE isn't enough. Throwing money at the system will not educate one child. Demanding results and holding people accountable will... Its funny how many brilliant figures in our history wsere educated in a one room school houses yet we are supposed to be convinced that our childrens future depends on our Board of Education being provided with the most money per student possible...
CJ
3:28 pm on Sunday, April 22, 2012
Mr. Mosier points out the very problem. The Board of Education is not a department within the County, but an independent system which demands its 'allowance' from the County, with little coordination or accountability. Instead it has become an adversarial system of us and them. All County citizens, with or without children, will be significantly impacted in the coming years by the BOE as they control increasingly more and more of total County resources.
McGibblets
3:59 pm on Sunday, April 22, 2012
You're absolutely right CJ. You can have AA county or all of MD for that matter, my time here has come....
Amy Leahy
7:35 am on Monday, April 23, 2012
CJ, this is why we need an elected board with separate taxing authority. Then there is no question of who is responsible for what.
rob
4:38 pm on Tuesday, May 15, 2012
separate school tax? that doesn't work either! Pa. does that now and they have astro turf on the field. a house assessed at $125,000 pays $745 property-$2200 school-and they don't have trash pick-up! you can burn everything and poison the air! we need to make schools about learning only! you want sports-hire your own coach! why should everyone pay for a few? so they can be a football player and make millions! we need to really teach and stop throwing money away! children in middle school can't even count their change without a machine! what are we paying for? wake up and look around at the real world and the kids that have made it through the system!