There a statement under the 'Summary of the Budget Process' that need to be clarified…"The Anne Arundel County Council then has the ability to amend the budget, but not increase it, and must pass a final approved budget in June."

The Board of Education's budget is the ONLY county department budget that the county council can add to. In order to do this it must take from other departments because it cannot increase the county executive's proposed budget as a whole.

Also the budget must, by law, be approved by May 31, not June.

So as you can see it is already in the County Council's ability and within its authority to be able to meet Maintenance of Effort for the schools by 'taking from Peter to pay Paul'. Giving the superintendent direct power over our voter-approved tax cap was tantamount to taking away the voter's rights.

Apologies for the incorrect date above. However, Mrs. Leahy’s response above contains several statements that are factually incorrect. The Board of Education is a creation of the State of Maryland and is not a department of the county government. The County Council must appropriate operational budget funding with 14 state categories, but it is the prerogative and duty of the Board to allocate the funding within those categories.

Secondly, the Board of Education and Superintendent of Schools have no control whatsoever with regard to the tax rate. That is set by the County Executive and County Council. The provision of law Mrs. Leahy cites, which was passed by the state legislature by a super-majority and signed by the Governor as an emergency measure, gives the county government another option to find funds to meet its state-mandated Maintenance of Effort requirement. This amount might be what was requested by the school board, or it might be less, but the School Board and Superintendent have no power whatsoever to control the tax rate. Further, the law in no way mandates that a county must raise its tax rate to meet the Board of Education’s budget request. It simply provides another vehicle for a county to adequately fund education. County Executive John Leopold made clear in his April 16, 2012, budget address that he would not raise the rate past the voter-imposed tax limit to fund his budget request. Any assertion that the county is obligated to raise taxes to adequately fund education is simply incorrect. On the other hand, it is also not obligated “to take from Peter to pay Paul.”

Doesn't matter if the schools are a county department or a state agency….they still must get their funding from the taxpayers. The schools are the only county….agency?….do you like that word better?…that the county council can increase the funding from what the county executive requested. That is the main point of my comment.

The fact that the legislature has entered into the realm of controlling what happens at the local level opens the door for more control by the state over county executives and county councils. That is a dangerous precedent to set. Last fall we saw this happen in the governor's passing of Plan Maryland without the consent of the legislature, and the Congressional redistricting that was approved without proper vetting. I know these things have nothing to do with education but they are examples of the governor's overreaching of power, with giving the superintendent of schools authority to (in essence) lift our voter approved tax cap adding to that list.

Just a simple question. Assume the State turns over significant retirement fund costs to the counties Does this funding by the counties fall under the school budget (and MOE level) or come out of the rest of the county budget?

Jim the simple answer is that the school board budget will not be able to absorb this and will have go to the county for additional funds. BOE members, is that your opinion?

The fact that Governor O'Malley has underfunded the teacher pensions since he has been in office is what created this mess. He inherited a surplus and immediately - within his first year in office - held his first special session to get the tax increases he wanted but was unable to get during the regular session. It's been a tax-increase-feeding-frenzy ever since. He has basically stolen retirement money from the teachers and is now trying to put the money back with this maneuver.

Please note: This comment is that of Teresa Milio Birge, and Mrs. Birge only. It does not represent the opinion of the members of the Anne Arundel County School Board.
Mrs. Leahy, the pension system has been underfunded since shortly after 2002 when the Legislature decided to adopt a corridor method of funding rather than a full funding method, long before Governor O'Malley came into office. There is a helpful report (albeit a year or two old) that has a great explanation of this time around pages 11 and 12. http://mlis.state.md.us/other/BenefitsSustainabilityCommission/100710-HistoricalOverview.pdf Corridor funding required a rate of funding rather than a dollar amount, so that the fund would be funded at 90% to 110%. Then, when the financial markets collapsed a few years later, this compounded the problem. It was not the decision of one legislature, one governor, but many legislatures, and governors of both parties that continued the problem.

Please note: This comment is that of Teresa Milio Birge and not the Anne Arundel County School Board.
And at this point it is still unclear how the retirement costs would be paid for. Since that part of the Budget did not pass during the regular session, it remains to be seen what will happen in the final versions during the special session next week. It is my understanding, and my understanding alone, that the last proposal was to phase the rest of 50% of retirement costs (School Boards would already get credit for Social Security that is already paid.) over 4 years, with counties obigated to pay the costs. Under the agreement that was being discussed however, for the first year or two, the counties would receive state money in other areas to help make up for the lost revenue.

And, as the earlier School Board post mentioned, the Superintendent and School Board have no say in lifting the tax cap. The county council may use it as an option to meet the State mandated Maintenance of Effort if they determine there is not enough money available in the budget. The amount of funding needed for maintenance of effort is not decided by the Superintendent at all - that is determined by the amount of funding the County gave to the school system the prior year and the number of students in the county school system. If the number of students goes up, MOE goes up. If the number of students goes down, which has happened in several Maryland counties, MOE goes down.

Mrs. Birge: I will note that the current county executive has been quick to cut funding and he has ham stringed the school board. We've also seen this in the adopted budgets of other departments (oops….the BOE is NOT a department) where county employees have been forced to take furlough days and cuts have been made to personnel positions.

BOE employees were not forced to take any furlough days.

And will the state government decide to step in to assist first responders? Police and Fire? Our fire department is now having the 4th shift cut which will have a huge impact on their personnel and their work performance. If this budget passes, we will effectively have more personnel on a trash truck than a fire truck.

The amount of children in the school system has increased dramatically because of the illegal immigrants. The parents of these kids are not paying taxes but we are still obligated to educate the kids. It's no wonder the tax cap is stretched.

It's a slippery slope….that's the point. We do have a good school system but what makes that more important than police and fire such that the state government intervenes?

Ms. Leahy - What is your evidence showing that the amount of children in our school system has "increased dramatically" due to illegal immigrants?

Note: This is the opinion of Teresa Birge and not the opinion of the members of the Anne Arundel County Board of Education.
I don't believe that education is more important than police and fire, but it is different. The State constitution mandates a free and appropriate education for all children in the State, so the State legislature is obligated to make certain that such an education is delivered to all students in the State of Maryland. I am not aware of such a constitutional mandate for police or fire protection. Again, I am not saying that those services are less important, they are just not constitutionally mandated.