Baltimore County challenges school district's $2.98 billion budget request

Baltimore County's school board approved a $2.98 billion operating budget request, which is drawing contention from county leaders.

With a historic budget deficit for Maryland ongoing, Baltimore County is also in a bind as to how it will allocate funds to the state's third-largest school district. 

The largest part of the budget is a staff compensation package with salary increases for 20,000 employees that would cost $61.4 million, with another $14 million for benefits. 

However, Baltimore County Executive Katherine Klausmeier says the district won't get all of the money it requested.

"This is not uncharted territory for Baltimore County Public Schools," county schools superintendent Myriam Rogers said. "Out of the last 11 fiscal years, nine years there's been a difference between what we've requested and what we've received."

Klausmier told WJZ that her office would work with the district to find a compromise. 

The Teacher's Association of Baltimore County hopes the district keeps its promise after agreeing to a three-year compensation package for teachers last year.

"We fully expect and hope that that promise will be kept," said Cincy Sexton, the president of the Teacher's Association of Baltimore County. "It was a promise to all the educators."  

"We made that three-year compensation agreement because we wanted not only to recruit people to BCPS, but the people who are here, we value them and their work and we want to keep them," Rogers said.

Overall, Rogers wants an extra $105 million from the county, a nearly 11% increase from what the county government gave last year. 

However, Klausmeier is pushing back against the school district's budget plan.

Klausmeier's office said in a statement, "Despite the uncertainties about state and federal funding, I am confident that our strong partnership will continue to support quality education for students, as well as good jobs for our hardworking educators and support staff."

"It all comes back to what can we do for our students, and if we don't have educators in the schools and all those other support staff that they need, ultimately it will be our students who are suffering because of it," Sexton said.

Klausmeier and Baltimore County's council is expected to approve the budget in April or May.

Baltimore County residents are invited to one of the many planned budget town halls. You can find out when the next budget meetings are on this website.

You can check out the proposed budget here.  

BCPS families stand up for funding

Baltimore County students, parents and teachers spoke up at Wednesday's budget town hall in support of the school district getting the funding they need.

"I work with eight different teachers in seven different subjects, and in my over eight years here at the school, I've seen staffing shrink, but needs have not," said Jennie Milstein, an instructional assistant at Parkville High School.

"Kids don't want to be teachers because there is no money in it and the amount of work they do, they don't get paid for it," a Parkville student said. "Teachers complain about it, I hear it all the time. I'm thankful for every teacher that I've ever had because somebody has to do the work, but in the future, no one will do the work."