Superintendent Myriam Rogers’ proposed operating budget for Baltimore County schools eliminates 527 staff positions and boosts secondary school class sizes.
In a board of education meeting earlier this week, Rogers said these changes will better address student needs – especially for younger grades.
“It's important for us to note that we are re-investing in elementary schools,” she said. “And our belief is, if we pour into the foundation, when students walk in with the greatest ability, that we're able to impact not only the performance of our students in elementary literacy and mathematics, but also their performance in middle school and high school.”
Most of the cut positions come from the district’s central office, and are already vacant, Rogers said. Less than 25 of the positions are “currently filled non-teaching roles” – and those staff will be placed in other district positions, said Gboyinde Onijala, director of communications.
“A lot of the misinformation and miscommunication that is out there in the community focuses on the cuts,” Rogers said. “While there are some cuts, there are many things that we are adding to this budget directly to schools.”
Nearly 450 new school-based roles will be added under the proposed budget. Over one-third of those are specifically designated for elementary school students, and many address rising needs in special education and English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL).
Over 200 of the new positions will staff expanded pre-K in the district, adding 38 new programs by next fall.
“There is no time to wait to make sure that our students have high quality mathematics instruction, no time to wait for expanding pre-K for our students or meeting the needs of our special education students and ESOL students,” Rogers said.
The superintendent said she’s heard concerns about more than 20 positions being cut from high schools.
“That is simply inaccurate,” Roger said. Under the proposed budget, middle and high schools would face a maximum of 8.8 and 13.4 staff reductions respectively. Some middle schools will actually gain staffing. No special education or ESOL positions will be cut.
“This is highly enrollment-driven,” Rogers said. “So whether we are in a year of budget cuts or not, as schools lose students…the resources move with the students.”
Cindy Sexton, president of the Teachers Association of Baltimore County, said staff are concerned about the idea of transferring positions – especially since they don’t know if they’re affected yet.
“There's a lot of angst and stress about, ‘Am I going to have to find another job? Am I going to be closer to home? Am I going to be farther from home?” she said.
Rogers said staff members being transferred will know by February 21.
Teachers are also worried about potentially increased class sizes, Sexton said.
“Class size is a huge concern, and having the supports in place to deal with behavior concerns that might come across is important,” Sexton said.
But Rogers said middle and high school classes will only gain an average of two to three students. And elementary class sizes will decrease.
The proposed budget reduces department chair positions and changes teaching requirements to provide more direct instruction for students.
“People are upset that they've lost that role,” Sexton said. “But time in front of our students is what our students really need.”
Board of Education Chair Tiara Booker-Dwyer said reducing class sizes across the board will take “major shifts in infrastructure and our boundaries and the number of teachers we have to teach certain subjects.”
“It’s a much bigger picture,” she said at Tuesday’s meeting. “It's beyond just the scope of the Baltimore County Public School System. We need to truly engage the state lawmakers and local lawmakers around these boundaries…and all these other things that directly impact our school system. This budget isn’t going to do it.”
Sexton said she thinks Rogers did the best she could, given the current budget and staffing restraints.
“I’ve heard the words ‘fiscal cliff’ more than I ever wanted to in my life,” she said. “We never ever want to see positions be cut, because more qualified teachers are going to be better for our students. We're always worried about class size. But I do think we have to do something different.”
The board of education will vote on whether to adopt Rogers’ proposed budget in a hearing on February 27.
