School board seeks $10 million more from commissioners

A state allocation short $22.5 million and county government’s desire for flat funding their share has put the Calvert school board in an uncomfortable spot. The frustration manifested itself early in the evening March 14 when the panel took a vote and failed to grant approval to revisions to Superintendent Andraé Townsel’s revised budget for fiscal 2025.

The board then held a special meeting Monday to work on the budget, which by law needed to be presented to the Calvert County Commissioners for inclusion in the county budget presentation the following evening.

Townsel told the board, staff and those attending the March 14 board of education meeting that he learned the state was dramatically cutting its allocation to Calvert, citing the county’s wealth state officials believe has been the result of revenue from Cove Point Liquefied Natural Gas Plant in Lusby.

Townsel said the state’s cut “has nothing to do with Calvert County Public Schools’ operation. This is unprecedented.”

The superintendent pointed out state officials moved the $22.5 million to “unallocated funds” and he and county officials are “on a mission” to get the money restored to the Calvert line item.

One statistic Townsel pointed to was Calvert’s new stature as the Maryland jurisdiction with the lowest per pupil funding from the state as a result of the cut.

Townsel said his revised budget plan calls for using $20 million in the school system’s fund balance.

Townsel’s initial ask to the county government was nearly $14 million in additional funding for the next fiscal year.

In all, Townsel’s proposed budget is $277.4 million, slightly higher than the one he presented in January.

Prior to the March 14 meeting, the school board received several emails from teachers requesting that the discussion and vote on the budget be delayed until it has been posted on the system’s website for 30 days.

“At this time we have not had the appropriate time to review the budget and we do not know what’s being cut, preserved or improved,” said Jean McCormick-Williams, who identified herself as a middle school physical education teacher.

The three members voting opposed to the proposed budget provided reasons for their opposition.

Two board members — Lisa Grenis and Jana Post — objected to an 11th hour list of cuts Townsel presented after he concluded his initial budget proposal. The list is a failsafe strategy if the commissioners decline to include the requested additional funds to its allocation to the school system. The list includes the possibility of staff furloughs, elimination of middle school athletics, reducing the number of bus drivers, removal of pay step increases and cuts in support staff.

Post called the list “something that should have been presented to us first.”

Grenis said first seeing the budget and the list of proposed cuts during the meeting “is unacceptable.”

Voting to send the budget to the commissioners without the school board’s vetting also drew criticism from Grenis.

“This sounds like, 'Let’s approve a budget and then read what’s in it,'” Grenis said. “I can’t support that.”

After the vote, Grenis said, “This budget fails. There’s no elimination of waste.”

Inez Claggett, the third board member to vote opposed, said asking the county commissioners for nearly $14 million in extra funding “still gives me heartburn.”

Claggett said she wanted assurances the superintendent and school staff have “combed” the budget and that the suggested cuts are “as far as they can whittle down.”

Calvert’s budget woes come at a time when the initial implementation of the state's Blueprint for Maryland’s Future education reform plan must be in place and negotiations with two employee unions are ongoing.

Monday’s followup session was indeed a combing, as four school board members — Grenis was unable to attend — listened to the system’s department heads summaries of how allocated funds are used.

The work session ended with the four members agreeing that Townsel’s request to the commissioners should be for $10 million in additional funding. The board members also agreed to implement a spending freeze.

“There still may be things we may do,” Post said, who acknowledged Calvert still needs to keep teachers’ salaries competitive with neighboring counties.

Townsel and the commissioners held two open discussions Tuesday on the proposed school system budget for fiscal 2025. The superintendent conceded that, pending the outcomes of contract negotiations involving teachers and support staff unions, he would likely return to the commissioners to request additional county funding.

During the hearing, Dona Ostenso, Calvert Education Association president, called the currently proposed school budget “insufficient,” adding it was time to stop blaming the school system for the state’s big cut based on the yield from the Cove Point plant.

Ostenso said boosting school staff salaries was “investing in our community.”