Schools spot gap in county budget | Maryland Gazette (HometownGlenBurnie.com)

Within in a budget unveiled by the county executive last week, school officials found a two-year gap in funding for new school construction projects, a lag they say will stall plans to close the $1.5 billion maintenance backlog in county schools.

"You'll never recover those years," Alex Szachnowicz, chief facilities officer for county schools said Friday at a budget hearing before the County Council.

The discovery compounded panic already felt by school officials who found out last week - when County Executive John R. Leopold unveiled the county budget - that their 2009 operating funds came in $51 million short of the $99 million increase that they wanted.

What's left isn't enough to cover negotiated contracts with the teachers union. Superintendent Kevin M. Maxwell said he would have to make cuts across the school system to make up the difference.

The capital budget also falls short by $52 million from what the Board of Education wanted for school construction. Mr. Leopold granted $137 million of the board's $189 million request.

And now, school officials are realizing the renovations they had planned to begin over the next two years would be delayed under the county budget.

The County Council can still change that during the budget process, which continues with hearings in May and the council's review of Mr. Leopold's budget through the spring.

But as it stands now, six schools that were supposed to get feasibility studies this year - the first phase of a renovation project - didn't get funded. Belle Grove and Annapolis elementary schools, and the Phoenix Center, are among those schools.

And because there is no money in the county budget to begin those, or other planned renovations, until 2011, all projects in the pipeline will get pushed back, Mr. Szachnowicz said.

"It's a siesta from construction," he said.

In 2005, a study showed the county school system needed $1.5 billion in maintenance and construction. To close that gap in 10 years, the school system would have to spend $171 million on construction in 2009, and more every following year to make up for inflation, Mr. Szachnowicz said.

Instead, according to the budget released this week, Mr. Leopold has planned to spend $137 million on school construction in 2009, $83 million in 2010 and less each following year.

All the cuts to school spending will damage schools' ability to meet standards for education set by the federal and state governments, Tricia Johnson, president of the school board, told the council Friday.

"If we're going to prepare our students for the jobs of tomorrow, we can't do it with the curriculums - or the funding - of Friday," she said.

The council can give schools the money they didn't get from the county executive, but to do so they'll have to take it away from other departments, many of which are also strapped for cash.

When it comes to the operating funds, "In order to find you $51 million, I can find it. I can cut police, I can cut fire, I can cut Parks and Recs," said Council Chairman Cathy Vitale, R-Severna Park. "Maybe that's the choice."

Out of the school budgets, she said she was most worried that the schools are short 69 special education teachers they need to meet federal and state requirements. But she said the council won't know, until after the hearings with other county departments next week, where they might be able to find more funding to give to the schools.

Councilman Jamie Benoit, D-Crownsville, said he plans to recommend the county not fund a planned $50 million prison and instead allocate that money to the school feasibility studies.

"I am confident my colleagues on the County Council are going to change the outlook," he said.