times news — CUMBERLAND — Rainy day funds could come to the rescue of Allegany County Public Schools next year, as officials try to manage a whopping $2.6 million in state budget cuts planned for fiscal 2011.
Superintendent David Cox recommended that the Allegany County Board of Education use about $1.25 million from its $8.5 million fund balance to avoid excessive cuts to programs as the national recession trickles down to local school systems.
Director of Finance Randy Bittinger, who presented Cox’s proposed FY 2011 budget to the board during a special meeting Monday, said tapping rainy day funds is a last — but necessary — resort.
“I would just caution you, you can’t use this forever,” Bittinger said. “It’s sort of like using a savings account to pay your mortgage. You can get away with it a time or two. ... Somebody once told me, ‘Extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures.’ We’re certainly living in extraordinary times.”
The Maryland State Legislature began its 2010 General Assembly with a $2 billion budget shortfall in January, and school officials here are steeling themselves for additional state budget cuts as the session continues.
Cox’s proposed FY 2011 budget of $111.4 million in unrestricted funds is about $1.3 million less than this year’s budget. A majority of cuts outlined in the superintendent’s budget are for capital outlay projects, such as replacing turf and extending fiber lines to schools.
No furloughs or layoffs are planned.
“As we worked through this, we worked with a philosophy and premise that the very last place that should feel the effect of cuts should be the classroom,” Cox said. “We really tried to protect instruction. ... We have things to be proud of, even though we are not able to fully fund the things that we want to.”
Cox, who took office in July, had never presented a budget before the Allegany County BOE before, though he’s presented 11 budgets as superintendent in other school districts, most recently Culpeper County, Va.
Monday’s three-and-a-half hour meeting was also a first for the board’s newest member, Sara-Beth James. James replaces Fred Sloan, who died in December, and was sworn into office immediately prior to the budget meeting.
“It’s a heck of a way to start,” board President Karen Treber said, welcoming James as the meeting began. Board members were given 200-page budget proposals to study, plus supporting materials.
“You really get your feet wet going through the budget line by line,” Treber said. “Good luck.”
The board is scheduled to meet Monday to vote on the proposed budget. The budget approved by the board is to be presented to Allegany County commissioners on March 19.
Currently, the BOE plans to ask the county for $28.2 million, about the same as last year. Eventually, Bittinger said, the schools are going to need more. Data shows that, on average, school systems in Maryland received almost 5 percent more from their counties in 2009 than 2008.
About 73 percent of funds for Allegany County schools come from the state; another 25 percent comes from the county.
“We’ve held the line for basically three years in a row,” Bittinger said, adding that the county has given the BOE exactly what it requested in recent years. “There’s going to be a time where we’ve got to go back over there and ask for more than a quarter of a percent increase.”
Contact Kristin Harty Barkley at kbarkley@times-news.com
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Sara-Beth James, left, is sworn in as the newest member of the Allegany County Board of Education by Dawne Lindsey, clerk of Allegany County Circuit Court, before the board held a special budget meeting Monday at its Central Office. Allegany County Board of Education
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