I imagine it’s a mix of inflation, the Blueprint minimum wage increase, and the union contract. But what is the BOE supposed to do? Ignore the contract?

Anonymous wrote:The Pre-k expansion doesn't seem so bad ($3M). It has less of an impact than the bus contract debacle ($9M).

The bigger problems for the budget are the decreases in funding ($32M), and the increases in employee compensation and benefits ($45.5M).

They are the primary drivers behind the deficit.
Everything else is minor in comparison.

How much of the increase in compensation and benefits is directly linked to the new negotiated teachers' contract?

The Pre-k expansion doesn't seem so bad ($3M). It has less of an impact than the bus contract debacle ($9M).

The bigger problems for the budget are the decreases in funding ($32M), and the increases in employee compensation and benefits ($45.5M).

They are the primary drivers behind the deficit.
Everything else is minor in comparison.

Thanks to the MD Dept of Education, the schools are required to have full-day preschool in the public schools for next year. But the requirement did not come with an increase in funding from the state. Adding in full year preschool and those teachers and the expenses means that the HCPSS school system is significantly under budget for the school year. That combined with the horrible mistake by Dr. Martirano last year when he replaced the local MD bussing contract with the extremely expensive out of state bus contract that did not deliver on many of the promises that they made (no green busses, no student bus tracker) the school system had to make some painful cuts. The county lost $32M in one-time only funds (Covid funding) and $72M in additional requirements from the state (above). That included 132 new teaching positions for the preschool program. HCPSS is also paying $9M more for the terrible bus contractor than last year. Last, there are required salary increases negotiated with the teacher's union.

They cut out 3rd grade orchestra across the board, and cut G/T funding so that fewer children would be eligible for G/T programming. And they had to cut positions and increase student:teacher ratios to accommodate all of those added costs.

You can see the full breakdown of the budget and changes here:
https://news.hcpss.org/news-posts/2024/01/hcpss-acting-superintendent-presents-2024-2025-operating-budget-proposal/

I imagine HCPSS isn't cutting many teachers either. Just not replacing retiring/leaving teachers. Some related arts and G&T teachers will get cut though.

In Anne Arundel, overall teachers numbers are't going down (they still have unfilled teaching slots) but there's going to be a massive shift of teachers. So some friends at the more affluent schools have already been told they'll be let go of their current positions as the Blue Print model shifts resources (appropriately and understandably) to those schools who need it more.

If anyone wants to get into it, HCPSS published a pdf that dives into the details of the budget.

https://www.hcpss.org/f/aboutus/budget/fy25/budget-toolkit/fy25-budget-toolkit-influencing-factors.pdf

HCPSS faces a double whammy of revenue shortfalls and budget increases.

Revenue shortfalls are due to changes in the county funding formula and the disappearance of temporary funding such as COVID relief grants.

The budget increases have four main causes:

-Employee Compensation and Benefits
-Transportation contract costs
-Blueprint implementation requirements
-Special Education service increases

Free Pre-K isn't too much of a cost driver. It's only $3 million for Pre-k expansion. Blueprint mandates add $8.9 million to the cost in total, not accounting for mandated teacher minimum wage increases. Transportation costs by comparison is an extra $9 million.

The biggest contributing factor is the increased cost of employee compensation and benefits. The budget factors in $25 million for increased employee compensation and $18.6 million for increased cost of benefits. Some of it is driven by the Blueprint mandate for minimum teacher wages, and some of it is just wage growth and inflation. Increased employee compensation and benefits accounts for over half of the increased budget, even with headcount cuts.

The biggest budget reduction line item is to cut 144.9 FTE to increase class size ratios. This is probably why the OP noted a large number of teachers being surplussed.

By the way, the budget factors in a request for an additional $47 million from the county. Otherwise, there will be more adjustments.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:HCPSS has a 103 million budget shortfall. Salaries are the biggest line item in the budget. You can’t close that gap without reducing salaries somehow.

I’d say transportation problems are a contributing factor, but it’s low on the list of causes.

Bigger problems are revenue shortfalls from Covid, too much development too quickly, and unfunded state mandates.

Free Pre-k is not cheap. The money has to come from somewhere. Orchestra and G&T are getting the axe.

+1

This will happen all over Maryland thanks to the Kirwan commission.

I think in HoCo there is a real waste of resources. For instance, the previous superintendent added a ton of high paid positions at CO. Including the community superintendents and their staffs. the bus contract debacle. Law suits on special ed. Other school systems have more and they have a smaller tax base.

Anonymous wrote:HCPSS has a 103 million budget shortfall. Salaries are the biggest line item in the budget. You can’t close that gap without reducing salaries somehow.

I’d say transportation problems are a contributing factor, but it’s low on the list of causes.

Bigger problems are revenue shortfalls from Covid, too much development too quickly, and unfunded state mandates.

Free Pre-k is not cheap. The money has to come from somewhere. Orchestra and G&T are getting the axe.

+1

This will happen all over Maryland thanks to the Kirwan commission.

HCPSS has a 103 million budget shortfall. Salaries are the biggest line item in the budget. You can’t close that gap without reducing salaries somehow.

I’d say transportation problems are a contributing factor, but it’s low on the list of causes.

Bigger problems are revenue shortfalls from Covid, too much development too quickly, and unfunded state mandates.

Free Pre-k is not cheap. The money has to come from somewhere. Orchestra and G&T are getting the axe.

Anonymous wrote:Not surprising. They have better student to teacher rations than any other county in the area, but with a smaller tax base.

The taxes still go up. They wasted so much money on the stupid bus contract

Not surprising. They have better student to teacher rations than any other county in the area, but with a smaller tax base.

Did they hire with pandemic money and now have to cut back? I'm not sure why that would affect class sizes.

It is a real sh*t show here in HC. Glad my kids are don’t this year. And taxes are ridiculous.

I’ve heard from a couple teachers in different schools in Howard county that there are a lot of teachers being surplussed. Does anyone have the inside scoop?

I saw the earlier reports of a massive budget shortfall. But are they really letting go of multiple teachers from every school? What is happening with class sizes? Are parents aware? Is there a reason the superintendent didn’t ask for more $ from the county executive?

This seems like a real set-back for Howard county school quality.