County Education Funding Need Quadruples

Read the full story in The Capital. The minimum funding increase the county is required to give schools is quadrupling next year, from $2 million to $8.3 million, because of a spike in the number of students attending public school.

An additional 1,076 students have enrolled, largely because of the economy and partially to attend new programs, officials said. The system now has nearly 75,000 students.

The increase comes at a price. Under a state rule called "maintenance of effort," counties have to keep their per-pupil education spending at the same level as the year before. So, after struggling to fund last year's requisite $2 million increase, the county is now saddled with an additional $8.3 million obligation for fiscal 2011.

"This is a significant increase," said Susan Bowen, director of budget and finance for the school system. "Our number right now is the highest ever."

The economy is the main reason more students are enrolling in public school, officials said. Parents who used to send their children to private schools can't afford the tuition, parents who used to home school are going back to work, and young couples with school-age children are moving back in with parents who live in the county.

"They're young, starting-out families with little kids who maybe bought their houses as part of the credit fiasco," said Chuck Yocum, the school system's demographer. "Now they're just moving back home."

New programs that appeal to private-school families are also driving enrollment, Bowen said. New science and arts magnet schools, charter schools and International Baccalaureate programs are all luring those students to public schools.

The $8.3 million will likely appear in the annual budget request that Superintendent Kevin Maxwell will unveil Wednesday. Last year he asked the county for a $46 million increase, but received only $2.8 million - $2 million for maintenance of effort and $800,000 for a new arts magnet at Bates Middle School in Annapolis, Bowen said.

The school system's total budget this year is $936 million, with $593 million coming from the county.

Once again, county officials will likely have trouble giving Maxwell what he wants. The county is facing a $93 million shortfall, including the $8.3 million, said John Hammond, the county's budget officer.

"We've got that factored into the budget numbers we're working on," he said.

Under state law, counties can ask the state to waive maintenance of effort, but last year none succeeded. This year the Maryland Association of Counties is proposing legislation that would make it easier for counties to get waivers, but Hammond was skeptical that it could provide a solution for Anne Arundel County.

"The state Board of Education has sent a pretty strong message about how they feel about waivers," he said. Last year, "they denied them all."