By: Evan Carlson
Thursday, Jan 18. Howard County Public Schools (HCPSS), Superintendent William J. Barnes proposed a new budget for the upcoming school year (2024-2025) to the board of education.
The new budget comes to a total of 1.13 billion dollars, a 2.3 percent increase from the 2024 budget of 88 million dollars. The proposal hopes to balance the large amount of money used in previous years for single-use events and pay for new positions.
Blueprint for Maryland's Future has a 71.7 million dollar cost requirement tied to legal mandates for construction commitments, including employee pay and benefits, supporting existing goals and projects.
Teachers are worried about their positions because the county can cut those who have less experience within the school system or the county. Those who haven't been in the county for ten years are at a more significant disadvantage than those who have been there for less than three years.
“I am disappointed for all co-workers that have made this their career and now are scared for the future of their income and livelihood. It is crazy to think after working so hard to become a teacher, fulfilling every requirement, and altering your life to fit around your job, the board can say sorry, we don’t have enough money to pay you,” stated Mt. Hebron Theater teacher Emily Soken.
The budget cuts will remove the nonessential programs to get back 98.6 million dollars in compensation for the funding gap, which created 29.6 million dollars in revenue to make up for the funds going to county-wide projects and other such county-funded objectives.
More news is to come of the budget cut; teachers and staff are on edge, considering what to do and how it would affect their careers. It is still to be determined who and what else will be affected once more information about the budget cuts is available.
It is now a waiting game for many around Howard County to see what will happen with their schools. Teachers are moving to different schools and being put into lower-income schools to help counteract the work balance in other schools.
“I try to follow the direct effects of the arts. Due to cuts, third-grade strings are a facet of the arts that is on the docket, and this will drastically affect the landscape of orchestra teacher employment. That could be me with a few alterations. A first-year teacher has no hope of maintaining a job next year. If Third-grade string is cut, the tenured teachers will be transferred, and new teachers will be forced to other counties and or even career paths. New teachers with student loans who have dreamed of teaching will be left out,” stated Soken.
As we wait for additional budget-cut information, staff anxiously await the results, hoping that programs and co-workers will recover from the upcoming cuts and that the student’s education will continue to grow.
Categories: Hebron News, Local News, News
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