5 things to know about the proposed Prince George’s County schools budget

Prince George’s County Public Schools Superintendent Shawn Joseph stared down a $150 million structural deficit when it came time to make a budget proposal.

The school system was facing rising costs, declining enrollment, higher employee salaries and “unprecedented fiscal pressure” from requirements from the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future, the state’s multibillion-dollar plan to improve public education.

At the same time, Joseph said, county funding remained insufficient.

Before making tough calls, Joseph said he spoke with the unions, parents and staff and asked the same question: “If we’re going to preserve what’s happening at schools, in the classroom, where can we cut?”

Ultimately, the Prince George’s County Council approved a $2.97 billion budget for the county’s schools, including a 0.7% increase of more than $20,000 to help support rising costs.

But Joseph had asked for more.

This budget, he has said to the school board, has left a $30 million gap.

The superintendent emphasized that this plan ”is not an expansion budget; it is a stabilization budget.”

Now, school leaders and the school board are working to reconcile their proposal with the available funds. The school board will vote to approve a final budget later this month.

Here’s what we know so far:

1. Employees and class sizes

A significant portion of the proposed budget goes toward employee salaries after the Prince George’s County Educators’ Association ratified a new contract in September that included higher starting salaries and cost-of-living increases.

Joseph’s plan does not include furloughing employees, freezing their salaries or laying off classroom teachers.

He said the system will instead reduce spending on substitute teachers, decrease discretionary funds and cut vacant private-duty nurse positions, moves that are expected to save $39.2 million.

None of these moves are expected to lead to systemwide increases in class sizes.

“Protecting salaries, avoiding furloughs and preventing layoffs of classroom teachers are crucial for recruitment and retention, and this budget prioritizes that,” said Donna Christy, president of the Prince George’s Educators’ Association.

2. Central staff positions

Joseph’s plan includes extending a hiring freeze for the central office, which is expected to save $8.6 million.

He proposed cutting discretionary spending, such as non-local travel and catering, and eliminating 15 central office positions, moves that are expected to save $17.6 million.

The plan also outlines cuts to the Information Technology division, including eliminating an additional 15 positions and certain software licenses, and reducing the district’s reliance on consultant services, saving another anticipated $6.1 million.

“We did not simply trim the edges; we scrutinized every division to identify efficiencies,” Joseph wrote in a letter to the school board.

3. Specialty programs

Prince George’s County Public Schools reversed its proposal to cut select immersion plans, writing in a note to the community on Friday that school leaders have identified ways to shift funds and “bridge the gap.”

If the proposal had been finalized, select immersion programs would have transitioned to world language programs. This shift would have meant the end of the Chinese Immersion program at Paint Branch Elementary School and its phasing out at Greenbelt Middle School. The Spanish Immersion program at Capitol Heights Elementary School would also end, and the immersion program at Largo High School would stop accepting new students.

“There’s been a lot of advocacy and feedback about the immersion programs,” Joseph said during a May presentation to a school board work group. “We’re a large, extremely diverse district, and we want to give parents the immersion option.”

Other specialty programs remain among the proposed cuts:

• Middle school students would no longer be able to take the AVID elective, a college prep course. This is expected to save $2.5 million.
• The school district would eliminate its International Baccalaureate (IB) offerings for elementary and middle school students, but the high school programming would remain, saving another expected $2.8 million.

4. Special education

This budget leaves a gap of more than $20 million for special education funding, Joseph said.

The requested funds were earmarked for speech, occupational therapy, physical therapy, counseling and private-duty nurse services for medically fragile students.

Joseph said school leaders have been revisiting the budget to identify additional cuts to meet these demands.

“Those needs are still dire,” Joseph said in his presentation to the school board work group. “Whether we have the money or not, we have to address these issues.”

He added: “Special education needs are not something that’s optional. We must fulfill it.”

5. Reading and math

School leaders are focusing resources on the basics: reading and math.

Test scores illustrate a district that has struggled to catch up to state averages in academic achievement.

Joseph’s proposed budget included an additional $1.2 million earmarked for reading and math interventions. Without it, district leaders are evaluating how to still invest in those resources.

“You can’t do everything well with limited resources,” Joseph said during a news conference earlier this month. “But what we do, we must do well.”

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