SNOW HILL – The Worcester County Commissioners voted 4-2 this week to fund the school system at the maintenance of effort level in the coming fiscal year.
The majority of the commissioners this week voted to provide Worcester County Public Schools with funding of $100,006,640 for the coming fiscal year. The amount is less than what the school system requested but meets the maintenance of effort requirement (MOE), which states that local governments must maintain their education funding from year to year on a per-student basis.
“I don’t feel good about this at all but it’s time to do something,” Commissioner Jim Bunting said.
The Worcester County Board of Education’s proposed budget for the coming fiscal year included a $106 million county appropriation. The request was about 4%, or $4.1 million, higher than the current year’s budget. School system officials said the bulk of the increase was tied to salary increases proposed for staff.
In recent weeks, the commissioners have made various requests for more information from the school system, which, unlike the county’s other departments, provides not a line-by-line budget but a summary.
This is great news. Public school budgets are out of control and asking for accountability before funding ever growing budgets brings accountability to the system.
THANK YOU WorCoComms for saving us at more than $8M!
It was the responsible thing to do.
I don’t see the problem here. The school system is told to be clear on its expenditures by the county. The school system didn’t do that, so they get denied. Sort of like telling a kid to do his homework. He doesn’t, and he gets an “F” – Lesson learned
I’m surprised all the teachers aren’t on here crying about “it’s for the kids” crap.