The Harford County Board of Education approved the final operating budget package of $720 million, including a requested $37.3 million from the county, $12.9 million from the state and $10 million from fund balance.

The budget passed 5-3, with District D member Melissa Hahn, District F member Diane Alvarez and appointed member Liliana Norkaitis voting against it. Appointed member Mark Korn and student member James McVicker III were absent from the Friday board business meeting at the A.A. Roberty Building.

The vote came two days after the school board voted to reduce interim Superintendent Dyann Mack’s proposed budget request of the county from $52.3 million to $37.3 million.

The original ask included 91 new staff positions. The new request reduces that number to 60. Board president Lauren Paige said during the Wednesday meeting, “We want to do our best to keep the teachers we have.”

The school system planned to add 20 teachers from prekindergarten through second grade. The board voted on Wednesday to reduce the number of additional teachers to 10. Deborah Judd, the assistant superintendent for business services, said during the Wednesday meeting that the district would reallocate 30 existing positions to keep class sizes down. The additional elementary teachers are needed to align with the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future requirements.

The board also voted on Wednesday to reduce the number of new multilingual learner teachers from eight to three, eliminate nine Title I overstaffs positions, eliminate the inclusion of the Coordinator of Career Technical Education and Magnets in the operating budget, reduce active employee health insurance costs, reduce worker’s compensation costs and eliminate new teacher positions for the Early College program at Swan Creek School.

The cuts come after back-and-forth between the school system and County Executive Bob Cassilly, who said he was displeased with the initial budget request. He said in a January news release that he was prepared to fund a $23 million in operating funds for next year.

Norkaitis said during the budget meeting on Wednesday that as a taxpayer, she wasn’t comfortable sending the budget to the county in its current form. She made a motion to reduce the ask to $25 million by reducing non-salary spending without touching teacher of faculty pay.

“As a taxpayer, I think we need to look at the budget and understand that there are things that we simply can’t afford,” Norkaitis said during the meeting.

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