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Teachers, parents and leaders urge full school funding, highlight Lansdowne replacement and contract needs
Summary
Teachers, parents and community leaders urged the county to fully fund the school system’s contract obligations and to continue capital investment in replacement schools including Lansdowne High School; speakers said teacher pay, special education staffing and school construction are top priorities.
Several speakers at the Baltimore County town hall asked the county to fully fund school budgets, support teacher contracts and continue capital investments in school replacements.
Erica Mon, a Catonsville resident and English language development teacher at Lansdowne Elementary, asked the county to “support and fully fund the budget and needs of our school system.” She said the county faces a teacher shortage and urged full funding of the second year of a three-year contract so the district can retain staff. Mon said the starting salary under the current contract remains below a survivability threshold referenced to the United Way’s ALICE measure.
County Executive Kathy Klausmeier and Councilman Pat Young were both thanked by several speakers for past capital investments. Klausmeier listed that the administration had delivered what she described as more than $250 million in improvements across 13 schools in District 1, including about $200 million toward the replacement of Lansdowne High School; she and others held up the new high school as an ongoing large capital project.
Speakers also called for continued funding for libraries and CCBC and for programs that support multilingual and immigrant students. County staff said these priorities will be considered during the budget process ahead of the executive budget message and County Council review.
This article reports requests and numbers as presented by speakers and county staff at the town hall.
