The Anne Arundel County Board of Education formally adopted its fiscal 2019 operating and capital budgets on Wednesday. The votes were unanimous, with two members absent.

President Julie Hummer lauded collaboration on the budget, though she also noted that class sizes will likely go up.

The $1.2 billion operating budget includes 86 new teachers to address enrollment — 30 fewer than the board requested earlier this year to address the needs of a growing school system.

The fiscal 2019 operating budget also includes six new special education positions, two school psychologists, two social workers and four guidance counselors. It also includes positions to open the Carrie Weedon Early Education Center to serve south county and positions to expand the system’s Enhancing Elementary Excellence program into the Annapolis cluster.

School officials said the operating budget represents $27.9 million more than the current year’s spending, and $15 million more than the county is required to provide to the school system.

Maria Sasso, who represents District 30 on the board, said the budget covers the bare needs of the system, but said she understands that County Executive Steve Schuh and the County Council tried their best based on budget constraints.

The council approved its budget funding the school system last Friday. The board could have reallocated the money it was given within categories in the operating budget, but no changes were made.

Agreements ratified with the Teachers Association of Anne Arundel County, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees and the Association of Educational Leaders were not fully funded, and will need to be renegotiated this summer, officials said. The budget provides enough funding for a step increase at the start of the year and a mid-year step increase for all eligible employees.

On the capital budget side, $190.3 million was allocated, including $47.4 million to continue construction of Crofton Area High School. Work will also start on revitalization projects at Edgewater, Tyler Heights and Richard Henry Lee elementary schools.

County nets four state Climate Resilience Grants

Four projects in Anne Arundel County are among recipients of Climate Resilience Grants issued by the state to help communities prepare for and recover from climate-related effects.

The grants are dispersed by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. In all, the department announced $700,000 in grants this week toward 14 programs or projects throughout the state.

Grants in Anne Arundel include funding for St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Annapolis and West River United Methodist Center and toward development of living shoreline projects along Spa Creek and the West River, respectively, as well as related stormwater quality projects.

Another grant will assist the City of Annapolis with public outreach on flooding risk and also its application to a community rating system operated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s National Flood Insurance Program.

And in the Deale community, a project at Deale Beach spearheaded by the Deale Beach Citizens Association will aid with design of a living shoreline and to address storm effects.

—?Baltimore Sun Media Group