The Anne Arundel County Board of Education will consider 21 amendments to Superintendent Mark Bedell’s proposed fiscal 2026 operating budget this week before voting on them Wednesday.

Bedell shared his proposed operating budget with the board on Dec. 18, and he and board members have spent the last 45 days taking public comments and reviewing the budget, resulting in the amendments announced Friday: five proposed by Bedell and 16 by the board.

The proposed $1.8 billion budget represents about an 8% increase over this year’s. It was designed to prioritize special education, early literacy and bilingual learning, Bedell said in a speech outlining his proposal.

“We need to show our people that they are valued because it is absolutely impossible to have great programs without great people to lead them,” said Bedell. “Our students are counting on us to help them, belong, grow and succeed. It is up to us, as adults, to make that a reality.”

Bedell’s budget allocates more than $16 million to special education, adding 155 new positions, including classroom teachers and Individualized Education Program facilitators. Prekindergarten programs are also set to receive a boost. The recommendation includes 17.3 new positions and nearly $1.7 million to expand the prekindergarten program for 4-year-olds by adding four classrooms.

It also includes nearly $57 million for employee compensation, including a 3% cost-of-living adjustment for all employees and $4.2 million for specific bargaining units.

One of Bedell’s amendments increases the budget by $1,327,600 to account for higher insurance and workers’ compensation costs in accordance with updated county figures. The rest of his proposed amendments deal with the impacts of Gov. Wes Moore’s proposed budget, which would scale back aspects of the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future, the state’s multibillion-dollar plan to reform public education.

Board members proposed the remaining amendments.

The largest of them is Amendment 21, which would increase funding for the noninvasive weapons detection system pilot program from $333,280 to $2.4 million. This would allow the systems to be installed at all high schools instead of only two as originally planned.

“These security measures are just a part of this equation, though. We must continually work with our students and have the ongoing involvement of our families and community members in the lives of our students both at home and in school,” Bedell said.

The systems are designed to prevent acts of violence on school grounds, such as the incident at Meade High School last month. Two students were charged with attempted murder after a 17-year-old classmate was stabbed in a second-floor bathroom.

Two of the board’s amendments remove funding for two constituent service liaison positions, which provide administrative support and other assistance to board members. Five of the board’s amendments would fund new hiring, including three music teachers, two social workers, four counselors, one pupil personnel worker and two school psychologists.

Four other amendments proposed by the board address employee compensation, some subject to the negotiating process. Still other board amendments increase substitute teacher daily pay by $10, halve funding for high school laptops, add $70,000 to the CASE Agricultural Science Program and dedicate $300,000 for musical instrument repairs and replacements.

The board will vote on the budget after considering the amendments Wednesday. No budget-related public testimony will be taken at the meeting unless it is specifically related to an amendment. The final budget will be incorporated into the county executive’s request to the County Council, which will have the final say.

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