Published: November 03, 2009 12:03 am      

Teacher pensions causing anxiety

Allegany County school officials implore lawmakers to keep funding at state level

CUMBERLAND — Allegany County school system administrators met with the District 1 Delegation to the Maryland General Assembly on Monday morning for an “informal conversation” about the upcoming 2010 legislative session, asking state lawmakers to resist shifting teacher pension costs to local school systems.

Resistance, lawmakers said, could be futile.

“There seems to be a lot of pressure from some areas to transfer those costs back to the county,” Delegate Wendell Beitzel said of the nearly $1 billion the state spends annually for teacher pensions.

“We’ve resisted that and will continue to resist that. But there’s probably a possibility that at least they’ll be looking at, if not actually transferring the costs, they’re looking at setting a ceiling on the amount.”

Sen. George Edwards was more blunt, telling the school system to prepare to start paying at least a portion of the costs.

“You’re going to see some bills, and you’re going to see them probably pushed hard,” Edwards said. “I think it will be one of the main issues of discussion.”

With the state of Maryland facing a $2 billion budget shortfall, school leaders here are already braced for cuts. Superintendent David Cox and other superintendents from across the state met with Gov. Martin O’Malley in Annapolis recently and heard a bleak economic assessment, with O’Malley urging schools to go so far as to save money by buying furniture made by state prison inmates.

The budget for Allegany County schools has already been squeezed fairly tight. Most recently, the school system took a $250,000 hit when county government, facing a $2 million budget shortfall of its own, reduced its allocation to the board.

At Monday morning’s “team huddle” with the state delegation, Cox implored lawmakers to fight the teacher pension cost shift, which was on the table for discussion last year, but didn’t gain much traction. The 2010 legislative session starts Jan. 13.

“That’s going to impose great hardships on us,” Cox said. “We really do appreciate any efforts you can promote on our behalf to not shift those costs to us.”

All four members of the delegation attended the annual prelegislative meeting: Ed-wards, Beitzel and Delegates Kevin Kelly and LeRoy Myers. During the 75-minute meeting, Cox reiterated the school system’s stance on a number of issues, including maintaining local discretion for student discipline.

Myers said the topic comes up in Annapolis every year, as the state grapples with how to manage severe discipline problems in particular counties, such as Prince George’s. Some believe the state should impose mandatory rules.

Cox disagrees.

“The people who know the child, know the context, are the best ones to make the decision,” he said.

Contact Kristin Harty Barkley at kharty@times-news.com.