Harford County Public Schools received additional funds from the federal government to cover school-based employee health care expenditures in the 2010-11 school year.
But the money the school system received, about $1.5 million, is a far cry from what it might have gotten, if the state didn’t intercept some of it first.
What transpired is a shift in money worthy of a shell game:
Under the Education Jobs Fund — a new federal economic stiumulus program which provided states with $10 billion to save or create jobs for the 2010-11 school year — the Harford school system received $7.7 million of the $179 million allocated to Maryland schools.
Of Harford’s $7.7 million, Gov. Martin O’Malley distributed 20 percent of the funds, or $1.5 million, to increase the school systems’ FY2011 appropriation from the state.
The remaining 80 percent, or $6.1 million, was substituted for FY2011 general fund dollars previously appropriated by the state, according to a school system budget document, which means the state took back $6.1 million of the HCPS’ general fund money and replaced it with $7.7 million in federal restricted money, for a net increase of $1.5 million in restricted funds.
“The Governor stated his intent to reserve the corresponding FY2011 General Fund savings exclusively for FY2012 education expenses,” according to the budget document.
As a result, the school board approved a budget amendment at its most recent meeting Jan. 24 to reduce the FY2011 unrestricted budget by $6.1 million and increase the restricted budget by $7.6 million.
The Education Jobs Fund money “is to be used only for salaries and fringe benefits for school-level positions,” according to a memo from the Maryland State Department of Education distributed to the school system on Dec. 14.
In other business at its Jan. 24 meeting, the school board:
o Inducted Charlsie Harkins Brooks in the HCPS Educator Hall of Fame as it 157th member and posthumously inducted her father, Charles E. Harkins, into the Hall of Fame as the 158th member;
o Congratulated Peter Griffiths for earning the 2010 Advanced Placement Program Outstanding Teacher of the Year Award for the Middle States Region of the College Board; and,
o Congratulated the staff at Dublin and Jarrettsville elementary schools and North Harford Middle School for earning the Governor’s Citation for Superior Maintenance of Schools.