Martin O'Malley, Dr. Alonso, and the Budget for City Schools

If you have been living under a rock and missed it, the state of Maryland will be contributing $69 million less to schools this upcoming school year than in 2008-2009. Because of a new system in calculating how different school systems are budgeted, the poorest school systems - Baltimore City and PG County - will be suffering the largest budget shortfalls; BCPSS is facing a $23 million dollar shortfall, while Baltimore County is "only" facing an $8 million dollar shortfall.

I haven't written about this yet, partly because I'm just dumbfounded and disheartened about it and wanted to think about other things during the week of the Obama Inauguration. I was mad, but was trying to gain some perspective. Well, it's the next week, and I'm even more fighting mad about this. I'd already fallen out of like with O'Malley, but this is the final blow; unless something changes, I'll actively campaign against him in the next election.

We've been talking about it at school, worried about furloughs, worried about getting laid off, worried about not getting any additional staff when our student loads are already huge. We have been hearing about a $50 million shortfall for next year all school year, but this adds another $25 million onto that already diminished budget. I'm not sure what is going to happen.

I'm still thinking about the best path for advocacy. Dr. Alonso is a great writer, and I recommend starting with his piece: A Letter from Dr. Alonso Regarding FY 2010 Budget.

A few more links:

Read A Letter from Surviving the System, a parent of a BCPSS student.

Read Two Voices Opposing the Budget Cuts on Inside Ed.

Read What's Behind the Schools' Budget Pain on Inside Ed.