By Richard Caines

SALISBURY — The leader of Wicomico County Public Schools reiterated the need for local funding for education during a May 8 chamber event at the civic center.

Superintendent Dr. Micah Stauffer also touched on the Blueprint for Maryland's Future program and other topics before local business leaders and elected officials at the 2024 State of the Wicomico County Public Schools Luncheon.

The event came a day after Stauffer addressed the Wicomico County Council during a May 7 budget public hearing, saying that while Maryland school systems have seen an increase in state funding through Blueprint, those funds are very specific to their purpose.

The school district is requesting $4.1 million over Maintenance of Effort during the budget cycle, which it says is based on the inflation it experienced this academic year.

“This would allow us to at least maintain what we are doing and not continue to fall further behind,” Stauffer said. “By not going above maintenance of effort for another year, please ultimately know this means a decrease for next year in every single one of those areas.”

Maintenance of Effort law states that each county in the state must appropriate an amount equal to or greater than its prior year per pupil appropriation.

During the May 8 chamber event, Stauffer said local funding has slowly started to increase from “drastic” cuts the school system experienced in 2011 and 2012, but inflation continues to hinder them.

“I’m extremely appreciative of the $800,000 above Maintenance of Effort that we received from the support of both the County Executive and the County Council last year,” Stauffer said. “However, we are still behind in the amount of local funding that we received in 2010.”

Stauffer said back then, they received $3,624 in funding per student and during the current academic year, they received $3,514 per student.

He said there are currently 15,086 students in the school district, which is an 8.5 percent increase over last year. Additionally, he said 65 percent of students are considered at risk by the state’s definition, as they are either living in poverty, receiving special education services or learning English as a second language.

“The total amount we are receiving from the state, federal and local is just about equal to the amount of inflation we have had over the last 15 years,” Stauffer said.

Stauffer said if the expectations of the schools and the school system were the same as they were in 2010, there would be no problem. But he stressed they aren’t the same.

He said that Blueprint does not really fund additional services Wicomico Public Schools rely on including school climate, school safety, student discipline, class sizes, athletics and extracurricular activities, art and music programs, classroom technology, field trips and student experiences, foreign languages and elective courses, transportation and salaries for support staff as well as employee benefits.

Accomplishments

Stauffer also touched on the many accomplishments of the school district since last year’s event including school safety and new programs.

He said they were able to reinstate middle school sports and a variety of clubs, with 1,615 students choosing to take part.

Stauffer said the average GPA of the students who participated went from 2.63 to 2.76 and the number of office referrals decreased by 25.3 percent.

“We have a long way to go,” Stauffer said. “We are going to continue to work hard, and we know that.”

Stauffer also touted upcoming new programs for next year including a broadcast media academy at Bennett Middle School, a business leadership academy at Wicomico Middle and a firefighter/EMT course for the Career & Technical Education program.

State Sen. Mary Beth Carozza, who attended the event, said she would continue to advocate extending the timelines for the Blueprint’s implementation.

Salisbury Area Chamber of Commerce President Bill Chambers said investing in public schools is a crucial economic development driver.

“The ceiling of any community is the quality of the public schools,” Chambers said. “Businesses are undoubtedly looking for communities that boast an excellent school system.

“As this is a deal breaker for many, whether they have children or not.”

Reach Managing Editor Richard Caines at rcaines@iniusa.org.