MyAACPS.net

Gov. Martin O’Malley’s administration has surpassed the $1 billion mark in school construction funding during its three years, a first-time accomplishment despite the budget problems bedeviling Maryland…. [Link to Article]

Examining the county executive’s pared-down budget proposal yesterday, the county school board and superintendent determined it is “untenable” from almost every angle…. [Link to Commentary]

Folger McKinsey Elementary School in Severna Park reopened this morning amid confidence among state officials that they responded appropriately to swine flu fears…. [Link to Article]

There appears to be a growing level of concern about the performance of low-income and minority students in Annapolis’ secondary public schools. In the city’s two middle schools, for example, less than half of African-America and Hispanic eighth-graders are reaching proficiency on the state’s reading test…. [Link to Commentary]

We could use a few more people like Victor Bernson in public office. Not because he’s right about everything; he’s not. And not because he’s more conservative than his colleagues on the county Board of Education…. [Link to Commentary]

Anne Arundel County residents would see a slight decrease in their property tax rate, under a budget proposed Friday by County Executive John R. Leopold that includes no layoffs or furlough days for county employees…. [Link to Article]

The Baltimore Sun has cut its newsroom staff by nearly a third in a reorganization the company said would help it not just survive but succeed in one of the worst economic downturns in decades. The news company, whose parent Tribune Co. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in December, laid off 61 newsroom staffers, a [...]

County Executive John R. Leopold has withdrawn his request for the state to waive a requirement for the county to pay up to an additional $9 million in funding for public schools next fiscal year. The state’s “maintenance of effort” law requires local governments to increase spending on schools each year to qualify for state [...]

More than half of the county’s schools are projected to lose teachers next year at a time when the faltering economy is driving up student enrollment…. [Link to Article]

WAIVE-OFF – No one was looking forward to a knock-down, drag-out budget fight between County Executive John R. Leopold and school officials. So it’s just as well that the county was able to rescind its request for a waiver of the requirement that it keep school spending at the level dictated by the state’s “maintenance [...]

About that $9 million county officials said they couldn’t give to schools next year: Never mind…. [Link to Article]

In a move that would put county schools on the cutting edge of foreign-language instruction, officials are planning to roll out an Arabic program in the next school year…. [Link to Article]

Sixth-graders at Annapolis Middle School have been peppered with questions this year: What’s the history lesson in the novel they’re reading? How can they save the Chesapeake Bay with what they learn in science class? …. [Link to Article]

Of 121 public school buildings in the county, 49 don’t have fire sprinklers and another nine have only partial sprinkler systems, according to data from the school system…. [Link to Article]

Schools Superintendent Kevin M. Maxwell told the state this week that county officials should not be allowed to cut school funding when they haven’t raised local income and property taxes…. [Link to Article]