The Board of Education of Anne Arundel County will conduct a public hearing and is scheduled to vote on initial approval of Superintendent of Schools Dr. Mark Bedell’s proposed Fiscal Year 2025 Capital Budget at its next meeting, scheduled for Wednesday, September 18, 2024.
Dr. Bedell’s $204.7 million recommendation, which can be found here, was presented to the Board on September 4. The Board will hold a public workshop on it at 6 p.m. on September 16. The workshop will be held in the Board Room and will be broadcast live through the outlets listed below. The workshop is open to the public but no public testimony will be taken.
After approval by the Board, the plan will be submitted to the State of Maryland for funding consideration. The plan will also be part of the school system’s overall FY2026 budget request, to be forwarded to the County Executive in February 2025 after the Board holds additional public hearings. The County Council will review that plan and adopt a final capital budget for the school system by June 2024.
At the meeting, the Board will also discuss and adopt its FY2026 budget priorities.
Wednesday’s meeting will begin at 6:30 p.m. and will be held in the Board Room at the Parham Building, located at 2644 Riva Road in Annapolis. It is open to the public and subject to normal space limitations in the Board Room.
A complete agenda for the meeting can be found here. More information on agenda items will be posted on the AACPS website in the Board Docs section under the Board of Education tab. Protocols, procedures, and expectations for those attending the meeting can be found here.
The Board will also meet in a public session at 4:30 p.m. for the sole purpose of voting to immediately go into closed session, during which time it will discuss confidential matters as permitted by the Maryland Open Meetings Act including, but not limited to, legal advice, personnel, and negotiations. Closed session is not open to the public.
PROCESS FOR PUBLIC COMMENT ON AGENDA ITEMS
The Board will hear public comment from up to 10 total speakers (virtual and in-person combined) per agenda item (excluding personnel items, reports, informational presentations, and recognitions) during a single public comment section in the early portion of the meeting. Additionally, up to 10 speakers can comment on non-agenda items, excluding student-specific or personnel matters, towards the end of the meeting.
Procedures and protocols for public comment can be found here. A link to register for public comment will be live at 3 p.m. on the Friday before a Board meeting.
The general session of the meeting will be broadcast live on AACPS-TV and on AACPS’ YouTube channel. Archived videos of past meetings are available online.
COMMITTEE MEETINGS
The Board of Education’s committees will hold upcoming virtual meetings according to the following schedule. The meetings will not be broadcast, but those wishing to listen to the meetings can access them by telephone through the codes listed below.
Policy Committee: 3 p.m., October 1, 2024. Call 301-960-3676, enter the Conference ID 224 604 893#.
Budget Committee: Noon, September 16, 2024. Call 301-960-3676, enter the Conference ID 547 991 186#.
Equity Committee: Noon, September 24, 2024. Call 301-960-3676, enter the Conference ID 237 809 712#.