Introduced by: Councilmember Costello
A Resolution Entitled
A Council Resolution concerning
title
Budget Oversight Hearings for Baltimore City Public Schools
For the purpose of calling for regular budget oversight hearings for Baltimore City Public Schools to improve transparency and accountability in the allocation of over a billion dollars in public funding for the vital task of educating Baltimore’s children.
body
Recitals
Each year the Baltimore City Board of School Commissioners independently assembles a roughly $1.3 billion budget for Baltimore City Public Schools. And each year the City Council is required to vote to approve this budget. Furthermore, Baltimore City Public Schools is facing a $129 million deficit in fiscal year 2018.
However, the Council, and through it the public, is often provided with very little meaningful information about this huge and vitally important expenditure. Even more troubling, the budget information that is provided to the Council is sometimes unclear or misleading.
Educating our community’s children is one of the most important tasks imaginable. It requires, and deserves, the mobilization of vast resources from all levels of government and the private sector. It also requires, and deserves, genuine transparency and accountability in the process of allocating those resources. The current school budget process doesn’t do enough to advance those values and must be updated to allow the City Council to be informed and engaged in reviewing budget decisions on behalf of Baltimore’s citizens.
Instead of simply being handed a document full of numbers to approve once a year with complex explanations and insuff...
Click here for full text