MCPS superintendent Joshua Starr announced his budget recommendation for fiscal year 2013 at a meeting Dec. 7. The $2.13 billion proposal will include the first teacher and staff pay raises in three years.

Starr’s proposed $41.4 million increase from FY 2012 is the lowest requested increase in 12 years and includes a request of $23 million extra from the county. The increase in employee compensation is budgeted for $8.6 million, but Starr will negotiate with the unions to determine the exact amount, according to the MCPS budget summary.

Starr emphasized that the extra money budgeted for teacher raises doesn’t represent a sacrifice for the school system.

“It’s important to acknowledge that our employees have contributed greatly over the last three years to enabling us to meet the shortfall in revenue and keep us whole in a lot of ways,” he said. “The employees have sacrificed, and it’s time that they get recognized for the incredible value they add to our system.”

Starr’s suggested operating budget accounts for 2,250 projected new students. Under Maryland’s maintenance of effort law, the budget must maintain or increase per-student spending each year to accommodate enrollment growth or face state fines.

The proposed budget doesn’t account for the $26 million fine levied by the state against MCPS for not meeting maintenance of effort for FY 2012. Starr said he hopes the state will waive the fee as it has in the past, but if not, the fees will have to be compensated for by county funding.

New county council president Roger Berliner said he is planning to meet with Starr, county executive Ike Leggett, state legislators and other councilmembers to work on avoiding the penalty for not meeting MOE last year.

Class sizes and staffing will remain relatively stable in FY 2013, according to Starr’s proposed budget. However, his recommendations require reorganizing MCPS central office, cutting 18 administrative positions.

After starting at MCPS in the summer, Starr has reached out to community and staff members, said counselor Jennifer Higgins, an elected faculty representative to the Montgomery County Education Association, the teachers’ union.

“He knew that he was going to be putting together this budget, and he didn’t want to be creating it in a vacuum,” Higgins said. “Approaching things in the way that he did in his meetings at MCEA, it was conversational and an exchange of ideas. I feel like there’s a real positive and enthusiastic vibe.”

Principal Alan Goodwin is pleased with the new budget and Starr’s approach to the proposal.

“He can’t start a bunch of new programs, and he can’t add a bunch of new staff because there’s just not money,” Goodwin said. “He’s being careful not to be too radical in changes. The changes he’s proposing for central office make sense, and certainly, asking for compensation for all the employees is an excellent idea.”

Teachers also said they are grateful that they may be recognized with a pay increase.

“It’s a fabulous idea,” social studies teacher Wendy Eagan said. “Teachers have been overlooked for several years. Everyone wants to be compensated for the hard work that they’ve been doing.”

The pay freeze was detrimental to staff morale, Goodwin said.

“My wife is also a teacher, so you almost feel like you get double hit,” he said. “We count on pay raises. To not have received one for three years is a challenge. And working with the morale of the teachers and supporting services has been quite a task.”

The increases in pay won’t amount to the pay teachers would have received if raises had not been frozen, said English teacher Danielle Fus, the other MCEA elected faculty representative.

“We’re moving in the right direction,” she said. “It’s a definite recognition of the hard work that MCPS staff members have done over the last several years and the sacrifices that they’ve made, taking the pay freeze as long as they have.”

Berliner, however, said he objects to the proposed pay raise because other county employees have gone without raises during the recession.

“At this moment in time, we don’t know what we’ll be able to do for our county employees who have also sacrificed for a number of years,” he said. “There’s always a concern with respect to one group of county employees being treated differently than other county employees.”

Higgins and Fus reached out to teachers for feedback and questions about the budget, but no one has responded with concerns, Fus said.

“I think people are seeing positive outcomes,” Higgins said. “In past years, at this time of year, whenever there’d be a budget release announcement, there would always be quite a few questions in my inbox. There would be concern expressed about possible outcomes. I’m not getting that right now. That’s a good thing. Maybe things are getting back on track.”

Starr’s plan will be submitted for approval first to the Board of Education in January and then to the county council in May. He said he is confident that it will be received well, and he has not heard any specific concerns from legislators.

“I wouldn’t have brought a budget forward that I didn’t think had a good chance of passing,” he said. “The county council has a lot of different competing demands and interests, but I think that they’re pretty favorable so far.”

While class sizes will not be increased again this year, the budget still suffers from cutbacks made during the recession. Starr said he hopes to restore some of these programs in the next few years.

“It’s going to take us some time to bring back various things that have been cut in the budget over the years,” he said. “Whether that’s class size, staff development teachers, media assistants or technology, there’s a whole list of things that we’ve had to compromise on. We’re going to have to have a methodical approach to restoring pre-recession cuts.”

Ultimately, Higgins said, the proposed raises are an important appreciation of teachers’ hard work.

“It’s not just about raises,” she said. “It’s not just educators whining about things. There are a lot of people who work long hours and are grading papers all weekend and doing college recs outside of their duty. It’s not required; they’re doing it because they love it. These are the sort of things that I hope people realize when thinking about funding.”