As the Commissioners of St. Mary’s County make decisions on their budget, school funding questions have been driving elements. Decisions on school funding, and where that funding comes from have bearing on the county’s ability to fund other parts of the budget, such as sheriff’s department salaries, and funding for the Community College of Southern Maryland.  As described in the article,

The St. Mary’s County Board of Education had advanced to the commissioners the idea of a one-time payment from the county fund balance of $1.6 million to pay off existing technology leases. That would allow the school board to free-up enough budget money to pay for a second step increase for all of their employees. They did not get a step increase this year.

Possible sources of school funding include the county’s prior year fund balance or reserve fund.

For more information, read the whole story from The BayNet.com here.