A $446 million Harford County Public Schools unrestricted operating budget for the next school year that will result in the elimination of 36 teaching and seven non-teaching positions was approved unanimously by the Board of Education Monday night.

The Aegis reports,

Even though HCPS officials say no current employees will involuntarily lose their jobs – the positions are either vacant or expected to be at the end of this school year from retirements and other normal attrition – board member Robert Frisch called the need to reduce teachers a “collective failure” of the school board.

“We do not need to be talking about classroom teacher positions,” he said. “There are other alternatives — unfortunately, we haven’t explored enough of them in a reasonable or timely fashion.”

The board also unanimously approved a $29.9 million restricted budget, a $17.1 million food service budget and a $48.6 million capital budget, all for the next fiscal year, beginning July 1.

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The operating budget covers the expenses of the day-to-day operations of a school system that serves about 37,500 students and has about 5,000 employees.

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