CUMBERLAND — Little Orleans parents lost several battles last year in the fight to keep their children in Washington County schools — first to the Allegany County Board of Education, then to a circuit court judge, then to the Maryland State Board of Education, which rejected an appeal.
But the war isn’t over yet. The latest skirmish is taking place before the General Assembly in Annapolis.
On Monday, Delegate LeRoy Myers Jr. introduced a bill that would allow children in Maryland to attend public school in an adjoining county if they live more than 30 miles away from the closest school in their home county, with the home county providing funding.
House Bill 335 drew immediate criticism from local school officials, who voted to end the decade-old Washington County School Choice program last summer because of budget concerns.
In an email on Tuesday, Superintendent David Cox asked other members of the Western Maryland Delegation — Sen. George Edwards and delegates Kevin Kelly and Wendell Beitzel — to oppose the bill, saying it would be “further financially devastating.”
Both Allegany and Garrett county school systems have lost a significant amount of state funding because of declining enrollment and other factors. Last year, state funding for Allegany was cut by around $5.3 million, and the governor’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2013 includes $4.3 million in cuts.
For the last decade — ever since consolidation closed Flintstone School — about 40 Little Orleans children have attended middle and high school in Hancock, which is geographically closer than Cumberland. But last spring, the board voted to phase out the program, while allowing about 20 high school students to finish their education in Hancock. Another 20 middle school students were not included in the grandfather clause, prompting a group of about three dozen families to file a lawsuit against the Allegany BOE.
In August, Allegany County Circuit Court Judge Tom Leasure denied a temporary injunction to allow middle school students to continue attending Hancock, saying that long bus rides to school did not “constitute irreparable injury.”
During months of turmoil over the issue, Myers announced that he intended to file legislation to address the problem, allowing students to attend school in an adjoining county if it is closer.
Myers filed the bill as a statewide bill — not an Allegany County bill — so it doesn’t need the support of a majority of the Western Maryland Delegation. The bill has been assigned to the House Ways and Means Committee.
Kelly said he doesn’t believe the bill will gain much momentum, adding that he expects opposition from the Maryland State Board of Education, the Maryland Association of Boards of Education, and the Maryland Superintendent’s Association.
Edwards and Beitzel couldn’t be reached Tuesday for comment.
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“I haven’t spoken to LeRoy about it at all, nor did I expect to,” Kelly said. “If the bill would come out of committee, which would be somewhat surprising, I would not support the legislation.”
Contact Kristin Harty Barkley at kbarkley@times-news.com
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