WESTMINSTER, Md. — More than 90 Carroll County Public School employees remain in limbo, as the Board of Education gets set to meet again Wednesday afternoon.
Carroll County superintendent Cynthia McCabe previously proposed eliminating the positions and reassigning dozens of others in order to comply with Maryland's costly education Blueprint.
Before approving the cuts, the County Board of Education is first seeking help from Carroll's Board of Commissioners.
On March 6 school leadership asked commissioners for $57 million in funding to make up for an anticipated budget shortfall in fiscal year 2026.
The money, they claim, would help save jobs from being lost.
Some parents attending the meeting urged Commissioners to swiftly sign off on the funding, citing a $69.5 million surplus the County's currently sitting on.
The multi-million dollar request comes as Carroll County Schools try funding a state mandated 50 percent share of the Blueprint.
To do that, it would cost around $44 million, which is more than three times the school system's operating budget.
Leadership already expected to be in a $6.6 million financial hole, due in large part to increased utility costs and contractually obligated pay raises for teachers. The school system now offers new teachers a starting salary of $60,000, according to McCabe.
RELATED: Significant staff shakeup underway in Carroll County Public Schools
A majority of the County's commissioners appeared hesitant in granting the funding request.
One skeptic is Commissioner Kenneth A. Kiler, who himself is a former Board of Education President.
"If we plastered $40 million of one time money to pay you, that means we need to do it next year, and next year, and next year, so we can't afford that," said Kiler. "That's fiscally irresponsible to use one time money for any of that."
Kiler was referencing the Blueprint's per pupil funding formula, which increases each year through 2033.
McCabe attempted to justify the request, citing existing staffing shortages, that were created between 2009 and 2019, when 375 positions were cut totaling $40 million in savings.
Kiler pushed back, arguing those cuts were made prior to the Blueprint becoming state law.
McCabe then stressed how Carroll County ranks last in Maryland for per pupil funding, when combining state and local money.
Broken down, Carroll County ranks 10th in providing funding for their local schools, while receiving the seventh least amount of State funding out of 24 Maryland counties.
"How much money do you throw at it," Kiler responded. "We ought to get a waiver based on 'yea we already did that, yea our students are doing that," Kiler continued, before asking "What is Blueprint really helping Carroll County in?"
Commissioner Joseph Vigliotti later chimed in claiming "The goalposts are consistently being moved right? I would love to vote right now to give every cent of that $57 million to the schools, if we did spend that $57 million this year and the situation with the Blueprint didn't change next year, we're gonna be how much in debt, and it would be the same situation all over again."
Vigliotti wondered whether Carroll County could meet Blueprint standards in their "own way," byway of "equivalence," not necessarily "compliance."
Commissioner Michael Guerin intervened, questioning whether the state is even able to fund the $9,226 per pupil the Blueprint requires, which rises to $12,365 by 2033.
Additionally, Guerin raised concern that local school officials would have no say in how additional funding is spent, giving the state discretion on where to allocate the money.
Guerin also rejected the assumption of one parent teacher in attendance, who warned the County's failure to fund the $57 million would cause families to leave and reside elsewhere.
In denying that theory, Guerin pointed to increased state revenue generated by rising property taxes, leaving Carroll as one of the state's most affordable counties to live.
In the end, commissioners seemed poised to decline full funding, but hinted at meeting somewhere in the middle.
The Carroll County Board of Education is scheduled to receive another update on Blueprint funding on Wednesday at 4pm.