Schools Chief Is Forging Ahead
Global Money Crisis Curbs Funding, but Classrooms Remain 'Center of Gravity'

By Nelson Hernandez
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, January 31, 2008; PG01

John E. Deasy, superintendent of Prince George's County schools, came into office almost two years ago with ambitious plans to bolster academic performance and restore public confidence in a struggling system.

For the past year, Deasy and the school board claimed success as test scores rose, and several schools in the 130,000-student system moved off a federal watch list. But now it looks as if they must keep moving forward in the face of something beyond their power to change: a global economic crisis.

The collapse of subprime mortgages and the rapid cooling-off of the real estate market have been felt from Beijing to Bowie.

Schools receive most of their funding from county and state governments. Governments get the bulk of their revenue from property taxes. When property values are strong, as they have been for the past several years, education receives plenty of funding. But with fewer home sales and Prince George's residents defaulting on their mortgages at the highest rate in Maryland, according to state officials, the school system has been hit in the pocketbook.

Can Prince George's schools stay on course in the midst of an economic hurricane? Asked this question last week, Deasy took a moment to gather his thoughts, and then replied, "Yes."

"I think that the goals aren't changeable," he said. "We're going to accomplish those goals under great stress. . . . You have to realize where's the center of gravity. The center of gravity is the classroom."

But the stress is clear: This month, Deasy presented a $1.67 billion budget, an increase of $13.5 million but far below the jump of nearly $200 million the year before. He said the budget would protect the progress made in the classroom, although more than 300 vacant positions in a school district of about 16,000 employees are not being filled, and teachers are not getting raises. Bus drivers, maintenance workers and other non-classroom employees will have to work harder than ever to do more with less, Deasy told school board members.

Although the budget was designed to maintain what has been done in the classroom, it does not allow the sort of aggressive forward moves that Deasy has taken since he entered office in May 2006. These include a rapid rollout of new Advanced Placement courses and smaller programs meant to bolster student performance in reading and math.

Expansion of initiatives that began last year, such as the International Baccalaureate program, has been put on hold. New plans, such as creating schools that run from pre-kindergarten through eighth grade, won't get started until more money is available.

Postponement of the pre-K-through-eighth-grade program this month was a particularly stinging blow, Deasy said. He had hoped the sweeping reorganization would relieve overcrowding in some schools and address problems with student achievement in middle school. But the first phase of the plan would have cost $35 million, money that Deasy said the school system doesn't have.

Despite these disappointments, the school board and union leaders have said they are ready to work harder. There has been little public bickering over how to use the money the system does have.

"Our constituents are saying, 'We want this done, we want this done,' " school board member R. Owen Johnson Jr. (District 5) said. "Our question for them is, 'How are we going to do it?' "

One solution would be to employ fewer people and expect them to work harder. Bus drivers, for example, will probably have to double up on the routes they drive, which would mean working overtime.

"We have increased space with fewer people to cover the space," Deasy said, predicting "more stress on the system" as a result of new schools opening.

Richard L. Putney, executive director of the Association of Classified Employees and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 2250, the union representing most non-classroom employees, including bus drivers, said his members are prepared to carry the extra workload.

"We have assured Dr. Deasy that our membership will certainly rise to the occasion, and we'll do whatever is necessary to see through it," Putney said.

He said the union is examining the budget closely and will seek raises but is relieved no layoffs are scheduled.

Board members also stressed the need for efficiency in the system.

"We're going through this line by line by line and getting every dime," board member Rosalind A. Johnson (District 1) said. "This is a commitment between us and the community. We have to look to ensure that our most important job is to educate children."

"When it comes down to it, money is only part of the equation," said Ron L. Watson (At Large), the board's vice chairman. "The other thing is setting the expectations. I see no reason why, even though the funds are scarcer, the progress won't continue."

In the long run, Deasy, school board members and outside observers said they are optimistic because the future of the school system is rooted in good ideas. The only problem is that the long-awaited transformation cannot take place as quickly as they had hoped, the result of being swept up in events larger than Prince George's.

"Not much is going to happen as quickly as it could or should," said Ann Harris Davidson, chairwoman of the Berwyn Heights Education Advisory Committee. "It's not his fault, and I don't know if he should be criticized for being fiscally rational. We're all caught betwixt and between."