Thursday, January 13, 2011 – Steve Fermier and Baltimore Sun

School spending to go down while class sizes head up in Baltimore County.

The estimate is that almost a thousand more students will head to class next year in the county.

But Superintendent Joe Hairston is offering a spending plan that will eliminate almost 200 vacant teaching positions by attrition and not layoffs.

Each principal will have about 5 percent less spending money for things like supplies.

And The Sun reports that the central office will have to do without too.

The $1.2 billion budget assumes a slight increase in money from Annapolis.

About $2 out of every $5 come from the state.

Earlier this week Education Week named Maryland as having the best public school system in the nation in part because of a strong commitment to applying adequate financial resources to the schools.