Principals must submit their school budgets to Alonso by Thursday. At that time, Alonso said, the system will determine how many schools have cut staff positions and how many have added them. He said he doesn't expect all the details to be right on the first try, but he's comfortable with messiness as long as the system is moving in the right direction - putting resources and decision-making power in the schools.
In an interview, Gittings said principals won't have the money to make substantial reforms. "I want the public to understand that when they don't see drastic changes in the schools, it's not because of the administration and the staff," he said. "People think they're receiving these large increases. It's ludicrous."
A group of school librarians has been particularly vocal in opposing the new structure, forming a committee within the Baltimore Teachers Union to fight for their jobs. Maureen O'Neill, a librarian at Baltimore Polytechnic Institute, said she knows of at least a dozen principals who plan to cut their librarian positions.
State regulations require schools to provide library services, but this year, only 100 of 192 city schools had librarians on staff. Edwards said principals should not be cutting the librarian's job if they have a functioning library, which many high schools don't, but schools located near each other may cut costs by sharing a librarian.
That solution is unacceptable to O'Neill, who said part-time librarians won't have time to work on collection development, literacy initiatives and other responsibilities beyond instruction. "The schools that had full-time librarians shouldn't have to be cutting back," she said. She was also confused by a system memo recommending that principals who do not have a librarian this year budget for library resources next year.
"Unfunded mandates don't sit well with people, especially when you're using all this PR about autonomy and increased funding," O'Neill said.
Edwards said some schools may choose to work with the city's public libraries to provide library services. She noted a school that's contracting with the nonprofit Sports4Kids to provide physical education for $24,000, eliminating the need for a more expensive gym teacher. Alonso has said the CollegeBound Foundation provides excellent college counseling for less than the cost of a full-time guidance counselor.
"We're not an employment agency," Edwards said. "The question should be not about this position or that position [but] how are you supporting children?"
