The school system also completed the final phase of construction projects related to full-day kindergarten. For the past six years, the school system has added 57 classrooms as a result of the full-day kindergarten mandate, according to school system officials.
Howard County students, parents and teachers should see few changes, if any, to their day-to-day school lives due to any budgetary problems.
Cousin and the Howard County Board of Education vowed to "protect the classroom" during the operating and capital budget process.
The one area where financial constraints will be most apparent is athletics.
Mike Williams, the school system's coordinator of athletics, plans to eliminate some scrimmages and limit game traveling to inside the county.
Ann DeLacy, president of the Howard County Education Association, said it is too early to determine whether or not the recession will affect teachers.
"It hasn't hit them yet," DeLacy said. "We haven't heard anything."
DeLacy said she has talked to a number of teachers while visiting 10 schools in the past month.
"People are pretty content," DeLacy said.
"We would be the first ones they would complain to," said DeLacy, whose union represents teachers and various support staff in the school system.
