After backing off threats to parcel out funds for a $10.5-million boost to the school-library collections budget over the next three years, the Baltimore County Council okayed appropriating the full amount May 25. But the council added the stipulation that school officials must submit quarterly reports detailing how the funds are spent to allay council concerns over how the school board has spent money in the past, the Baltimore Sun reported May 26.
Several weeks earlier, council members had considered doling out the money so that the school board could document it was spent as they intended. During a May 16 budget hearing, Della Curtis, coordinator of the school library system, assured council members that the money would be used only to buy books, promising to keep track of each school's purchases, the Sun reported May 17.
Schools Superintendent Anthony Marchione proposed the plan to rid the school system’s high- and middle-school libraries of outdated materials.
Posted May 29, 2000.