BALTIMORE (Map, News) - Anne Arundel science and math teachers could get paid more, more affordable housing could come to the county and a new homeless shelter could be built and under the proposed fiscal 2009 operating and capital budgets.

County Executive John R. Leopold focused much of his budget message Thursday on education, which takes up half of the county’s operating budget and is

the most controversial part because of strains among the administration, council and school board.

The proposed budget includes $2,000 stipends for nationally certified teachers in the fields of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) to “encourage our STEM teachers to stay in our classrooms,” Leopold said.

Leopold said $600,000 will go toward the new STEM center at Anne Arundel Community College, which is slated to receive a 5 percent increase in funding.

The proposed operating budget also includes three additional school resource officers.

Leopold said $112 million has been allocated for studies to expand schools.

Aside from education, nearly $2 million is slated to promote work force housing in the county through homeownership education counseling, down payment and closing cost assistance, and foreclosure prevention.

The county’s health department will continue to fund a program with the Baltimore-Washington Medical Center to reduce the infant mortality rate of black children in the county.

Grant funding increased slightly after Leopold slashed county grants in half the previous year. Sarah’s House, a homeless shelter at Fort Meade, will get $20,000 in the proposed budget despite not receiving any money the previous year.

Annapolis Area Ministries will get a $140,000 increase in its funding to help build a new homeless shelter in Annapolis.

Six agencies, including the Children’s Theater of Annapolis, lost grant funding in the proposed budget.

The council began working on the budget Thursday afternoon, but some early questions have been raised over the many new initiatives with only a 2.9 percent increase in spending.

“I’m interested to see how these will be funded with such a little increase in the budget,” said Council Chairwoman Cathy Vitale, R-District 5.

jflanagan@baltimoreexaminer.com