Howard County Board of Education Adopts FY 2027 Operating & Capital Budgets

May 22nd, 2026

On Thursday, May 21, 2026, the Howard County Board of Education adopted its Approved Operating and Capital Budgets for the 2026–2027 school year (Fiscal Year 2027).

Operating Budget

In total, the approved General Fund Operating Budget for FY 2027 is $1.286 billion, an increase of $69.4 million, or 5.7%, over the FY 2026 budget. The Board approved a budget that fully funds its requested budget after applying additional fund balance to make up the $6.8 million difference between their request and the County Council’s approved budget. The budget adds 95.7 full-time equivalent positions to advance the Board’s priorities in Special Education, multilingual learners, student safety and continued prekindergarten expansion. Howard County funding for the Operating Budget totals $871.5 million, an increase of $55.5
million or 6.8% over the FY 2026 budget. State funding totals $393.3 million, an increase of
$17.2 million or 4.6% over FY 26.

Capital Budget

The FY 2027 Capital Budget totals $122.7 million: $24.1 million in State funding and $98.6 million in County funding. The Board of Education’s FY 2027-2036 Long-Range Master Plan totals $1.41 billion.

An increase in State funding creates capacity to reallocate a total of $11.2 million in local capital
dollars toward other priority projects and allows for the approved Built to Learn Act (BTL) projects to be advanced from FY 2028 to FY 2027. These projects include multi-systemic projects at Bonnie Branch Middle School and Worthington Elementary School, and HVAC renovation projects at Atholton and Jeffers Hill elementary schools. In addition, a continuation of funding was approved for Faulkner Ridge Early Learning Center and to install air conditioning in multiple school gyms.

Additional budget information is available online.