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Board of Education Adopts FY25 Operating & Capital Budgets

May 23rd, 2024

On Thursday, May 23, 2024, the Howard County Board of Education adopted its Operating and Capital Budgets for the 2024–2025 school year (FY 2025). The General Fund Operating Budget totals $1.15 billion, an increase of $35.7 million over FY 2024, which represents a 3.2 percent budgeted increase. The FY 2025 Capital Budget totals $75.7 million to support costs associated with the renovation/addition of Oakland Mills Middle School; renovating the Faulkner Ridge Center and Applications and Research Laboratory Building C; other systemic renovations/modernizations, roofing projects and equipment; and ongoing projects such as planning and design to address system needs.

In addition to the earlier restorations made by the Board in previous work sessions, the final budget restored several priorities and certain positions as approved during the Board’s May 13 work session, including:

Earlier restorations were included in the Board’s originally adopted budget request to the County Executive on March 7, 2024. These included funding for curricular field trips, summer BSAP and GT enrichment programs, and several positions that include media specialists, high school science paraeducators, testing assistants, the conservancy position, and Resource Teachers in the Department of Special Education.

In addition, the Board increased the budget marker for employee compensation by $7.17 million bringing the total compensation marker to $33 million.

“Throughout this process, what has been clear is that the Board, the Superintendent, the County Executive and the County Council have shared values when it comes to education in Howard County.” said Jennifer Mallo, Chair, Board of Education. “The Board has remained clear in its commitment to maintaining high quality academic programs, paying our educators professional wages, and having classrooms with appropriately sized student rosters and more. We want the Howard County Public School system to be great for all our students.”

“I commend the members of our Board of Education, our HCPSS budget team, and system program managers for the countless hours they’ve dedicated to finalizing this budget with a focus on students and staff,” said William J. Barnes, Acting Superintendent. “In addition, I want to recognize the unprecedented level of collaboration and partnership between County Executive Calvin Ball, the County Council and our school system. I thank them for prioritizing education in our county and investing in our educators and the programs and priorities our students and community value.”

Howard County funding is increasing $44.8 million to $766.0 million, a 6.2 percent increase over FY 2024. One-time funding of $5.0 million is included for one-time expenditures in FY 2025. Required State funding increases by $5.8 million to $351.8 million, an increase of 1.7 percent, driven by the ongoing implementation of per-pupil funding increases required in Blueprint legislation.

Additional budget information is available online now. The final adopted budget will be available online soon.