HCPSSHCPSS FY 2026 Operating Budget Update, May 6, 2025
May 6th, 2025
Since the Howard County Board of Education adopted their requested FY2026 Operating Budget on March 4, 2025, County Executive Calvin Ball released his Proposed FY 2026 Operating Budget, the Howard County Board of Education held a budget work session, and the Howard County Council held a work session with school system leadership. This update summarizes the County Executive’s proposed budget and recaps both presentations delivered by HCPSS Superintendent Bill Barnes to open the work sessions.
County Executive’s Budget
On Monday, April 21, County Executive Ball released his Proposed FY 2026 Operating Budget, which will now be considered by the Howard County Council. As part of his budget, Dr. Ball allocated $39.3 million in recurring funds above Maintenance of Effort funding to the school system, and $1.5 million in funding that can be used for one-time expenditures. Additionally, the County is covering $6.7 million in employee pension costs, a budget item which has been transferred to county governments beginning next year by the State.
The significant State deficit and Federal cuts have each had a sizable impact on the County’s budget and has increased uncertainty at all levels of government. And while the amount of recurring funding allocated to the school system in the County Executive’s proposed budget is $39.3 million more than the County is required to provide, it is well below the amount needed to fund the Board of Education’s requested budget.
April 29 Board of Education Work Session
The Board of Education held its first budget work session on April 29. To begin the work session, Superintendent Barnes provided a presentation that detailed the current state of the FY2026 operating budget. Here is a recap:
The Blueprint for Maryland’s Future is designed to force school systems to reprioritize programs, services, and staffing. We see districts across the state making suggestions to balance their budgets that include significant class size increases; eliminating extracurricular activities; cutting many positions including media specialists, reading and math specialists and others; reducing the number of courses offered; reconsidering compensation increases; and realizing a shrinking workforce among increasing needs.
In total, the school system is currently scheduled to receive $47.3 million more than in FY2025. That is $54.3 million less than the total amount identified by the Board of Education for our funding needs. To fund just existing service commitments and employee compensation and benefits requires an additional $29.2 million above current funding levels.
May 5 County Council Work Session
The Howard County Council held a work session on May 5 to discuss the school system’s operating budget. To begin the work session, Superintendent Barnes provided a presentation that detailed the funding challenges we are currently facing. The Superintendent’s remarks and slides may be found online. The slides include a list of existing programs, services and positions that are part of our current base budget and may need to be considered for reduction if we do not receive restored funding from the County Council.
In fiscal year 2010, the per pupil funding in Howard County was just above $13,000 dollars. Today, it is closer to $20,000 dollars. But when adjusted for inflation, our spending level per student is virtually unchanged from fifteen years ago. However, schools and school systems are now expected to provide many more services than we were just fifteen years ago. Additionally, the Blueprint has designed funding formulas based on wealth equalization factors where Howard County is intentionally expected to invest at a local level in education at higher rates than other counties.
As provided during the work session help on April 29, the total difference between new revenue and funding needs to support the Board of Education’s requested budget is $54.3 million dollars. And the total difference between the new revenue and the existing service commitments, including employee compensation and benefits, is $29.2 million dollars alone. If there is no restoration of revenue and we must make $29.2 million dollars in cuts to existing programs, services and positions in our base budget, considerations could impact class sizes, school-based positions, and further reductions to programs, services and positions that are non-school-based.
A year ago, we made $31.1 million dollars in cuts to existing services, which totaled a 2.8% cut to our base budget and the elimination of more than 192 positions. This year’s gap between new revenue and funding needs is nearly identical to a year ago when we made decisions that had significant adverse impacts on our organization.
A budget update will be provided at the Board of Education meeting on Thursday, May 8.