Howard County school leaders stand their ground in push for more funding
Howard County school leaders are fighting for more funding, saying they aren't satisfied with what the county is proposing.
The school district is hoping for at least $29.2 million more than what's allocated, fearing pretty big cuts if the funding doesn't come through.
Earlier this week, the Howard County Council pressed HCPSS about its needs at a budget work session.
The need for more funding
When it was time to read her report at Thursday's Board of Education hearing, Board Chair Jolene Mosley instead read a prepared statement about the budget process.
In that statement, she stressed what's at stake.
"The devastating reality is that any decision we make to cut existing programs and services results in fewer educators to effectively instruct and prepare students," Mosley said.
In the proposed Fiscal Year 2026 operating budget, HCPSS is slated to get more than $800 million. More than $47 million of that will be new revenue to the school district, but HCPSS said even more funding is needed to fill a gap of more than $100 million.
"How do we stretch $47.3 million of revenue to cover $101.6 million worth of needs? The shorter answer is we can't," HCPSS Superintendent Bill Barnes said.
To balance HCPSS's budget, Barnes said the school district needs $54.3 million. However, HCPSS is hoping for at least $29.2 million extra just to cover existing service commitments and employee compensation and benefits requirements.
Last year, HCPSS made more than $31 million in cuts to balance its budget. Those cuts included eliminating nearly 200 positions.
If the proposed allocation remains the same in the county's operating budget, Barnes said HCPSS will face $29.2 million in cuts -- which means the school district could make similar cuts this year.
Barnes and Brian Hull, HCPSS's chief financial officer, have pointed to the Blueprint for Maryland's Future plan as a big obstacle.
The education reform plan was passed by the state legislature in 2021 and it invests billions into public education over the next decade.
Barnes and Hull say the mandates in the plan, though, have been costly to keep up with.
"When the blueprint was passed, it was pretty expressly stated that this was going to force local governments to increase their spending on education," Hull said. "As we have seen across the state, many local governments either don't have the capacity, or the desire to do that."
The same conversation
Howard County Council members pressed HCPSS leadership about the school district's needs at Monday's budget work session.
Several councilmembers noted HCPSS seems to be in a similar situation every budget cycle.
"This is the same conversation, like every single year, we go through this. The community gets so wrapped up in it," said District 5 councilman David Yungmann.
Councilmembers also questioned what the school district is doing to adjust to the challenges, some arguing there isn't enough being done.
"It's been really painful to come to these conversations each year without seeing that significant shift in what you're doing or how you're doing it," DistrictThe 3 councilwoman Christiana Rigby said.
District 4 Councilwoman Deb Jung, however, hinted she'd support increasing the school district's piece of the county's budget.
"Not only [is the school district] supporting all [of your staff] and all those buildings, [it's] also supporting 57,000 students and their unbelievable needs every single day," Jung said. "In a community that says we love our schools, we want them to do everything for us."
Howard County Council is scheduled to adopt the county's operating budget later this month.
After it is adopted, HCPSS will adjust to whatever its final allocation is.