Baltimore County schools propose $2.49 billion operating budget
Baltimore County schools' superintendent Dr. Myriam Rogers proposed a $2.49 billion operating budget for the Fiscal Year 2027.
The county says the funding would be used to invest in academics, safety, climate, and infrastructure, along with recruiting and retaining the district's more than 20,000 employees.
This budget recommendation is an overall $57.3 million, or 2.8%, increase in the General Fund budget and includes about a $19.9 million, or a 2%, increase from the county.
"Our system's key priorities and investments are all focused on moving BCPS forward and we remain steadfast in our commitment to steward both the county's school children and its tax dollars responsibly," Rogers said. "Difficult but necessary decisions had to be made for our FY27 budget proposal given that we are faced with a challenging fiscal landscape for the third consecutive year, and this has meant targeted reductions in new spending, contract spending, and staffing."
Rogers said, "But we remain forward-looking and future-focused when it comes to meeting the needs of our students and staff; our proposed FY27 budget retains and builds on the significant recent gains we've made in academic achievement, safety and climate, and infrastructure, including the honoring of compensation packages for year two and three agreed to with our employee groups."
The full FY 2027 proposed budget will be posted here online.
A public hearing will be held at 6:30 p.m. on January 20.
FY2026 operating budget request
In Fiscal Year 2026, the Baltimore County Public School System requested nearly $3 billion from the county.
County leaders opposed the request, and County Executive Kathy Klausmeier said the school district would not get all of that money.
Most of that $2.98 billion budget request included a staff compensation package with salary increases for 20,000 employees, which would have cost $61 million, with another $14 million for benefits.
The schools' superintendent requested an extra $105 million from the county, a nearly 11% increase from what the school district received from the county the previous year.
The school district said that it has had to make more than $168 million in reductions and eliminated hundreds of non-school based positions to address budget shortfalls over the past two fiscal years, including 69 supervisory level positions.
School leaders said the district has found an additional $62.1 million in cost savings and reductions to fund priorities for this upcoming fiscal year. The reductions came from position cuts, costs offset to Title I and other grants, IT reductions, and modest changes to current staffing allocation formulas.
