Howard County executive's letter says not all FY25 budget surplus funding can fix up schools
Not all of Howard County's excess surplus funding, which was made known to the Board of Education, will be used to fix up the schools, Executive Calvin Ball clarified in a letter.
Ball wrote that some of that money needs to be used elsewhere.
A recent audit identified $37.99 million in excess surplus funding would come from the fiscal year 2025 budget.
A Howard County Council bill passed in April directed the use of those funds to help pay for deferred maintenance projects in the Howard County Public School System's (HCPSS) capital budget for fiscal year 2027.
"To see those excess surplus funds year after year was maddening," councilwoman Liz Walsh told WJZ last week. "So, we figured out, using a charter provision, how to get that money back from the legislative branch."
The county executive's letter
Ball said in his two-page letter that $7.1 million of those funds needs to go to the Howard County Health Department to get matching state funds.
He added that a consistent rainy day fund is necessary for the county's AAA bond rating, also "maintaining resources in our unassigned fund balance allows us to have flexibility to address unforeseen needs, especially in today's climate of escalated uncertainties and risks associated with Federal actions."
The school district's upcoming capital budget has come under fire in the last few months after not prioritizing renovations at Oakland Mills High School.
Many students, faculty, and parents have been protesting at or near the high school. They've also been testifying at Board of Education meetings.
Last month, the Board of Education approved an updated list of locally funded projects under the fiscal year 2027 capital budget.
It put renovations for Oakland Mills High from the top of the list to a much lower spot, while also putting projects for other schools ahead.
The board voted on an updated facilities prioritization list from HCPSS staff.
The board has discussed possibly reprioritizing projects when it gets the budget back from the state in January.
Ball's letter also said the county has used excess surplus funds to help fund HCPSS capital projects over the last five years, noting $18.75 million was used in the last capital budget.
Over email, several Board of Education members told WJZ how much more funding is needed for things like renovations, repairs, and construction.
Jacky McCoy, who has expressed regret in her vote to deprioritize Oakland Mills High's renovations, said, "HCPSS faces hundreds of millions of dollars in deferred maintenance and capital project issues that are decades in the making. Every available dollar is needed to address these long-standing needs."
That's what Walsh aimed to do when she first introduced the bill to direct excess surplus funds for these projects.
"If we can start chipping away at that in big chunks like that, then maybe this is a different universe," Walsh said. "These are different buildings we send our kids and teachers into in four or five years."
You can see Ball's letter in full here.