Howard school board adopts $1.14B budget request; county executive calls it 'disappointing' and 'unattainable'

Feb. 17—The Howard County Board of Education unanimously adopted a fiscal 2024 operating budget request totaling $1.14 billion Thursday. The request will be submitted later this month to County Executive Calvin Ball, who called the 16% requested increase in county funding for schools "unattainable."

"The Board of Education presented a budget that dramatically exceeds revenue growth for the entire county," Ball said in an email Friday morning. "Their disappointing funding proposal is both fiscally unattainable and not reflective of the board exercising any realistic budgeting."

The board's operating budget request represents a $109.5 million (10.6%) increase over the current budget and includes more than 320 new full-time equivalent staff positions. Much of the budget's growth is driven by implementation of the Blueprint for Maryland's Future legislation, which invests $3.8 billion statewide in public education reform during the next decade.

"I want to be very clear that there is nothing aspirational about this budget," Superintendent Michael Martirano said Thursday. "This budget proposal ... includes only those areas that are either mandated by legislative requirements or necessary to maintain current levels of instruction and support."

The board will submit its requests to the county executive the week of Feb. 27, after which Ball can cut but not add to the budgets before passing them along to the County Council for review. Following a series of public hearings and work sessions, the council will approve its budgets and the Board of Education will vote on a final adoption in May.

Despite Ball signaling the increase in county funding was not achievable, school officials stressed the request represented the district's essential needs with Blueprint implementation and pandemic-induced learning challenges.

"The requests that we're making are not things that are above and beyond what our children need," board Chair Antonia Watts said. "It is what we need to do business and to do business better and to improve student outcomes."

The budget asks for $786.1 million in count funding and includes $348.4 million in revenue from the state, increases of about 16.4% and 8.5%, respectively. Ball called the funds requested from the county unrealistic, saying Howard's public education spending grew by an average of 3.4% during his first four years in office.

"An ask of approximately $110 million more, or a 10.6% increase over the historically high FY 2023 budget is unfortunate and sets unrealistic expectations for our community," Ball said. "We will continue to be the responsible steward of taxpayer dollars as we evaluate the proposed budget."

During a Feb. 1 work session, HCPSS Executive Director of Budget Darin Conforti warned that while the increase in state funding resulted from new per-student expenditures required by the Blueprint, the law did not require counties to increase their funding by the same per-pupil amount. The increased county ask was spurred not by enrollment, which is still projected to remain below the pre-pandemic high of 57,406, but by a range of Blueprint initiatives, Conforti said.

"Prior to the Blueprint, required funding from the state and the county grew each year at similar rates," Conforti said. "Now, they're moving in opposite directions because the funding formula does not mandate the same increased [county] investment per pupil."

The Blueprint is divided into five programmatic pillars with the first three — early childhood education, high quality teachers and college and career readiness — having the biggest impact on the fiscal 2024 operating budget.

For early childhood education, the budget invests $3.2 million and nearly 60 new positions to expand voluntary full-day prekindergarten services and the number of slots available for families at or below 300% of the federal poverty level.

Salary increases account for about 44% of the budget's growth, with the school system on pace to achieve the minimum $60,000 starting salary for teachers by July 1, 2026, as mandated by the Blueprint. Teachers who have completed National Board Certification receive additional pay boosts to incentivize training and build a more experienced workforce.

"Pillar two is one of the biggest cost drivers," said Timothy Guy, Blueprint coordinator for Howard. "We're ahead of the game compared to a lot of counties that are smaller [and] may have a difficult time reaching that $60,000."

Per Blueprint guidance, the board's request also covers the cost of dual-enrollment at Howard Community College for all county high schoolers and puts $660,000 toward covering all Advancement Placement exam fees beginning next year.

If a school district fails to comply with a given pillar, the Blueprint's Accountability and Implementation Board has the power to withhold a portion of state funding, Guy said.

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Significant non-Blueprint cost increases include $2.15 million to fund 42.6 positions at Guilford Park High School when it opens in Jessup this fall and $7.33 million for anticipated contractual cost changes for student transportation.

The board's request maintains the initial budget proposal made by Martirano on Jan. 24 while adding several new priorities identified by the board, including $3,250 for new basketball nets at all schools and $52,000 to support speech and debate teams and Science Olympiad clubs at each high school.

The board also voted 4-1 to repurpose $170,000 originally earmarked for an on-staff board attorney to instead fund contractual budget analysis services to assist with budget review. Board member Jennifer Swickard Mallo voted against; Jolene Mosley was not present.

"I definitely believe we need to have better oversight to hold the whole school system accountable for the amount of money that we're spending and whether or not we're getting the outcome that we are paying for," board member Jacky McCoy said.

The board also unanimously adopted its fiscal 2024 capital budget request for $67.7 million, fiscal year 2025-2029 capital improvement program request for $477.8 million and its long-range master plan totaling $1 billion.

The fiscal 2024 capital budget covers building construction and maintenance for the upcoming school year and includes completion of Guilford Park, renovations and additions at Oakland Mills Middle School and Dunloggin Middle School and initial phases of the elementary school 43 project.

More information can be found at: https://www.hcpss.org/about-us/budgets/fy24/.