Budget Requests Adopted By Howard County Board Of Education

HOWARD COUNTY, MD — The Howard County Board of Education unanimously adopted its operating and capital budget requests for the 2023-2024 school year (fiscal year 2024) during its recently held meeting.

The FY 2024 board of education requested operating budget totals $1.142 billion, which is a $109.5 million, or 10.6 percent increase over the FY 2023 operating budget. The board’s request reflects the school system’s funding needs to in order to continue implementing Maryland’s Blueprint for the Future and "prioritizes the most urgent needs of its students and families by taking a measured and strategic approach to provide the resources required for student achievement," the school district noted.

The request for county revenue funding totals $786.1 million, which is $110.5 million, or 16.4 percent over FY 2023. State revenues in the budget total $348.4 million, an increase of $27.3 million, or 8.5 percent. Costs for compensation increases account for approximately 44percent of the $109.5 million growth in expenditures. The remaining expenditure growth is being driven by the strategic vision that every student achieves when their instructional needs are met guided by the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future legislation and other mandates, the opening of Guilford Park High School, staffing for special education and funding for staff and resources critical to our school system’s operations.

"It is essential that the board prioritizes the needs of our students and families as part of our budget request to the County," said Antonia Watts, chair of the Howard County Board of Education. "I commend my fellow board members, Superintendent Dr. Martirano and school system staff for their comprehensive efforts to craft a budget proposal that is based on our greatest needs to meet legal mandates and to ensure every student achieves."

The board’s adopted budget request keeps the superintendent’s proposed FY 2024 operating budget intact while adding a number of priorities identified by the board, including:

• Funding for speech and debate teams and Science Olympiad at each high school
• Hiring an additional multilingual liaison
• Paying for the cost of Advanced Placement exams for all students per Blueprint guidance
• New basketball nets at all schools
• Instructional team leader stipends for elementary school-related arts teachers
• Adding a grant writer position

Additionally, the Board moved to repurpose the proposed board attorney position for contractual budget analysis services.

The board also adopted the FY 2024 capital budget totaling $67.7 million for costs associated with the completion of Guilford Park High School; renovations/additions to Oakland Mills Middle School and Dunloggin Middle School; renovations to the Faulkner Ridge Center; new elementary school #43, systemic renovations of boilers and other equipment; and ongoing projects such as planning and design to address system needs.