Details Unveiled For Howard County Public School System's FY25 Operating Budget

HOWARD COUNTY, MD — After the fiscal year 2024 operating budget for the Howard County Public School System included the use of more than $30 million of one-time funds to balance the budget, planning for the fiscal year 2025 budget became much more challenging, especially as HCPSS sees declining enrollment, officials noted at a board of education meeting.

"The fiscal challenges anticipated in FY25 present an opportunity for the Howard County Public School System to implement changes to the operating budget process that will lead to a higher level of shared understanding, collaboration and more informed decision making around revenues and expenditures. Presenting the fiscal outlook will help provide contextual fiscal information for the board, HCPSS staff and the public as the budget process progresses," HCPSS Chief Administrative Officer Jahantab Siddiqui and Executive Director of the Budget Darin Conforti noted at the meeting.

The fiscal year 2025 operating budget for the HCPSS can be seen online.

“The goal is to bring forward a funding recommendation to the superintendent and subsequently to the board of education that has a greater potential of being funded based on prior year trends,” Siddiqui said. “This will provide for greater transparency around the reallocation possibilities and directly supports many of our funding authorities request that we consider and propose reallocations.”

In addition to presenting the fiscal outlook for FY25, HCPSS has launched a new operating budget website to provide more context and understanding around the operating budget, how it’s developed, funded and spent. The website includes monthly operating budget expenditure reports and quick links to other budget documents and files.