Supervisors and school leaders spar over FY26 asks as updated state aid narrows county–school split

Montgomery County and school system officials discussed competing priorities for the FY2026 budget at a joint March 17 meeting after state projections revised school aid upward by about $1 million.

County staff presented a revenue split that, after the revised state numbers, showed roughly a 50/50 split between county and school discretionary funding on the slide shown to the board. County Administrator Angie Hill said designated revenues account for a significant share of the budget and that real estate tax is the largest single source. She reviewed the schedule for finalizing the budget: the Board of Supervisors is scheduled to establish an advertised tax rate and budget at its next meeting (the board was told that session will start at 7:15 p.m.), a public hearing on the budget and tax rate is set for April, and tax bills are to be prepared for the June 5 billing; staff said tax rates must be set by April 24 for processing.

School leaders described increased state revenue projections and a combined set of requests in the school proposed budget. The school presentation listed about $7.7 million in proposed increases before accounting for the updated state aid; after state revisions the net local ask was smaller but still larger than the county’s preliminary contribution. The school system’s requested increases included districtwide pay…