St. Mary’s County Public Schools proposes 1.7% FY26 budget increase, cites negotiated pay and enrollment declines

St. Mary’s County Public Schools presented its proposed fiscal year 2026 budget in a work session, with Dr. Smith, the superintendent, and Ms. McCourt, a budget presenter, walking board members through changes across categories and next procedural steps.

The superintendent’s recommended recurring fund budget is $293,200,000, an increase of $10.4 million over current recurring funds; the recommended total budget before the board is about $294,000,000, a 1.7% nominal increase over the current fiscal year. "This reflects a great deal of work," Dr. Smith said, adding that staff had gone back to "sharpen pencils" to minimally maintain services while respecting multi‑year negotiated agreements. "Show me a budget that's increasing by 1.7%, and I'll show you an organization that has sharpened its pencils," he said.

The nut graf: The proposed increases are driven mostly by negotiated compensation and benefit changes across employee groups, partially offset by reductions in positions, one‑time textbook funding in the prior year, and lower fuel projections. The presentation lays out category‑level changes, planned public hearings, and timeline milestones for final adoption.

Instructional salaries and wages account for a significant portion of the change: a requested increase of $3.1 million (about 3.1%) to fund negotiated steps and…