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 cost‑of‑living adjustments, offset by the elimination of 16 positions and several reallocations. The budget reduces textbook and instructional supplies by about $1.9 million (40%), reflecting no planned fund‑balance allocation for textbook adoptions after a one‑time $2.0 million allocation in FY25 for EL8 adoptions.

Other notable category details presented by Ms. McCourt include:
- Administration: $218,000 requested increase (4.7%), funding negotiations and a reduced OPEB actuarial valuation.
- Mid‑level administration: $720,000 requested increase (3.5%), with a $20,000 reduction in IT communication contracts.
- Student health services: $258,000 requested increase (7.8%) to fund negotiations, a reallocation of one nurse position into health services, and $20,000 for EpiPen/AED battery replacement.
- Student transportation: $126,000 requested increase (0.5%), including a contracted driver attendant hourly rate increase and a bus driver retention stipend; lower fuel assumptions (from $4.50 to $3.75 per gallon) reduce costs by roughly $346,000.
- Maintenance/operation of plant: $400,000 requested increase (1.8%) to support negotiated costs, copier lease renewal, inspections and safety maintenance; maintenance category overall shows a net reduction of about $930,000 (13.2%) driven by no fund‑balance allocation and fewer consultant costs.
- Fixed charges: $1.6 million requested increase (2.3%) for Social Security, pensions, and projected health insurance increases (estimated at a minimal 5% pending final carrier numbers).

To balance recurring needs against lower enrollment, the proposed staffing level is a net decrease of 10 positions (from 2,096 to 2,086), producing anticipated recurring savings of about $700,000. Enrollment assumptions use a three‑year rolling average; staff reported a 114‑student decline on that basis, while the actual enrollment decline in the current fiscal year is 329 students. That enrollment basis also lowers projected state revenues and affects certain grants (including transitional supplemental instruction and blueprint transition funds).

Fund balance usage in the FY26 proposal is reduced from the prior year. The FY25 budget used about $7.0 million of fund balance; the FY26 proposal includes $1.5 million of fund balance. Of recurring fund‑balance items, $1.4 million is earmarked for the bus driver retention stipend and workforce development software allocated to the Tri County Council, and the presentation also references $137,000 associated with the charter school. Ms. McCourt said other nonrecurring uses from prior years are not repeated in this proposal.

The board was given the procedural timeline: the budget binder’s public‑facing section will be posted, a detailed review of binder tabs will occur at next week’s meeting, the board will submit the budget for public hearing on Jan. 22 and is slated to finalize it on Feb. 5 before sending it to the county commissioners. County commissioners have a public hearing scheduled for April 22 and plan to provide final direction on May 20; the schools are scheduled to adopt their budget on May 21. Ms. McCourt said the district is awaiting updated revenue projections from MSD and final insurance numbers from CareFirst, expected in late February or early March.

The presentation called out several cost‑control and program notes: multi‑year negotiated agreements produce predictable year‑over‑year compensation costs; one‑time textbook funding in FY25 creates a large year‑over‑year swing in instructional supply budgets; Tri County Council workforce development funding will be routed through that council; and the district recently approved a Prudent Rx contract and implemented a Medicare Advantage option for retirees, both cited as actions expected to constrain future health insurance cost growth.

There were no formal motions or votes recorded during the work session; board members were invited to ask detailed questions at the next binder review meeting. The work session closed after the presentation.