AACPS finance chief briefs board on progress toward Blueprint minimum school funding; several programs need monitoring

Anne Arundel County Public Schools financial staff told the Board of Education on Oct. 15 that the district’s FY25 audited school-level data is now final and that the FY26 budget was prepared to meet most of the Blueprint-for-Maryland’s-Future minimum-school-funding requirements — but several program areas still need monitoring and possible interventions.

Steve Stanski, AACPS chief financial officer, told the board that FY25 is the baseline year for the state’s minimum-school-funding requirements and that the district has taken three major steps: a tiered resource-allocation change tied to poverty, account-structure changes to track Blueprint program spending by school, and journal-voucher entries to move centrally budgeted school-level expenses into individual schools.

Stanski reported that, from a budgeted perspective, AACPS expects to meet the FY26 compliance targets overall and therefore does not plan to submit waivers for FY26. He explained, however, that the FY26 numbers are based on budgeted allocations and not actual expenditures and warned that items such as teacher leaves or vacancies could change a school’s compliance status. He identified several areas that required focused monitoring:

- Compensatory education: FY25 had only 13% of students attending a school that met the program’s minimum-school-funding condition; FY26 budgeting changes increase that to 86% but the program remains an area of emphasis. - Multilingual learner funding: FY25 compliance was low (5%) because of accounting; FY26 budgeted compliance is about 87% after account changes, but implementation must be monitored. - Concentration of poverty (COP): COP funding must be spent at 100% and can carry over year to year; FY25 compliance was low (10%) and AACPS has budgeted 100% in FY26 and will carry funds forward where allowed. - Special education: The Blueprint treats special education differently (aggregate compliance allowed). AACPS reported it spent well above required amounts in FY25 (184% aggregate) but has shifted some costs across programs.

Stanski said the state’s AIB waiver process requires school-by-school, program-by-program documentation and that the Dec. 1 waiver deadline means district leaders must decide whether reallocations, additional county funding requests, or waivers will be necessary for FY27. He said staff will add a Blueprint tracking table to the district’s monthly financial status report and will provide a school-level color-coded compliance table every other month.

Board members asked about comparable wage funding, local implications for schools well below state thresholds and the timeline for finalized enrollment and expenditure numbers; staff said the district is preparing to brief the board further and to work with county government if additional resources are needed. No formal board action was taken on funding at the meeting.

Key procedural deadlines noted by staff: the district submitted final FY25 audited numbers on Oct. 15; waiver requests (if needed) must be submitted to the AIB by Dec. 1; MSDE provides an AIB report by Jan. 1.