Council committee backs PGCPS FY2025 transfer request to prepay leases, shift program funds

Prince George's County Council’s Education & Workforce Development Committee on Sept. 8 voted 5-0 to move favorable a Prince George’s County Public Schools (PGCPS) FY2025 financial review and transfer request (TR625) that repurposes savings to cover early lease-purchase payoffs, administrative costs and other items.

PGCPS staff told the committee the district planned to repurpose $59,359,036 in FY2025 savings. The district said those savings primarily came from unspent salaries and benefits due to turnover (reported as $45,359,036), a reduction of funds set aside for an administrative building acquisition ($12,000,000) and lower-than-projected fuel costs ($2,000,000). PGCPS said $45,359,036 would be used toward early payoff of lease-purchase agreements for buses, textbooks and technology; it also said $15,000,000 would be applied to the FY2026 portion of the district’s annual contribution to other post-employment benefits (OPEB). The total operating budget was reported as remaining constant at about $2,000,000,000.903000000 (as presented in the binder).

PGCPS Director of Budget and Management Services Shavon Smith said paying lease-purchase obligations early would remove the scheduled payments from FY2026 and later budgets, yielding future savings in those years while interest still accrues during the prepayment period. Smith said the district would provide the precise estimated interest savings upon request.

Committee members questioned several line items. Council member Hawkins asked about a $1,880,000 realignment tied to preparation work for a consolidated administrative building; PGCPS staff said fees were owed to a consulting firm (Perkins and Will) for site review and related services after the purchase did not complete and that the contract and invoices could be provided. Committee members requested copies of the contract documentation.

Members also pressed on a $5.7 million reduction in “student personnel services.” PGCPS staff explained most of that reduction reflected salary lapse — positions that were budgeted but remained vacant during FY2025 — and said the district would need separate attention to address persistent recruitment and vacancy problems for high‑need roles such as speech therapists.

Transportation was a frequent subject in review questions. Committee members pressed PGCPS on bus-driver shortages and the district’s plan to buy a new student-transportation platform. PGCPS said it planned to transition to a platform referenced in the presentation as “Chipmunk” (a replacement for an older system school officials said did not allow parents to track buses reliably) and also referenced the vendor name Bus Patrol in discussion. The district reported about 100 bus-driver vacancies — roughly 100 of an estimated 250 drivers — and said a substantial FY2026 increase in transportation spending reflected a one-time implementation cost for the new software plus ongoing steps to reduce overtime and expand recruitment, including paying for CDL training for existing county staff and other employees who want to take routes.

On the transfer request, Committee Chair Orietta moved to recommend the request be approved; the committee seconded the motion and approved it on a roll call vote of 5-0 (Chair Orietta, Council member Adam Stafford, Council member Hawkins, Council member Olson and Council member Watson voting Aye). The committee record lists the item as TR625.

PGCPS staff and committee members agreed to follow up with additional documentation requested at the hearing, including (1) detailed lease-prepayment savings calculations, (2) the consulting contract(s) and invoice(s) for the administrative building work cited in the realignment, and (3) a tracker showing realized savings from bus-stop consolidation and future fuel reductions as electric buses come online.

The committee did not change the county contribution amount during this review; the transfer request was a financially neutral reallocation within the district’s approved operating budget as presented to the committee.