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Queen Anne's County school leaders recommend asking commissioners for full budget ask to avoid more furloughs
Summary
At a Feb. 19 budget work session, Superintendent Dr. Kibler presented three budget options — including a $5 million placeholder from county commissioners and a full funding request — and recommended the board ask for full funding to avoid additional furlough days and cover state shortfalls tied to the Blueprint law.
Queen Anne's County Board of Education members and senior staff met Feb. 19 for a budget work session in which Superintendent Dr. Kibler recommended the board press county commissioners for the full funding the system says it needs rather than rely on a flat allocation or a $5 million placeholder.
Dr. Kibler told the board she had prepared three options: flat funding (no additional county or state dollars), a $5,000,000 placeholder the commissioners have publicly committed to, and a “full funding” option that would cover the district’s stated needs going into the next fiscal year. “It would be my recommendation that the board would review that, ask some good questions about it, but would move forward with asking for what we need, to keep whole and moving into next year,” Dr. Kibler said.
The recommendation follows last year’s negotiations and county support: Dr. Kibler told the board that commissioners provided $6,200,000 to the schools in the current budget cycle (a $5,000,000 allocation plus an additional $1,200,000). Board members and staff repeatedly tied the local ask to a continuing shortfall from the state for elements of the Blueprint law, noting the district’s earlier projection of roughly $7,500,000 as an estimate of need and later references to larger “all-in” scenarios (discussed as about $9.9 million in the meeting materials).
Why it matters: Board members said the funding choice affects staffing, furloughs and programs. Dr. Kibler said last year’s furlough days were “a Band-Aid” that “didn’t fix the problem” and recommended budgeting to avoid repeating them. Board members urged asking for the full amount and preparing contingency plans if the state or county provide less than requested: “I don’t understand why we wouldn’t ask for what we need,” said one board member during the meeting.
Discussion also covered what parts of the proposed budget are increases versus full line-item totals (for example, an increase of $40,000 in the AP exam line), fixed cost drivers such as insurance and utilities, and how grant- or PTA-funded purchases differ from operating budget items. Dr. Kibler warned that some line-item trends required looking back beyond the COVID years to produce reliable baselines.
The board did not take a formal vote on the budget at the Feb. 19 work session. Staff said they will meet with county commissioners to share the board’s direction in advance of the Feb. 26 work session, and continued modeling of multiple budget scenarios is underway.
Ending: The Board scheduled a follow-up budget work session for Feb. 26; staff said they will continue refining models and meet with commissioners next week to present the board’s direction.
