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Talbot County board approves waiver submission as district works to meet Blueprint minimums
Summary
Finance staff recommended and the board approved seeking waivers for a small set of FY26 minimum-school-funding misses, citing enrollment lags and carryover funds; staff will file documentation with the Accountability and Implementation Board by Dec. 1.
Talbot County Public Schools will request targeted waivers from the state after the board voted Nov. 19 to approve a proposed waiver package for FY26 minimum-school-funding (Blueprint) compliance.
Finance staff explained that the state’s new minimum-school-funding rules require a high percentage of specified funds to be spent at particular schools and that the district had a small number of "misses" in its baseline year. Examples include a small multilingual-learner count variance at Tillman Elementary (three ML students in 2024; none in the current count), and community-school carryover funds that create timing mismatches in the first implementation year. Staff said the three-year ramp for community-school funding and lagging student counts explain a number of the near misses.
Board members voiced concern about coding and whether reallocating budget lines simply to meet targets constitutes true program fidelity. Finance staff said the waiver narrative will explain why the district missed small thresholds, the path to full compliance for FY27 and the public engagement undertaken to support the waiver request. Staff noted the AIB (state accountability body) is discussing moving the waiver deadline from Dec. 1 to spring; the district asked to be prepared to file by Dec. 1 if the deadline stands.
Motion to approve the waiver submission was made, seconded and adopted by voice vote. Staff will file the waiver packet with the AIB and monitor progress; the board will be updated on any state response.
