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FCPS tells delegation Blueprint goals are met but funding rules, waivers strain budgets
Summary
Frederick County officials told the state delegation the county is meeting many Blueprint outcomes but faces fiscal limits: minimal discretionary funding, complex minimum school funding rules requiring waivers for many schools, and mismatches between new reporting requirements and legacy financial systems.
FCPS officials told the delegation they support the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future in principle but that implementation has produced difficult budget choices and heavy reporting burdens.
"We believe in the spirit of it," said Sarah Surgo, FCPS chief of staff and blueprint coordinator. She explained that while Frederick County meets or exceeds Blueprint expectations across many measures — including pre-K access and career and technical education — the district is effectively flat-funded and has little discretionary capacity to expand programs.
FCPS staff described how the new minimum school funding (MSF) requirement works: the law requires 75% of certain categorical funding to be spent at the school level, with compliance assessed per funding category and per school. That approach, staff warned, can turn into an accounting exercise. "If you meet 75% [in the aggregate], we're golden," an FCPS finance official said, but the district also expects to submit waivers for roughly 60 schools because category-level counts and enrollment shifts (for example after a new school opens) will cause unavoidable mismatches.
Delegation members asked whether the AIB and MSDE are providing adequate technical assistance and whether the existing financial-reporting manual has been aligned with MSF rules. FCPS said CFOs and blueprint coordinators meet regularly with state officials and that some technical assistance exists, but that local finance systems are diverse and staff capacity varies across LEAs.
FCPS urged the delegation to consider legislative or administrative fixes that allow aggregate reporting or to support the waiver process that can reconcile timing and enrollment issues. The district emphasized it will not alter accounting to "game" results and expressed concern about public optics if schools must seek waivers.
Next steps: FCPS asked delegation members to carry the local experience and data into Annapolis debates about the MSF rule and reporting alignment with MSDE/AIB.
