Caroline County outlines FY27 school budget priorities including compensation, special education and transportation upgrades
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Summary
Finance and district staff presented FY27 priorities at a Jan. 12 public hearing: a 2–3% target for staff pay, parental leave proposal, expansions in exceptional education supports, literacy and CTE investments, and a request for a new transportation routing system; no members of the public spoke at the hearing.
Caroline County Public Schools presented its proposed priorities for the fiscal year 2027 school budget during a public hearing at the Jan. 12 school board meeting.
John Farley, the division’s finance director, summarized highlights from the governor’s proposed budget and the division’s budget-development process. The district is monitoring proposed state actions that include funds to rebenchmark state staffing and a 2% increase for SOQ positions; the division is seeking a 2–3% salary increase for instructional and support staff to remain regionally competitive.
Staff flagged a 12% increase in health insurance premiums for the 2025–26 year and said final rates for 2026–27 will be available later this winter. The district requested funding to provide employees up to six weeks of paid maternity or paternity leave with full base-pay replacement, subject to coordination with disability benefits, and recommended transitioning some grant-funded positions (for example a K–12 literacy specialist and an attendance officer) into the local budget.
The budget priorities include multiple additions to exceptional education: another collaborative teacher at Bowling Green Elementary, paraprofessional and behavior-support positions at Madison Elementary, and contract-service increases to address shortages in related therapies. District staff said these steps would reduce student reassignments and provide more services in-home schools.
Operational priorities included a new transportation routing and fleet-management system to replace outdated software and allow a parent-facing bus app, and an additional administrative assistant for Lewis and Clark Elementary. Staff emphasized that cost estimates in the presentation were approximate and that requests were categorized as mandatory, critical need, or want.
Farley opened the floor for the public hearing; no community members signed up to speak and the hearing closed without comments. The budget will return to the board in February with more detailed line-item information; county-level budget presentations and public hearings with the Board of Supervisors are scheduled in March and April.