PGCPS outlines $173M in essential costs, asks county for more funds as parents protest program cuts

Prince George's County Public Schools officials told the Board of Education on Feb. 19 that the district faces roughly $173 million in essential operations for fiscal year 2027 and a remaining unrestricted budget gap the administration says requires additional county support.

"When you consider just the mandatory compensation costs and the $23,000,000 related to the cost of doing business, that gets us to a $173,000,000 which I refer to as our essential operations," Chief Financial officer chief Howell said during the budget presentation. Howell said mandatory compensation costs are about $150,000,000 and ongoing operational costs (textbooks, bus and non-bus vehicle refreshes, technology refreshes and utilities) total about $23,000,000.

The district projects unrestricted revenue will rise by about $10,000,000 but still needs to close about $15,000,000 after planned reductions of roughly $148,000,000. The administration also proposed $35,000,000 in targeted investments it calls "accelerants," bringing the district's request of county support to $50,000,000.

"That is how we get to the request to the county of $50,000,000 to help stabilize," Chief Howell said.

Board member Pamela Buser Struthers urged a larger county request, asking that the board increase the ask to $95,000,000 so the district could restore some of the proposed academic cuts. "We need to give the county executive ... and the county council an opportunity to approve the funding," Buser Struthers said during the meeting; the board entered an amendment to raise the request into the budget tracker for discussion.

Interim Superintendent Joseph framed the budget as a "stabilization" plan and emphasized that staff worked through stakeholder input to identify priorities. "We started by doing surveys... we got about 990 some odd responses," Joseph said, and he listed community priorities including mathematics, literacy, special education and climate and culture.

The presentation also laid out the district's strategy for balancing costs and revenue: use smaller reductions, transition some positions to other fund sources (for example, school-based health center costs to community school funds), and preserve core services while streamlining central office functions. "So it's not a cut, but it's a transition or a change in the funding source," Chief Howell said about several line-item shifts.

What happens next: the board collected public comment during the same meeting and recorded dozens of written comments. The revised county funding request (the proposed $95 million amendment) will be finalized as part of the board's budget actions and forwarded to the county executive and council for consideration in the county budget process.