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Garrett County Public Schools seeks $1.5 million from county in FY27 budget after loss of state grant
Summary
The Garrett County Board of Education received a first reading of the proposed FY27 budget, which requests $1.5 million from county commissioners to offset a roughly $1.8 million loss in prior disparity funding; the draft includes a 5.1% staff raise, a 9.2% employer health-insurance increase and a planned reduction of five non–special-education positions.
The Garrett County Board of Education reviewed the superintendent's proposed fiscal 2027 operating budget in a first reading on May 12, 2026, and staff said they will ask the Garrett County Commissioners for $1.5 million to replace funding that did not return in the state budget.
Superintendent Dr. McCartney said the system lost about $1.8 million when a disparity grant was not continued and described the $1.5 million request as essential to avoid deeper cuts. "What will happen is we will continue to operate," Dr. McCartney said, "but we would be doing it under duress." The proposed budget includes a 5.1% pay increase for staff and reflects a 9.2% increase in the employer share of health insurance costs.
Budget staff highlighted several specifics: the draft is built on preliminary state, federal and local revenue numbers; it assumes $2 million in fund balance broken into $500,000 for an emergency reserve, $500,000 for one-time capital needs and $1 million for operations; and it accounts for $1.5 million being requested from the county to help cover recurring needs. An $81,000 one-time server-hardware purchase was also flagged to replace aging infrastructure that hosts student- and personnel-data systems.
Special-education costs are rising in the draft, driven by more complex incoming student needs and increased nonpublic and contracted services. The budget moves 1.5 full-time-equivalent positions into special education and includes hiring an additional LPN to support intense medical needs at Broadford. Staff said the Swan Meadow community-school conversion would fund a full-time community specialist and a full-time nurse through the personnel grant tied to that designation.
Budget presenters said the draft anticipates approximately 80 fewer students in next year's official September 30 enrollment count, a change driven by cohort sizes and consistent with Maryland Department of Planning projections; that decline informed staffing adjustments, including the planned reduction of five non-special-education positions. Board members and staff emphasized uncertainty: if the requested $1.5 million is not awarded, staff warned, the district would likely need to reduce more positions and curtail services.
The board was advised that the county commissioners will hold a budget hearing on May 19, 2026, at 4:00 p.m.; district leaders said they will attend to make the case for the requested funding. The budget will return to the board for further review after revenue figures are finalized.
Context: This was a first read of the FY27 proposal; no formal budget vote was taken at the meeting.
