Howard County Board of Education approves FY27 budgets, agrees to use $6.8 million in fund balance

The Howard County Board of Education on May 21 approved the fiscal year 2027 operating and capital budgets and voted to use an additional $6.8 million in one-time fund balance to close a shortfall created by the county council's allocation.

Chair Miss Mallow opened the work session by noting the county council finalized its allocation the prior day and that the board needed to adopt the county-approved figures before considering changes. Brian Hall, the district's chief financial officer, told the board the superintendent's original proposal was roughly $1.278 billion, the board had asked for $1.285 billion after updated state-aid estimates, and the county's allocation left a $6.8 million gap. Hall said technical amendments presented for adoption totaled about $600,000 and the superintendent's recommended approach would use about $9.8 million in one-time funds overall to balance FY27.

Cornell Brown, the district's chief operating officer, described a separate capital update: state-authorized funding increased from $18 million to $24 million for district projects, allowing the district to advance certain school projects (Worthington, Jeffers Hill, Appleton and Bonnie Branch) into FY27 and to remove smaller component HVAC projects while freeing roughly $5 million to address shortfalls at Faulkner Ridge and gym AC work.

On procedural votes, the board first adopted the county council's budget allocation and then approved the Board's FY2027 operating budget (motion recorded in the transcript as $1,670,503,652) in a roll-call vote that was recorded as 5-2. The board also approved the FY2027 capital budget as allocated ($116,636,000) (vote 6-1) and the FY2027'1036 long-range master plan (vote 5-2).

Board members debated multiple budget-balancing scenarios and personnel changes — including motions to remove proposed athletic trainers, school and culture safety assistants, and an HR administrative secretary — but those proposals failed either for lack of a second or on recorded votes. During deliberations, board members raised concern about relying on one-time fund balance for recurring costs: Miss Watts warned that extensive use of fund balance could repeat the district's shortfall in future years.

Staff projected that after the recommended use of fund balance the district would retain about $4.2 million (roughly 0.35% of the operating budget), below the board's 1% target. The superintendent and finance staff said they remained comfortable recommending the $6.8 million use of fund balance given current projections and other financial indicators.

The board moved to adopt the superintendent's recommendation to use an additional $6,800,000 of fund balance; that motion carried on a recorded vote (5-2). Following that vote, the board approved submitting a revised budget document to the county executive and county council as a requested supplemental appropriation and categorical transfer.

Later in the session the board approved a package of revised figures and directed staff to submit a revised FY27 operating budget of $1,692,542,271 for supplemental appropriation and to file a revised capital budget totaling $122,704,000. The board also approved related revisions to the long-range master plan. The meeting record shows a mix of 5-2 and 6-1 votes depending on the specific motion.

The board's actions conclude the FY27 budget process at the school-board level; submitted revisions now proceed to the county executive and county council for supplemental appropriation or categorical transfer as appropriate.