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Howard County outlines Blueprint funding progress, per-student funding example and budget timeline; council presses on maintenance shortfall
Summary
District leaders reviewed Maryland's Blueprint implementation, described gains in pre-K slots and teacher pay steps, gave a per-student funding example (about $34,014) for minimum school funding reports, and set an Oct. 24 fiscal outlook and a Jan. 9 superintendent budget release; council members urged more capital funds to address a maintenance funding gap.
Howard County school leaders used a joint Oct. 16 meeting with the county council to walk through Maryland's Blueprint education reform and the district's FY2026 budget timeline, while council members raised concerns about a large capital maintenance shortfall.
Presenter Mr. Guy reviewed the five pillars of Blueprint and how state funding formulas have changed. He said the district has increased full-day pre-K classrooms from 15 to 56 and paid for dual-enrollment and Advanced Placement supports. Using a sample "student A," Mr. Guy outlined combined per-pupil funding streams for fiscal 2025: foundational funding (~$8,789), multilingual learner funding ($8,965), special education funding ($8,701) and compensatory education ($7,559), producing an illustrative total of about $34,014 per student; he noted 75% of those dollars must reach the school level as required by the law.
"So the expected funding for that student is $34,014 for that individual student," Mr. Guy said, explaining the district's initial reporting effort to match expenditures at the school level to those revenue categories. He said fiscal 25 is a no-fault reporting year, fiscal 26 will involve reporting and identification of schools not meeting funding requirements, and fiscal 27 carries potential compliance consequences from the Accountability and Implementation Board (AIB).
Brian Hall, chief financial officer, outlined a year-round budget process and said the superintendent's recommended budget will be released Jan. 9, 2025; Darren Conforti, the budget director, said the district will publish a fiscal outlook Oct. 24 with preliminary revenue and expenditure estimates. "We'll work with preliminary enrollment estimates now; official counts are certified by MSDE in November," Conforti said, noting enrollment and per-pupil formulas drive revenues.
Council members repeatedly queried how the district will present trade-offs to the public, how many schools qualify as community schools, and the district's strategy for private pre-K provider slots. Mr. Guy and staff said Head Start is the primary private-provider partner locally, that private-provider slots make up about 25% of overall slots and that nearly 300 private-provider slots come from Head Start. They warned that state pay-parity and benefits requirements make it difficult for smaller private providers to participate immediately.
On capital, Council Chair Young and other council members said industry guidance suggests annual maintenance funding equal to about 3% of portfolio replacement value, and that Howard County would need roughly $114 million yearly while current maintenance spending is about $54 million. "We're at 50% of maintenance and operations," Chair Young said, urging the county to revisit spending priorities. District COO Cornell Brown said the district will pursue a facilities-feasibility study, reconsider prioritization criteria and propose a planning transfer to hire consultants to evaluate facilities and space adequacy.
District leaders said the October meetings with stakeholders and the fiscal outlook next week will inform a more detailed superintendent's budget in January and that community outreach will continue before the board and council finalize funding decisions.
