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DLS outlines state-aid totals, proposed cuts and local cost shifts for Prince George's County
Summary
The Department of Legislative Services told the Prince George's County House Delegation that FY2026 state aid to the county is roughly $2.1 billion, with about $1.7 billion for schools; it said the governor's proposal would cut roughly $263 million statewide and shift several costs — including assessment reimbursements and retirement supplements — toward local governments.
The Department of Legislative Services presented a high-level briefing to the Prince George's County House Delegation on Friday, laying out state-aid totals for FY2026 and the potential local impacts of the governor's proposed budget changes.
DLS senior policy analyst Arnold Aja told the delegation that "in fiscal 2026, Prince George's County will receive $2,100,000,000 in state aid," and that "the vast majority of state aid is targeted to the public school system, which receives $1,700,000,000 in direct aid." He also highlighted specific program lines, including police-aid allocations and Blueprint education funds.
Why it matters: schools and local services in Prince George's County receive the bulk of state support, so changes at the state level can materially affect county budgets and program delivery. DLS said it had incorporated proposed reductions into the figures shown to the delegation.
Aja told members the governor's package (including the BRFAA and related education measures) proposes "around $263,000,000 in state aid reductions," the bulk of which would affect the public school system through changes such as reduced per-pupil allocations under certain programs, increased local responsibility for nonpublic placements, and phased reductions to teacher-retirement supplements. He also noted a proposed shift in the state/local share for property-assessment costs that would move local responsibility from 50% toward 90% under the administration's plan.
DLS manager Hiram Birch explained the recent drop in disparity-grant funding for Prince George's County by pointing to the formula's timing and capital-gains effects: allocations for FY2026 are based on tax-year 2023 collections, and large capital-gains-driven increases in wealthier counties in prior years narrowed measured disparities. "So when that occurred, the disparity between the amount of income tax collected in Prince George's County and some of the other jurisdictions... created a broader disparity," Birch said, and when those disparities narrow "funding tends to also narrow." He described the result as a rebasing of the program after an unusually strong year in collections for some affluent counties.
Delegates asked staff whether property-assessment growth and homestead caps affect local revenue. Birch said the assessment growth figures he cited are pre-homestead-cap, while the reported approximately 4% average annual increase in property tax revenue for Prince George's reflected actual collections after homestead caps. He reiterated that state law requires centralized assessments (SDAT) to maintain consistency across jurisdictions for purposes of allocating state aid.
DLS policy staff walked members through how to access the state-aid report and supporting data on the Maryland General Assembly/DLS website and offered to provide hard copies of reports to members' offices.
The delegation did not take formal action on the budget during the briefing; DLS offered to meet one-on-one with members for follow-up questions. The DLS report and downloadable data are available on the Maryland General Assembly legislative services pages, where the state-aid figures presented to the delegation are posted.
