Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Education Budget topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Dr. McComas previews FY26 budget for Kent County Public Schools, flags $3 million shortfall
Summary
Kent County Public Schools Superintendent Dr. McComas outlined FY26 priorities at a Feb. 24 work session, asking the board to focus on sustaining grant-funded programs, beefing up middle‑grade interventions and STEAM pathways while noting a projected $3,000,000 revenue shortfall tied to falling enrollment.
Dr. McComas, superintendent of Kent County Public Schools, told the Board of Education at a Feb. 24 work session that the district faces roughly $3,000,000 less in revenue next year because enrollment has declined and asked members to bring budget priorities to the March 10 meeting.
The superintendent opened the session by walking members through a publicly posted spreadsheet of principal and central‑office requests, explaining that green lines indicate new or expanded items and white lines indicate programs the district already funds. He urged the board to concentrate on a short list of additions that align with a proposed theory of action: strong, research‑based literacy and math instruction, multi‑tiered systems of support (MTSS) and coordinated STEAM offerings from pre‑K through high school.
"We have $3,000,000 less next year to do everything we're doing," Dr. McComas said, framing the work session as an exercise in prioritization. He listed concrete principal requests across the district: an additional elementary teacher at Rock Hall, bilingual supports and ADA improvements at Garnett Elementary, instructional coaches and additional assistants at Galena and staffing requests at middle and high schools including a dean for discipline and instructional coaching positions.
Dr. McComas emphasized sustaining several roles now paid by one‑time grants, such as student support specialists and teacher specialists, and said the administration will pursue available grants while recommending items the board should consider funding locally. He also explained how Blueprint funding is split into "state share" and "local share," and walked members through examples showing how some CTE and facilities needs would align with those categories.
On instruction, the superintendent highlighted the district's literacy work, noting that grade‑3 reading gains over the last year were encouraging and linking the gains to full implementation of an Orton‑Gillingham‑based approach and other interventions. He said middle grades are a particular focus: the board heard that the middle school restructured its schedule to create an intervention block called "wind time" and has added tools such as the Lumos adaptive assessment and practice platform to individualize student supports.
Board members pressed for clarity about which requested items would yield the largest near‑term effect on middle‑school outcomes. Dr. McComas asked members to use the March 10 meeting to return with policy‑level guidance — for example, whether to prioritize additional counselor days, instructional coaches, or targeted classroom teachers — so his April budget proposal can reflect the board's judgments ahead of the board’s May adoption and county review.
On budget composition, the superintendent said approximately 89% of the district’s operating budget is personnel costs, a share higher than the state average he cited (roughly 80–83%), which limits discretionary capacity to add new positions. He told members many central‑office staff wear multiple roles and that required reporting and accountability work consumes substantial administrative time and resources.
A public commenter, Mike Wall, urged board members to read the Department of Legislative Services fiscal impact report on the Blueprint funding model and warned that full implementation would have substantial tax implications for Kent County. Wall urged the board to press county commissioners for resources and to weigh the local burden of state policy changes.
The board took no formal budget action at the Feb. 24 work session. Dr. McComas said he will present a proposed FY26 budget on April 14; the board is scheduled to adopt a final budget in May before submission to county officials. Board members will meet again March 10 to offer priorities that the superintendent will use to shape his proposal.
Notes on attribution: direct quotations and policy claims are taken from the board recording. Where the transcript used acronyms or nonstandard spellings (for example "OG" and a phonetic rendering of Orton Gillingham), this article uses the standardized, widely used names for instructional programs. The transcript contains an inconsistent reference to the superintendent by two different surnames at different moments; the record introduced the meeting speaker as "Doctor McComas," and the presentation in this article is attributed accordingly.
