Baltimore County Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Myriam Rogers presented her operating budget for the next school year. Here is her official statement.
Yesterday (Jan. 14), I formally presented a $2.98 billion operating budget proposal for Fiscal Year (FY) 2026 to the Board of Education. I also shared highlights of my proposed budget request with elected officials, school and central office administrators, and stakeholders on Jan. 13. If you missed last night’s presentation, you can watch it online.
This, undoubtedly, is a big budget ask. However, I want you to know that every dollar we are requesting is needed to sustain our forward progress and improve student outcomes. In less than two years, we have demonstrated that resources invested in people with a clear, well-executed, plan produces positive outcomes. We have seen this with the increase in the number of 4- and 5-star schools in BCPS and with other key markers of performance including the Maryland Comprehensive Assessment Program (MCAP) and our Measures of Academic Progress (MAP).
Research tells us that it takes at least three years to see noticeable change in student performance and outcomes. What we have accomplished in less than two years—thanks to the tireless efforts of Team BCPS staff and their intentional focus on providing high-quality instruction and support—is noteworthy. If we continue to progress at this rate, we will have reversed more than a decade of academic decline three times faster than expected. I am confident that will happen if we continue to invest in this system and keep student learning and achievement at the core of all that we do.
This general fund budget request is $126.4 million more than our current FY 2025 budget. Much of the requested increase will address the growing needs of our 110,000 students and provide compensation enhancements for our 20,000 staff members. The budget request includes targeted investments that will help us continue our work to improve outcomes in key academic priority areas, including English language Arts (ELA), mathematics, English Language Development (formerly English for Speakers of Other Languages), and special education.
Some additional highlights of the proposed FY 2026 operating budget include:
- Increasing the number of special education teachers, paraeducators, and additional adult assistants.
- Preserving current class size staffing allocations across all grade levels.
- Expanding full-day prekindergarten classes across zones.
- Prioritizing infrastructure efficiencies and maximizing cybersecurity.
- Funding additional athletic trainers.
We are facing a complex and difficult FY 2026 budget landscape. With the termination of federal Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funds in 2024 and uncertainty from the state as it faces the largest budget deficit in decades, we knew that we had to approach this work differently.
We worked collaboratively with staff and stakeholders to refine our plans and ensure that we brought forth a budget that truly focuses on the essentials. We’ve utilized zero-based budgeting, reimagined ways to maximize grant funding, implemented a central office hiring freeze, and budgeted to actual expenditures. This strategic work enabled us to identify more than $26 million in reductions, which is in addition to the $104 million in savings identified last year. These savings include central office position reductions, reduced cell phone stipends, limited conference travel, staffing adjustments to match enrollment, shifts in revenue sources, and other built-ins.
It is important to note that there will not be any layoffs of BCPS staff, both school-based and central office. A small number of currently filled non-teaching positions will be impacted by the reductions, and represented staff will be placed in other positions. The proposed FY 2026 Operating Budget protects teacher and non-school based positions.
The proposed FY 2026 operating budget prioritizes our students and our staff, and it preserves our strategic focus on school needs. We are doing all that we can to create the conditions to optimize our collective success.
The next steps in the budget process include the Board’s virtual public hearing on Jan. 21 at 6:30 p.m. Members of the Team BCPS community can sign up to share their thoughts on the proposed budget. The Board will then hold an operating budget work session where they will have an opportunity to discuss the proposed budget in depth and ask questions. The Board is scheduled to vote on the budget request on February 25 and it will then be sent to the county executive and county council for their review and action.
I encourage you to stay engaged and involved in this process. Visit our Budget 101 webpage to learn more about the budget process and to hear members of Team BCPS talk about the important work they are doing to move our system forward.