Board President Updates HCPS Community on 2024-2025 Budgets

Hello, I'm Aaron Poynton, president of the Board of Education. One of the Board’s primary responsibilities is to create and pass a budget that meets the needs of our school system and is financially responsible. I am delighted to announce that the Board of Education unanimously passed the 2024-2025 operating and capital budgets. This year, the Board faced unique challenges such as inflationary pressures on operations and capital projects, the loss of over $10 million in federal grants, and changing demographics that require additional funding to support our English language learners and special education. Additionally, we must meet the requirements set forth in the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future. All of this had to occur while managing a modest increase in funding due to our economic conditions in Harford County. Despite these challenges, the Board of Education has successfully crafted and passed a budget that meets the needs of our school system with the Board's 2025 priorities in mind. Our priorities are, Academic achievement with a focus on math, reading, and language arts; Improve school environment with an emphasis on attendance and safety; and Increasing community and parental and guardian trust through partnerships and transparency. As a result, the total unrestricted operating budget for the upcoming school year is $653.3 million, and the total capital budget is $58.1 million. Our operating budget was carefully crafted to streamline operations and reduce inefficiencies by $10.6 million. In doing so, we have ensured that any structural or operational reductions do not impact the number of educators or average class size. To close the gap between our funding needs and the available funding, we voted to assign $30.2 million from our fund balance and use the additional $6.5 million provided by local government to reconcile our 2024-2025 operating budget. It’s important to note that this leaves the school system with a fund balance of approximately $25 million. This balance is necessary to handle any unexpected emergencies or one-time needs in the future. Most importantly, through negotiations with bargaining units, this budget not only retains educator positions but also provides HCPS staff with a cost-of-living increase and a step increase to reward their hard work and dedication. Moreover, we did not have to make any cuts to our beloved programs such as sports, music and art, safety and security, magnet schools, languages, or extracurricular activities. I would like to extend my heartfelt thanks to the members of the Board of Education, the administration, and staff at HCPS, and to all of our stakeholders at local and state government for their hard work and collaboration throughout this budget cycle. With this budget in place, we are well-positioned to enter the school year with the resources needed to ensure we continue to deliver top-quality education to our beloved students, who represent our future. I wish everyone a happy and restful summer and look forward to seeing you in September.