Schools received an additional $250 million in the FY24 Actual Budget, but where did it actually go?
- Maggie Domanowski
- Dec 9
- 6 min read
By: Maggie Litz Domanowski (Opinions reflect those of the author and are not a reflection of the Baltimore County Board of Education.)
For the past several budget cycles, I have started with the Superintendent's proposed budget and worked my way backward. In preparation for the FY2027 budget cycle, I'm trying something different. Hopefully, this time I can avoid censure.
Instead of trying to match the current proposed budget to the past, I matched our most recent adopted budget to its 'Actual' budget. While all budgets, be it proposed, adopted, adjusted, or actual, are essential, it's the 'Actual" budget that 'actually' matters.
For the purpose of this post, all data referred to as "FY24 Adopted Budget" is coming from the FY24 Adopted Operating Budget Book; and, all data referred to as "FY24 Actual Budget" is coming from the FY26 Adopted Operating Budget Book. The links provided will direct you to BCPS's website; however, these books can also be found on the 'File Share' page of this website (maggie4students.org).
The Actual operating budget for fiscal year 2024 came in at nearly $65 million under what was initially adopted by the board on July 11, 2023. Fiscal Year 'Actual' budget books are not provided to the public or board members, nor is an Excel sheet format of any BCPS budget available. To properly compare an actual budget to its adopted one, you have to extract data from at least two different fiscal years and create your own spreadsheet.
Since this process involves a human, without direct access to the deep-level intricacies of an extensive public school system's budget process, human mistakes are likely to occur. In full disclosure, you should know that my actual 2024 budget totaled $2,513,070,047. An amount that is $2.5 million less than the reported BCPS actual 2024 budget of $2,515,581,441, but within the 'margin of error' at less than 0.1%.
I'm going to start with the most important, if not the most complicated to understand, part of any public school system's operating budget, the schools. Unlike other divisions in BCPS, the division of schools is not broken down into numbered departments that are easy to track. To figure out which 'departments' belong under the division of schools, you have to rule out all the ones that can't be first. This process can be tedious because, while departments are numbered under their division by general fund, they are not numbered under expenditures by summary fund. Once this task is complete, the real fun can begin. Figuring out which departments should or could be under the division of schools is not the only consideration. Other pieces to the puzzle include school allocations, capital projects, and enterprise funds.
From what I can tell, the good news is that more money was funneled into our schools than initially planned. If my calculations are correct, BCPS sent an additional $250 million to our school houses in the 2023-2024 school year. What I can also tell you is that none of those 'extra' dollars went to salaries and wages. School-based salaries and wages were $46 million below the adopted budget, with no changes in total professional or support staff positions. The most significant increase in expenditures for the actual FY24 schools-based budget was in a category called 'Other Charges.'
In the FY24 adopted budget book (page 148), schools were expected to have $195,380 in other charges. On page 122 of the adopted FY26 budget book, the actual FY24 total for other charges ballooned to $293 MILLION. The information section of the FY26 book provides the following definitions:
Other Charges Object - expenditures for employee benefits and "other miscellaneous" expenditures not specifically charged in another object.
Other Instructional Costs Category - instructional equipment under $4,999 and "contracted services."
Since employee benefits fall under the division of human resources and contracted services have their own $3.3 million budget line, are we meant to assume that multiple purchases of instructional equipment under $5,000 amounted to $293 MILLION?
Without a more detailed budget book, what other explanation could there be? If only there were a budget committee to help the public understand these numbers. (* - Links to full division breakdown by departments and fund expenditures are provided.)
FY24 Adopted Budget
Schools
9,058.8 Professional staff positions
1,436.4 Support staff positions
10,495.2 Total staff positions
$888,528,043 in Salaries & Wages
$1,615,397 in Contracted Services
$13,119,921 in Supplies & Materials
$766,579 in Other Charges
$48,912 in Equipment
$17,547,672 in School Allocations
$921,626,524 in General Fund Expenditures
$10,797,084 in Special Revenue Expenditures
$58,479,779 in Enterprise Fund Expenditures
$283,389,402 in Capital Fund Expenditures
$1,274,292,789 in Total Expenditures
FY24 Adopted Budget
Schools
9,058.8 Professional staff positions
1,436.4 Support staff positions
10,495.2 Total staff positions
$842,412,542 in Salaries & Wages
$3,305,492 in Contracted Services
$14,186,196 in Supplies & Materials
$293,482,265 in Other Charges
$59,672 in Equipment
$552,903 in Contingency
$20,298,675 in School Allocations
$65,662,878 in Proprietary Fund Expenditures
$286,418,000 in Capital Fund Expenditures
$1,526,377,623 in Total Expenditures ($252 Million Over)
FY24 Adopted Budget
Division of Board of Education
18.0 Professional staff positions
4.0 Support staff positions
22.0 Total staff positions
$3,287,389 in Salaries & Wages
$545,635 in Contracted Services
20,454 in Supplies & Materials
$241,405 in Other Charges
$4,094,883 in Total General Fund Expenditures
$0 in Special Revenue Fund Expenditures
$4,094,883 in Total Expenditures
FY24 Adopted Budget
Division of Board of Education
18.0 Professional staff positions
4.0 Support staff positions
22.0 Total staff positions
$3,232,565 in Salaries & Wages
$363,684 in Contracted Services
12,670 in Supplies & Materials
$172,153 in Other Charges
$3,781,072 in Total Expenditures ($300 Thousand Under)
FY24 Adopted Budget
Division of Chief of Staff
23.0 Professional staff positions
17.0 Support staff positions
40.0 Total staff positions
$4,337,933 in Salaries $ Wages
$832,973 in Contracted Services
$403,511 in Supplies & Materials
$29,136 in Other Charges
$50,000 in Equipment
$5,653,553 in Total General Fund Expenditures
$0 in Total Special Revenue Fund Expenditures
$5,653,533 in Total Expenditures
FY24 Actual Budget
Division of Chief of Staff
30.0 Professional staff positions
11.0 Support staff positions
41.0 Total staff positions
$4,279,499 in Salaries $ Wages
$396,911 in Contracted Services
$441,707 in Supplies & Materials
$18,594 in Other Charges
$129,816 in Equipment
$5,214,979 in Total Expenditures ($400 Thousand Under)
FY24 Adopted Budget
Division of the Deputy Superintendent
198.0 Professional staff positions
2,618.9 Support staff positions
2,816.9 Total staff positions
$160,287,674 in Salaries & Wages
$54,436,146 in Contracted Services
$18,957,176 in Supplies & Materials
$35,449,499 in Other Charges
$19,273,903 in Equipment
$288,404,398 in Total General Fund Expenditures
$5,248,520 in Special Revenue Fund Expenditures
$293,652,918 in Total Expenditures
FY24 Actual Budget
Division of the Deputy Superintendent
186.0 Professional staff positions
2,633.9 Support staff positions
2,819.9 Total staff positions
$136,949,834 in Salaries & Wages
$72,547,661 in Contracted Services
$18,009,270 in Supplies & Materials
$33,145,275 in Other Charges
$18,576,327 in Equipment
$279,148,731 in Total Total Expenditures ($9.2 Million Under)
FY24 Adopted Budget
Division of Curriculum & Instruction
817.2 Professional staff positions
183.9 Support staff positions
1,001.1 Total stuff positions
$110,584,413 in Salaries & Wages
$26,913,349 in Contracted Services
$25,251,312 in Supplies & Materials
$63,874,673 in Other Charges
$1,713,000 in Equipment
$228,336,747 in Total General Fund Expenditures
$223,549,692 in Total Special Revenue Fund Expenditures
$451,886,439 in Total Expenditures
FY24 Actual Budget
Division of Curriculum & Instruction
817.2 Professional staff positions
183.9 Support staff positions
1,001.1 Total stuff positions
$104,045,070 in Salaries & Wages
$35,290,990 in Contracted Services
$21,595,279 in Supplies & Materials
$84,494,980 in Other Charges
$20, 701 in Equipment
$5,419,902,216 in Transfers
$250,902,216 in Total Expenditures ($201 Million Under)
FY24 Adopted Budget
Division of Human Resources
47.5 Professional staff positions
30.0 Support staff positions
77.5 Total staff positions
$10,113,962 in Salaries & Wages
$753,494 in Contracted Services
$39,869 in Supplies & Materials
$284,249,467 in Other Charges
$295,249,467 in General Fund Expenditures
$381,857 in Special Revenue Fund Expenditures
$295,631,324 in Total Expenditures
FY24 Actual Budget
Division of Human Resources
47.5 Professional staff positions
30.0 Support staff positions
77.5 Total staff positions
$10,127,079 in Salaries & Wages
$27,236388 in Contracted Services
$59,184 in Supplies & Materials
$52,592,023 in Other Charges
$90,011,674 in Total Expenditures ($206 Million Under)
FY24 Adopted Budget
Division of Fiscal Services
37.0 Professional staff positions
23.0 Support staff positions
60.0 Total staff positions
$6,083,836 in Salaries & Wages
$5,213,280 in Contracted Services
$483,350 in Supplies & Materials
$94,661,834 in Other Charges
$104,442,300 in Total General Fund Expenditures
$99,000 in Total Special Revenue Fund Expenditures
$104,541,300 in Total Expenditures
FY24 Actual Budget
Division of Fiscal Services
37.0 Professional staff positions
23.0 Support staff positions
60.0 Total staff positions
$5,763,670 in Salaries & Wages
$5,257,224 in Contracted Services
$426,368 in Supplies & Materials
$11,957,312 in Other Charges
$23,431,182 ($81 Million Under)
FY24 Adopted Budget
Division of Information Technology
71.0 Professional staff positions
28.0 Support staff positions
99.0 Total staff positions
$12,427,032 in Salaries & Wages
$50,303,840 in Contracted Services
$2,301,137 in Supplies & Materials
$8,780,788 in Other Charges
$1,077,225 in Equipment
$74,890,022 in Total General Fund Expenditures
$0 in Special Revenue Fund Expenditures
$74,890,022 in Total Expenditures
FY24 Actual Budget
Division of Information Technology
72.0 Professional staff positions
27.0 Support staff positions
99.0 Total staff positions
$11,856,036 in Salaries & Wages
$58,369,261 in Contracted Services
$2,694,239 in Supplies & Materials
$8,839,712 in Other Charges
$359,087 in Equipment
$82,117,736 in Total Expenditures ($7 Million Over)
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