Transcript
Now, let’s begin by anchoring our “why”.
I often say—to anyone who will listen - and sometimes to those who have to—that in Howard County, we are on a pursuit of greatness. But I also believe deeply that we can only claim to be a great school system if—and only if—we are great for every student we serve.
And that requires us to acknowledge an uncomfortable truth: today, our school system is not great for every student. For some students, we are not even consistently good.
If we are serious about achieving greatness for every student, then we must be equally serious about transforming education in Howard County. And transformation requires change—real change—not incremental adjustments to existing practice.
For the past two decades, we have largely invested in and preserved the same structures, programs, and approaches. And we know what those investments have produced: the same student groups experiencing the same poor outcomes year after year after year. For too many students, the needle has not moved.
That is not the mark of a great school system.
Today marks a deliberate shift away from past practice—away from managing the budget simply to accommodate fiscal realities, and toward leveraging the budget as a strategic tool to advance our vision for students.
Rather than picking up last year’s budget and putting it back down, we are starting with a different question: How do we best serve all students?
As my leadership team began building this year’s budget, we made a conscious decision not to start with our fiscal challenges.
Instead, we began with a different question: What actions are most likely to lead to achieving our strategic goals and improving outcomes for all students?
That conversation was robust—and, candidly, so were the costs associated with many of the ideas that emerged. But starting with strategy allowed us to think clearly about what would actually move the needle for students, rather than limiting our thinking prematurely.
Only after that work did we shift to building a multi-year roadmap—one that informs the implementation of our strategic plan over several budget seasons and recognizes that not all goals can be fully funded in a single year.
Through that process, several things became clear. Some ideas will require new investment dollars. Others can be advanced by leveraging existing resources more strategically. And some programs and services that have been valued and supported for a long time will need to be reduced or eliminated so that funding can be redirected to our highest priorities.
Our current fiscal reality does not allow us to simply add, and add, and add. And based on decades of student outcome data, I am convinced that continuing to do so would not produce different results.
This budget reflects intentional choices designed to maximize our resources and achieve meaningful gains for students over time.
The same budget realities that have existed for several years are magnified even further for the 2027 fiscal year. For example:
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It costs more to maintain current services and staffing;
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Total student enrollment continues to trickle down, impacting the amount of available funding we receive;
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Funding formulas are flawed and not keeping up with the realities of our classrooms, our society, and our nation’s fiscal environment; and
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The Blueprint for Maryland’s Future requires us to reallocate funding and resources from many areas that Howard County has always prioritized, to the areas deemed most critical in the legislation.
I implore Board Members, the County Executive, County Council Members, and myself to remain grounded in the shared priorities we have established and shared goals we have stated, and to not be reactive to the fiscal volatility of this moment in time. We have to find innovative ways to move forward even when resources are restricted.