City school board previews budget
$1.78B for FY 2025 includes funding Blueprint initiatives, mental health
The Baltimore City Board of School Commissioners on Tuesday received a preview of the school system’s $1.78 billion operating budget for fiscal year 2025.
Sonja Santelises, CEO of the Baltimore City Public School System, and her staff said careful use of federal funds for the coronavirus pandemic placed the district in a good position for the next fiscal year. Unlike some other districts in the state, city schools are not facing drastic cuts to programs or staff.
The operating budget request is a $42 million increase compared with fiscal year 2024’s. School board commissioners will receive a detailed budget book Friday to review over the next five weeks before a May 15 vote.
“We spent the funds on things that made a difference for young people, things like tutoring, things like summer learning, things like extended day enrichment,” said Alison
Perkins-Cohen, chief of staff for BCPSS.
Federal emergency coronavirus funds are expiring as Maryland enters its third year of implementing the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future, a landmark reform plan that directs billions in funding for education. But the Blueprint’s third year is also its leanest in state funding contributions over the 10-year plan, said Christopher Doherty, chief financial officer for BCPSS.
“There’s a double whammy effect that’s happening in FY 2025,” Doherty said. “Those two macroeconomic factors are producing some headwinds that are affecting a lot of large districts across the country.”
BCPSS received 29 federal grants from the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund. Twenty-three grants have since expired after the district spent 99.7% of that money and is on track to spend the remaining $159 million from six grants by the time they expire in September.
The federal government is also allowing BCPSS to spend about $60 million of the remaining funds in fiscal year 2025.
The budget’s $1.43 billion general fund includes $1.01 billion in state funds, $389.3 million in city money and $38.5 million from other revenue sources. About $1.5 billion in the budget proposal is for Blueprint priorities, carried out using grants and funds from the state and city.
BCPSS received $135 million in concentration-of-poverty grants, a Blueprint initiative that helps low-income schools with academic programs, school health services, registered school nurses and other social supports.
Around 70,000 students attend Baltimore’s 156 schools and programs. All city schools are eligible for concentration-of-poverty grants. The money can also be used to create attendance programs, mentoring partnerships, and arts and athletics, among other uses.
The budget earmarks $47.1 million for mental health services, such as social workers and psychologists. The proposal includes $71 million in food and nutrition services, $268,000 for crisis invention teams and $10.6 million for 107 school police officers.
Other budget priorities include $4.5 million on math curriculum, $6.5 million on prekindergarten curriculum, and $12.7 million for tutoring at 130 schools. Nearly 150 math and literacy coaches would total $22.8 million.