January 28, 2025 Staff and Community Update: Highlights from the Superintendent’s January 2025 Press Conference
Watch the press conference
Dr. Myriam Rogers held a media availability today, January 28, to share updates, information. and important reminders for Team BCPS.
Fiscal Year 2026 Operating Budget
- On January 14, Dr. Rogers presented a $2.98 billion operating budget proposal for Fiscal Year 2026 to the Board of Education.
- The budget proposal reflects the collective goals of the Team BCPS community. Over the last several months, staff and stakeholders have shared their suggestions on the areas they believe we should continue to prioritize in the budget in order to achieve our goal of providing the greatest public education to every student.
- In alignment with past practice in BCPS and across the state, the operating budget primarily focuses on the general and special revenue funds. Our request to the county government is for the general fund.
- The proposed budget represents a $126.4 million increase over the current FY 2025 general fund budget. The budget request maintains strategic investments in our system priority areas—academic achievement, infrastructure, safety and climate, and highly-effective teachers, leaders and staff. It also includes targeted investments to continue our work to improve student outcomes in key academic priority areas.
- We had hoped the FY 2026 budget landscape would not be as difficult as FY 25, however, it became clearer over the last few months that this would be another challenging budget cycle for the system. We have communicated this information regarding the challenging budget environment clearly and often to our stakeholders including the board of education, schools, central office, families, partners and community. The termination of Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funds and uncertainty from the state as it faces the largest budget deficit in decades meant that we had to approach the development of the budget differently. We 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. Our focus was on increasing efficiency, eliminating redundancy and optimizing resources closer to schools.
- With the tight fiscal constraints, we have prioritized funding for year-two of the multi-year compensation package for all represented employees in the proposed budget. We believe that we must prioritize investments in recruitment and retention and recognize the efforts of our staff. This is in direct alignment with the feedback from all of our stakeholder groups. What we have accomplished as a system in less than two years has only been possible thanks to the dedication of Team BCPS staff and their intentional focus on providing high-quality instruction and support.
- All members of the Team BCPS community are encouraged to stay engaged and involved in this budget process. The Board will hold a work session tonight at 6:30 p.m. where they will discuss the proposed budget and ask questions. Tonight’s meeting will be live streamed. The Board is scheduled to vote on the budget request on February 25. The budget will then be submitted to the County Executive and County Council for approval.
Stakeholder Climate Survey
- The annual BCPS Climate Survey launched yesterday, January 27, and closes on February 28. I encourage BCPS students in grades 3-12, parents/caregivers, staff, and community members to participate!
- This annual survey is an important way for us to hear from the BCPS community, learn your views and experiences, and be responsive to your feedback by taking action to improve our schools and school system. Survey feedback is used by our schools to refine School Progress Plans as well as by the system to measure our progress toward accomplishing our goals.
- The survey, which is available in multiple languages, takes three minutes or less to complete and is anonymous. Last year, we had a record number of respondents, and we hope to surpass that number this year. Your voice matters!
Virtual Learning Plan
- It has been an active winter weather season so far, with several more weeks of winter to go. As a reminder for Team BCPS, we have had two inclement weather closures this school year. Once we have the third full-day closure, we will transition to virtual learning as outlined in our Virtual Inclement Weather Day plan that was approved by MSDE in the summer.
- Families will be notified if BCPS transitions to virtual learning and students will be reminded to bring devices, chargers, and other instructional materials home. Staff will be asked to prepare lessons and materials. Schools will communicate their plans with their families.
Second Semester Safety Reminders
- As we start the second semester, we want to remind the Team BCPS community that we all play a role in creating safe and welcoming environments for all.
- In order to improve student outcomes and bolster academic achievement, we must continue to foster safe and welcoming learning environments for all students across Team BCPS.
- We will continue to address disruptive student behaviors swiftly to preserve and protect teaching and learning and we will use all legally available tools and resources to protect students and hold accountable those who break the rules.
- Fighting, possession of weapons, calling in false threats and other dangerous behaviors will not be tolerated. We also want to remind parents and guardians of the importance of modeling positive behaviors in the community.
- We are grateful for our continued partnership with Baltimore County police and their tireless efforts to keep our students and staff. We believe that working together, we will have a safe and positive second semester!