FCPS budget gap reduced to $2.4M after school board approves cuts
The Frederick County Board of Education on Wednesday reduced the school district's budget gap for the coming fiscal year from $6.8 million to $2.4 million after several reductions in spending were approved.
Some of the cuts included removing school district positions and reducing the board's contribution to the employee retiree fund.
Board member Karen Yoho made a motion to decrease the salary resource pool by $925,000, but it failed in a 4-3 vote.
The board-approved draft budget shows $17.1 million in the salary resource pool, which is used for employee raises.
School board members Rae Gallagher, Dean Rose, Janie Inglis Monier and Colt Black voted against the reduction.
Yoho and board members Nancy Allen and Jaime Brennan voted in favor of reducing the salary resource pool.
The school board voted 5-2 to reduce the board's contribution to the employee retiree benefit fund by $600,000, dropping it to zero.
Gallagher, Rose, Black, Brennan and Allen voted in favor of the reduction. Yoho and Monier voted against reducing the contribution.
The Other Post Employment Benefits (OPEB) investment fund is what provides FCPS retirees with health care after they have left the school district. Retirees have to work at least 10 years in FCPS to receive the benefits.
The school board contributes to that fund through its operating budget, but it has not contributed for the past two years. The board has either cut funds intended to go to OPEB to balance its budget, or has moved funds intended for OPEB toward another program.
In February, Rose made a motion to contribute a total of $1.6 million to OPEB in the coming year.
Frederick County Executive Jessica Fitzwater allocated a one-time $1 million contribution to OPEB for the school district in April. Since then, the school board twice reduced its own contribution — first by $1 million on May 7, and then by $600,000 on Wednesday.
The only contribution to OPEB this year will be through Fitzwater's one-time allocation.
The school board agreed to take away two positions within the school district.
FCPS Superintendent Cheryl Dyson had said she intended to 'deactivate' the deputy superintendent position after Michael Markoe stepped down earlier this year.
Deactivating the position would mean the position would still be budgeted for, and Dyson could choose to reactivate the position.
The school board on Wednesday voted unanimously to eliminate the position completely. The salary and full compensation package totaled $261,321.
The school board also voted unanimously to reduce the Public Affairs non-salary budget by $76,641.
Additionally, the school board voted to eliminate a supervisor position totaling $186,480.
The school board also voted at Wednesday's meeting to keep the athletic fee for students at $185 per season, and voted unanimously to keep the fee to rent FCPS facilities the same for next fiscal year.
In February, the board approved five ideas by Rose, but has since abandoned them due to a lack of funding.
Two of those ideas were:
* Reducing the athletic fee from $185 to $150, which would have reduced the district's revenue by $376,000
* Reducing the fee for organizations to rent out FCPS spaces, which would have decreased FCPS' revenue by $650,000.
Additionally, the board members voted on Wednesday unanimously to take away $500,000 in funding for the textbook replacement cycle.
The school board voted 6-1 to reduce the 'leadership allocation' by $256,714. Monier voted against the motion.
The leadership allocation is supplemental pay for FCPS employees such as department chairs, team leaders and school improvement teams who perform duties that extend beyond their job descriptions.
The school board also voted 6-1 to decrease the 'Language Foundations,' a reading intervention program, by $40,000. Allen voted against the decrease.
The school board in February sent a $989 million fiscal year 2026 operating budget proposal to Frederick County and requested $455.6 million of that from the county.
Fitzwater released her $1.02 billion county budget proposal on April 15. She allocated $431.5 million to the school board, which was $24 million below the board's request.
After several budget discussions, the school board reduced the gap to $6.8 million, which is where the gap stood before Wednesday's meeting.
The school board must approve a balanced budget by June 30.
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