Baltimore County school leaders are asking the county council for an extra $35 million this year to cover outstanding expenses. The leftovers from that, leaders say, will help fund teacher and staff raises in anticipation of next year’s constraints.
Last week, council members approved County Executive Kathy Klausmeier’s budget proposal for 2025-2026, leaving the school district $38 million short in funding the wages promised by union contracts.
Teachers rallied in the rain across the county Tuesday to push for their expected 5% bump. At the same time, Baltimore County schools’ financial leaders asked the county council for a funding cushion this spring that would yield leftovers they can draw on to bridge the gap come July 1.
Whit Tantleff, director of the office of budget and reporting, said Superintendent Myriam Rogers plans to use “several millions more” from the district’s general fund to help cover staff wages. Any money left over from the $35 million supplemental will be “taken into consideration” when determining how much to use, he said.
Tantleff said Rogers will likely announce final wage offers to staff later this week.
But Teachers’ Union President Cindy Sexton said that over the past six years, district leaders have transferred $111 million of allocated but unused staff compensation money to other budget areas for the final months of the school year. This year, they’re proposing to transfer $7 million.
“Largely, that extra money is from unfilled positions and high turnover in the educator ranks,” Sexton said Tuesday. “It's frustrating that the money that was appropriated for salaries doesn't end up in the hands of those who generally bear the brunt of those unfilled positions.”
Tantleff said county school leaders can’t take that extra money and put it directly into salaries for next year’s budget. Instead, it all gets funneled into the general fund balance.
Councilman Julian Jones asked why the district can’t use all of that leftover balance — estimated to be approximately $60 million if the district wins its extra funding request — to fully cover the second-year contract promises.
That would leave the school district with no money going into the 2026-27 school year, Tantleff said, causing a “severe deficit.”
“We'd have to use our state and local revenue just to get to our starting point,” he said, “much less pay for year three of the contract, pay for medical inflation, and pay for contract inflation.”
Chief Financial Officer George Sarris added that the district would likely have to cut “hundreds more positions” in schools — or increase class sizes or county-wide taxes — to make up for that deficit.
Sexton said educators deserve the wages they were promised, especially as nationwide shortages persist and the political landscape changes.
“I'm not on the county council, and I don't know the ins-and-outs of the budget appropriation transfers, what you can and can't do,” she said. “But I need to point out that going back just the six years that I've been president, $111 million that should have gone to our educators, and by extension our students, did not end up there.”
Editor's Note: This story has been updated to provide more clarity on the use of leftover supplemental money for next year's staff wages.
