Charles school board approves $506 million budget

The fiscal 2025 budget is finalized for Charles County Public Schools after having to make intense cuts to make ends meet.

At the June 11 school board meeting, Karen Acton, the chief financial officer for the school system, presented the $506,209,726 operating budget, which was approved unanimously by the board.

This year, the school system came significantly short of its request from the county, as the board of education requested $248.9 million, and the county came back with $231.4 million.

The Charles County commissioners’ allotment to the schools is still an increase of $12.6 million over the previous year. The fiscal 2025 base operating budget also includes the use of $4.7 million from the fund balance.

Throughout the budget process, those working on the budget, like Acton, advised against working fund balance into the operating budget routinely, as it makes budgeting harder the following year. If the fund balance dries up over time due to continually being factored into the budget, the school system’s ability to make one-time and emergency purchases could be severely affected.

Overall, the budget still increased by $25.4 million over the fiscal 2024 operating budget. Charles public schools depends primarily upon state and county resources to fund the total budget.

Expenditure increases in the new fiscal year include mandatory health care costs, the nurses’ contract with Charles County Health Department, negotiated school bus contractor wages and replacement of retiring buses, liability insurance and workers’ compensation premiums. These increases total around $7.2 million.

Other cost increase requests include a reserve for collective bargaining and funds to support the continual implementation of the Blueprint for Maryland’s future policy areas. The approved budget put the total collective bargaining assumptions around $15 million.

Salaries and wages saw a substantial jump, going from $284.4 million in fiscal year 2024 to $302.3 million in fiscal 2025 — up $17.8 million.