FCPS board discusses increasing class sizes, cutting programs to narrow $49M budget gap

Frederick County’s Board of Education on Wednesday considered ways the school district can cut costs — such as athletics and extracurriculars, class sizes and transportation — to address a nearly $49 million budget deficit.

The board also discussed and debated potential changes to how much charter schools could receive out of the funds they’re eligible for, which could slightly decrease Frederick County Public Schools’ budget.

FCPS’ operating budget funds come from multiple sources, including the state, Frederick County and the federal government and the use of fund balance, according to the district’s website.

FCPS’ total expenditure in its fiscal year 2025 operating budget is about $987 million, and revenues are about $938 million, according to a presentation the board heard Wednesday.

County Executive Jessica Fitzwater’s proposed FCPS allocation for 2025 is about $53 million less than the amount requested by the school system.

Heather Clabaugh, FCPS’ associate superintendent of fiscal services, presented fiscal year 2025 budget updates to the school board on Wednesday. She could not be reached on Thursday for to explain why the budget deficit presented at the meeting differed from the $53 million gap from the county.

Board members asked FCPS’ staff to look at various areas, including arts and music programs, world language programs, technology and transportation, and bring information on those topics and their costs to the board’s next meeting on May 15.

The presentation included areas not required by the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future, which passed in 2021 and mandated comprehensive changes to the state’s education system.

The Blueprint’s pillars include early childhood education; high quality and diverse teachers and leaders; college and career readiness; more resources for students to be successful; and governance and accountability.

According to the budget updates presentation, programs and services not required by the Blueprint include:

* Prescribed class size

* Safety and security

* Athletics and extracurricular activities

* World languages

* Arts and music programs

* One-to-one technology

* Transportation

* Employee benefits

When creating the proposed operating budget, Clabaugh said, the district mainly focused on recruiting and retaining staff and overcoming inflation. Other priorities were responding to growth and providing supports to students.

Board member Sue Johnson said that for the board’s next meeting, she wanted to know what in FCPS’ budget is “non-negotiable.”

“If it’s not absolutely mandatory, then it needs to be on the table,” she said.

Board member Jason Johnson suggested looking at software, buses and textbooks, as well as anything else where FCPS wouldn’t need to buy something new, as well as class sizes across all grade levels.

“These are horrible questions to ask,” he said. “... I would like to once again ask for our county to please advocate for us at a higher level.”

School board President Karen Yoho also said FCPS has to consider looking at class size and how costs could change if class sizes were increased if there were fewer teachers.

During a public hearing on the county’s budget on April 23, FCPS Chief of Schools & Accountability Jamie Aliveto told the County Council that teaching position cuts could hypothetically raise elementary school class sizes from 24 to more than 30 students.

During an interview on Thursday, Yoho said there is no concrete number on how much each class would increase by cutting teachers.

At the Board of Education’s meeting, Yoho said looking at the slide showing programs and services not required by the Blueprint “makes me sad.”

“Safety and security, that’s not an option. These are things — athletics, world languages, arts and music — these are what keep our students in school,” Yoho said.

Board Vice President Rae Gallagher wanted more information on the cost breakdown for athletics and extracurricular activities, including event transportation costs, and costs for world languages and arts and music programs broken down by school.

She asked the district staff to bring information on the costs associated with the county’s virtual schools and the possibility of limiting enrollment growth positions and the impact that would have on class size and instruction.

“I feel like we’ve only sort of scratched the surface with a lot of small items in the budget, and I fear we’re not even close to the $48.9 million [budget gap].” Gallagher said. “I see all of these things on this budgeting beyond the Blueprint as essential to our students, but I think we have to look at everything.”

During public comment before the budget updates presentation, Casey Day implored the board to keep its mission statement — “We set the standard for public education” — in mind while discussing budget cuts.

“We have to consider cuts from across all areas of expenditures, including central office and middle management,” Day said. “There are things that have been around for years that should be considered for cuts.

“Do we need all the testing programs that we paid for? Probably not. Could we reduce costs by adding fees to sports and extracurriculars? Probably.”

Dyson addressed concerns about budget cuts during her comments and said FCPS’ central office has been affected by the budget deficit, choosing to not fill non-essential roles, pulling back on position requests and collapsing roles.

“We could get rid of every central office position, and it would not meet nearly $50 million that we need to close this budget,” she said. “... This budget work will continue to be a pain point, and we will all feel it.”