According to recent information from state officials, the Department of Legislative Services is working to compile updated cost projections for state and local shares of funding for pre-kindergarten through 12th grade before the 2025 legislative session.
Counties have been concerned about the lack of an updated cost forecast specific to implementing the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future. As previously covered on Conduit Street, the most recent calculations turned three years old in August of 2024. Understandably, that forecast predated a number of significant fiscal challenges that have affected how far the dollars can go now, as school systems forge ahead on Blueprint implementation. And those same pressures have affected spending on government operations across the board, not just for education.
As one of the primary funders of public school education in Maryland, counties need to be able to anticipate funding requirements with reasonable projections. Without a financial outlook that accounts for actual revenue growth, inflation, and labor costs of the last three years, it has becoms increasingly difficult for local governments to plan for their costs. As an example, county requirements for local pre-k through 12th-grade education funding for FY25 totaled almost $338 million more than the three year old forecast. With such a dramatic variance, counties making an effort to raise revenue don’t have a reasonable understanding as to what level of an adjustment they even need to make to meet the coming requirements, year by year.
An updated forecast will go a long way to mitigating that uncertainty, allow for the appropriate financial planning, and help stakeholders assess Blueprint implementation in the context of today’s economy. This is a primary goal of one of the four legislative initiatives recently adopted by the MACo legislative committee.