Howard County Superintendent Bill Barnes was encouraged about the budget he proposed in January that avoided cuts, but now he feels “much less optimistic” about the fiscal picture, he said last week.

Howard County Executive Calvin Ball is reviewing funding requests from county agencies and is slated to present his proposed operating budget to the County Council on April 14. The council is set to adopt the budget on May 21 after holding work sessions and public hearings.

“While we await the presentation of these budgets, our leadership team and budget teams are not sitting still. We’re paying close attention to the developments at the state and federal levels so we can evaluate and anticipate our funding scenarios for education,” Barnes said.

In budget conversations, Ball said he looked to past county executives for a comparison, but none had dealt with financial circumstances like this year as the state tries to close a $3 billion deficit.

“[The county] has to contend with the state budget, they have to contend with an uncertain federal landscape where a series of executive orders has created uncertainty on which federally funded programs may receive or may not receive funding, and whether or not those programs will have to be either shut down or funded out of the county operating budget,” Barnes said.

The school system’s “fiscal realities” could be most directly impacted by state lawmakers’ decisions, Barnes said. The state budget outlook is “increasingly bleak,” he said, and the district will closely watch developments in the General Assembly for the remainder of the session.

In January, Barnes proposed an operating budget that would maintain services and avoid cuts for programs and staff. During deliberations, the board listened to requests from advocates and passed a $1.257 billion budget that Ball called “unattainable and unaffordable” in a letter to the board.

Ball detailed this year’s unprecedented financial circumstances, given state and federal decisions, in the letter. Barnes said the school system is assessing different scenarios so that it doesn’t simply react “if [things are] very bleak.”

The board approved its budget request despite almost everyone knowing it was unlikely to be fully funded, Jacky McCoy, an at-large board member, said at Thursday’s meeting.. Realistically, there’s a limit, she said, while also questioning whether the county tax base could support the budget, with most tax revenue coming from homeowners.

“And so, I hope that we all will be more realistic and more of a community and not adversaries as we go through the budgetary process,” McCoy said.

Linfeng Chen, an at-large board member, asked if there have been any updated revenue projections from the county. He called for more transparency around the budget so the board and the community know what’s coming and teachers are informed about how they might be affected.

“I think year by year, the community feels like we are crying wolf,” Chen said. “Is the real wolf coming?”

With one board meeting left before receiving the first budget projection, Barnes said he’d provide updates as more information becomes available and that community members will have opportunities to provide feedback.

“So, I will commit to staff and community members, students, families, this board, to bring forward thoughtful scenarios and to make sure that that’s a transparent and public conversation, so those that may be impacted have an opportunity to weigh in through the public hearing process and through emails and through conversations,” Barnes said.

Have a news tip? Contact Kiersten Hacker at khacker@baltsun.com or @KierstenHacker on X.