Budget and Finance

The Board of School Commissioners voted to adopt the district's 2023-24 operating budt considering the district's proposed budget during the May 9 public board meeting.

The budget was developed with active community participation. You can find an overview of the budget (including highlighted investments) and the full budget below.

Individual school budgets will be posted to each school's profile page at the beginning of June.

Developing the Proposed Budget

City Schools hosted a series of meetings in the winter for staff, families, students, and community members to share their thoughts and opinions about what the district’s priorities should be for the coming year. Feedback was also gathered via a form shared through newsletters, social media, and the website.

District-wide, the following priorities were identified by school communities - all of which are being heavily invested in for the 2023-24 school year:

• Mental Health Supports
• School Culture and Climate
• Expanded Academics
• Extended Learning
• Tutoring
• Fine Arts
• Athletics

Every school hosted Priority Engagement Sessions to gather input about their individual school’s priorities. Schools then convened in-person and through virtual Community Budget Forums where communities learned about the school’s 2023-24 budget proposal, including how input from the Priority Engagement Sessions was used to inform decisions.

Kirwan: Blueprint for Maryland's Future

At its heart, the Kirwan Blueprint for Maryland's Future (not to be confused with our own Blueprint for Success), is a comprehensive overhaul of education funding in the state designed to close equity gaps and improve the overall quality of education for all children. The goal is to begin to correct historical underfunding of educational resources, with particular attention to the needs of students from low-income families, English learners, and students with disabilities, and with funding for students who live in areas of concentrated poverty.

Kirwan is not a blank check. There are requirements, restrictions, and guidelines that must be followed. Later this month, we will release a draft of our first comprehensive local implementation plan, laid out as responses to a series of questions posed by the state, for public review and comment.

Learn more about Kirwan and City Schools. 

Recently, the Maryland State Department of Education added a new piece of information to their MD School Report website. You can now see how much each school and school district in the state spends per student. MSDE refers to this as per-pupil expenditures. This data can help you, and other stakeholders, better understand education funding.