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The budget and finance page includes current and past year budget and financial documents, along with information about planning for the upcoming school year.
2022-23 Budget
The planning process for the operating budget for the 2022-23 school year (also known as FY23) is underway. One of the first steps in the process is to hear from you - parents, staff, partners, and community members - about what's important to you so that we can make budgeting decisions to reflect those priorities.
We collect this feedback through a few different ways, including an online survey (coming soon) and virtual feedback sessions.
Upcoming Sessions
You are invited to attend any event. Audiences are identified for more focused conversations. Download fliers with links in English, Spanish, Arabic, French, Swahili, or Tigrinya here soon.
- For Youth: January 19 from 4 to 5 p.m. - bit.ly/YouthBudget2223
- Link to join if you're using a City Schools Zoom account.
- If you're using a personal Zoom account, enter the meeting ID - 840 2539 4765
- Join the meeting by phone by calling1 301 715 8592 and enter the meeting ID - 840 2539 4765
- For Community Partners, co-sponsored with PCAB: January 20 from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. (Registration link)
- For General Public: January 26 from 5 to 6 p.m. (English link | Spanish link - Webinar ID: 828 0513 3918)
For Multilingual Families (English, Spanish, Swahili, French, Arabic, and Tigrinya): January 27 from 4 to 5 p.m.- Link to join if you're using a City Schools Zoom account
- If you're using a personal Zoom account, enter the meeting ID - 883 8885 3194
- Join the meeting by phone by calling 301-715-8592 and enter the meeting ID - 883 8885 3194
Once developed, the proposed budget will be presented to the Board of School Commissioners on April 12, 2022. The Board will then vote on the proposed budget on May 10, 2022.
2021-22 Operating Budget
The 2021-22 (FY22) operating budget was approved by the Board of School Commissioners on Tuesday, May 13, 2021.
Looking to the future
The state's Commission on Innovation and Excellence in Education (the "Kirwan Commission") is charged with making recommendations on what would be needed for Maryland's schools to perform at the level of the world's top education systems and on needed changes to state funding of schools serving students from pre-k to 12th grade.
What would a world-class education system look like in Baltimore? What approach to funding would ensure equity for Baltimore's students? With input from stakeholders and advocates and reflecting research-based best practices in urban education, City Schools has drafted its vision for Baltimore's schools under a new state funding formula.
View "Investing in Our Future" in Spanish
School spending
City Schools allocates the maximum possible funding to schools, both directly for flexible spending and indirectly through district-provided services, and works to ensure that distribution is equitable across all schools, so that all students' needs can be met. Different priorities, needs, and schools means that school budgeting can be complex, and the formulas used for charter and traditional schools have not been easy to understand.
In 2018, the district convened a group of stakeholders representing charter schools, traditional schools, and the district office to look at how schools are funded and to work toward recommendations to make funding methods more transparent and easily understood, while also ensuring equity across school types. Below are presentations from a series of work sessions held by the stakeholder group.
- Introduction and overview (September 2018)
- Federal programs and restricted grants (October 2018)
- Central administrative costs (October 2018)
- Specialized services: presentation | additional notes (October 2018)
- Central services to schools (November 2018)
- Debt obligations, formula review, attribution review (December 2018)
- Review: presentation | additional notes (January 2019)
Per-Pupil Expenditures
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.
Additional resources
Past year budget and financial statements
2020-21
2019-20
- Operating budget: English | Spanish
- Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR)
2018-19
- Operating budget: English | Spanish
- Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR)
For more information or other past years' budget documents, contact the Finance Office.
Financial recovery plan
At the outset of developing the FY18 operating budget, City Schools identified a structural budget gap exceeding $100 million. The gap was closed through cost-cutting and provision of additional resources from the city and state.
As part of House Bill 684 passed during the 2017 General Session, the Maryland General Assembly required the Board of School Commissioners to prepare a financial recovery plan for the district, which was submitted to the city and state on August 1, 2017.
