At the May 5th Special Board of Education Budget Meeting KCPS Superintendent Dr. Mary McComas offered two options to the board for the FY26 Budget. Option A would reduce 44 positions and request $800,000 over local share from the County Commissioners to balance the budget. Option B would be to reduce the remaining 16 positions in a year, use the entire $500,000 balance in unreserved contingency funds, and only request $300,000 from the County Commissioners. Kent County Public Schools has historically used unreserved contingency funds to balance the budget each year leaving a balance of $500,000 as required in the Fund Balance Policy. Both Option A and Option B would use close to a million dollars from the unreserved contingency funds to balance the FY26 budget.
Dr. McComas also brought forward the Fund Balance Review policy which states “The unassigned fund balance reserve shall not accumulate to exceed five (5%) percent of the current year operating budget’s unrestricted funds with a target minimum balance of $ 500,000.” Dr. McComas proposed a change to the policy which would allow for the board to “authorize the use of the unrestricted funds with the understanding the funds will be replenished in the next fiscal year.” The motion to change the policy passed in a 3-2 vote. The final item on the agenda was for the board to vote on which budget option to move forward. The motion for Option B passed with a vote of 3-2. Dr. McComas was scheduled to present the proposed budget to the County Commissioners at a budget workshop the next day.
During the May 6th County Commissioner meeting, KCPS Superintendent Dr. Mary McComas discussed significant budget challenges driven by declining enrollment and the expiration of federal COVID-related grants. She requested $300,000 from the County to mitigate the shortfall.
Over the past five years, the Kent County Public Schools have lost 224 students, which, in a small system, equates to the closure of nearly an entire elementary school.
Emergency grants provided during the pandemic helped stabilize school operations and retain teachers, however with those funds now exhausted, the school system is being forced to make tough decisions, including staff reductions.
In an effort to soften the impact, the Board of Education approved the use of contingency reserve funds to temporarily maintain sixteen staff positions. These positions will be held for the upcoming school year with the understanding that they may be eliminated after twelve months unless circumstances improve. The original planned cuts were 44 positions. Kent County Public Schools offered early retirement incentives to staff and, as of Monday, twenty-eight positions will be eliminated through attrition without the need to start the reduction in force (RIF) process for those positions. The remaining 16 staff positions will go through the RIF process.
The Commissioners shared that they had been watching the Special Budget meeting and both Fithian and Price stated that they had planned to reject the request for $800,000 above local share. After Dr. McComas’ presentation they agreed to allocate the requested $300,000 to help close the school system’s current budget deficit. This funding comes in addition to the school district’s drawing down all of the $500,000 in contingency reserves to retain approximately sixteen positions for another year.
Commissioners acknowledged the strain placed on all Maryland counties by the state’s Blueprint for Education mandates and commended Dr. McComas for her transparency and leadership. The allocation reflects what both parties described as a continuing partnership committed to serving Kent County’s students while navigating financial uncertainty.
As Kent County enters a more demanding phase of Blueprint compliance, both school and county leaders acknowledged the need for deeper collaboration and difficult decisions. While some of the pressure has been delayed in recent years, the next two budget cycles are expected to bring the full weight of Blueprint mandates to bear.
