When planning a budget, the first question is always: What matters to us? What do we want - and need - to invest in? At City Schools, the budget development process begins by asking you - our parents, students, and staff - these questions.

Our budget planning process is comprised of four engagement components. The first three occur at the school level, while step four is at the district level:

1. School-Level Priority Engagement Sessions: This session aims to share information and get valuable feedback from our school community stakeholders on priorities for the next school year to be considered when drafting school budgets.

2. School-Level Community Budget Forums: These forums allow the principal to equitably share information about the proposed budget with their school community and clarify specific questions about budgetary priorities and initiatives at the school.

3. Budget Review: These meetings provide a space to review how suggestions from parents, the community, staff, and stakeholders were addressed in the final budget that the principal submitted. They are also for stakeholders to review any changes made to the budget during budget collaboratives and discuss the implications for school operations and student outcomes.

4. District Prirortiy Engagement: These sessions aim to share district-level priorities with all stakeholders to gather valuable input and feedback to help with budget development. They target four specific audiences: Youth, Multilingual Families, Community Partners & Staff, and an All Families & Stakeholders session.

FY26 Budget Planning

The FY26 budget planning process is underway. To garner valuable community input and share information about the budget planning and review process, all City Schools will host a series of community meetings:

• Priority Engagement Session(s): Fall through mid-January 

• Community Budget Forum(s): Mid-February through mid-March

• Community Budget Review Meeting(s): Late February through late March 

City Schools' students explain how budgets are funded and allocated and how you can get involved in the budget planning process!

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.