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*hb1257*
HOUSE BILL 1257
F3 6lr3343
By: Delegates Stein, Ebersole, Forbes, and Pasteur Baltimore County Delegation
Introduced and read first time: February 12, 2026
Assigned to: Ways and Means
Reassigned: Appropriations, February 16, 2026
Committee Report: Favorable with amendments
House action: Adopted
Read second time: March 8, 2026
CHAPTER ______
AN ACT concerning 1
Baltimore County Board of Education – Financial Reporting Requirements 2
FOR the purpose of requiring the Baltimore County Board of Education to provide certain 3
information to the Baltimore County Executive and Baltimore County Council with 4
the annual budget; requiring the Baltimore County B oard of Education to provide 5
certain budget, enrollment, and capital project information in a publicly available 6
online format; and generally relating to financial reporting requirements for the 7
Baltimore County Board of Education. 8
BY repealing and reenacting, without amendments, 9
Article – Education 10
Section 5–101(a) and (b) 11
Annotated Code of Maryland 12
(2025 Replacement Volume and 2025 Supplement) 13
BY adding to 14
Article – Education 15
Section 5–101(g) 16
Annotated Code of Maryland 17
(2025 Replacement Volume and 2025 Supplement) 18
SECTION 1. BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF MARYLAND, 19
That the Laws of Maryland read as follows: 20
2 HOUSE BILL 1257
Article – Education 1
5–101. 2
(a) (1) Subject to the rules and regulations of the State Board and with the 3
advice of the county superintendent, each county board shall prepare an annual budget 4
according to: 5
(i) The major categories listed in this section; and 6
(ii) Any other major category required by the State Board. 7
(2) In addition to the information required by this section, the county fiscal 8
authorities may require the county board to provide details to the service areas and 9
activities levels in the account structure within the “Financial Reporting Manual for 10
Maryland Public Schools”. 11
(3) With the annual budget, each county board shall provide: 12
(i) The number of full –time equivalent positions included within 13
each major category; and 14
(ii) A description of any fund balances or other money held by any 15
outside source, including an insurer, that are undesignated or unreserved and are under 16
the direction and control of the county board. 17
(4) The State Board shall adopt a process for the uniform reporting of the 18
information in subsection (b) of this section to timely share the information provided by a 19
county board in subsection (b) of this section to a county governing body. 20
(b) The budget shall be prepared to include the following categories: 21
Part I 22
(1) Current expense fund, estimated receipts: 23
(i) Revenue from local sources; 24
(ii) Revenue from State sources; 25
(iii) Revenue from federal sources; 26
(iv) Unliquidated surplus, the actual from the previous fiscal year 27
and the estimated from the current fiscal year, whether accrued from revenues or 28
expenditures; and 29
(v) Revenue from all other sources with identification of the source. 30
HOUSE BILL 1257 3
(2) Current expense fund, requested appropriations: 1
(i) Administration, which means those activities associated with the 2
general regulations, direction, and control of the county board, including: 3
1. Executive administration; 4
2. Business support services; and 5
3. Centralized support services; 6
(ii) Mid–level administration, including: 7
1. The office of the school principal; and 8
2. Staff providing administration and supervision to the 9
school instructional programs; 10
(iii) Instructional salaries, which means those activities which deal 11
directly with teaching students, including: 12
1. Teachers; 13
2. Aides; 14
3. Psychological personnel; 15
4. Guidance counselors; and 16
5. Library personnel; 17
(iv) Textbooks and classroom instructional supplies; 18
(v) Other instructional costs; 19
(vi) Special education with subcategories and items budgeted in this 20
category to be determined by the State Board with the advice of the county board; 21
(vii) Student personnel services; 22
(viii) Health services; 23
(ix) Student transportation; 24
(x) Operation of plant and equipment; 25
4 HOUSE BILL 1257
(xi) Maintenance of plant; 1
(xii) Fixed charges; 2
(xiii) Food services; and 3
(xiv) Capital outlay. 4
(3) Current funds held in reserve, including: 5
(i) Revenue to and expenditures from funds held in reserve in the 6
prior fiscal year; and 7
(ii) Appropriations planned in the upcoming fiscal year from funds 8
held in reserve. 9
(4) The amount of any federal funds received in the last fiscal year, 10
including: 11
(i) Expenditures of the federal funds in the prior fiscal year; 12
(ii) A description of whether the federal funds are committed for a 13
particular purpose; and 14
(iii) The anticipated timing to appropriate the federal funds in the 15
upcoming fiscal year. 16
(5) The amount of funds held in trust or otherwise dedicated toward 17
long–term obligations for retiree health care costs or other postemployment benefits, and 18
information used to calculate the county board’s obligation for those costs. 19
Part II 20
(6) School construction fund, estimated receipts: 21
(i) Revenue from local sources; 22
(ii) Sale of bonds; 23
(iii) State General Public School Construction Loan; 24
(iv) Revenue from State sources; 25
(v) Revenue from federal sources; 26
HOUSE BILL 1257 5
(vi) Unliquidated surplus, the actual from the previous fiscal year 1
and the estimated for the current fiscal year, whether accrued from revenues or 2
expenditures; and 3
(vii) Funds from all other sources, with identification of the source. 4
(7) School Construction Fund, requested appropriations: 5
(i) Land for school sites; 6
(ii) Buildings and the equipment that will be an integral part of a 7
building by project; 8
(iii) School site improvement by project; 9
(iv) Remodeling by project; 10
(v) Additional equipment by project; 11
(vi) Debt service; and 12
(vii) An amount that is adequate to satisfy a final court judgment 13
that, after exhaustion of the rights of appeal, is rendered against the county board of 14
education or any of its officers or employees. 15
(G) (1) IN ADDITION TO ALL OT HER INFORMATION REQU IRED UNDER 16
THIS SECTION, THE BALTIMORE COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION SHALL PROVI DE 17
TO THE BALTIMORE COUNTY EXECUTIVE AND BALTIMORE COUNTY COUNCIL, WITH 18
THE ANNUAL BUDGET, INFORMATION RELATING TO EACH OF THE FOLLOWING: 19
(I) PERSONNEL DATA WITH F ULL–TIME EQUIVALENT 20
POSITIONS BY JOB TITLE AND DEPARTMENT; AND 21
(II) EXPENDITURES DISAGGRE GATED BY THE CATEGOR IES 22
SPECIFIED IN SUBSECTION (B)(2) OF THIS SECTION. 23
(2) THE BALTIMORE COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION SHALL 24
PROVIDE, IN A PUBLICLY AVAILA BLE ONLINE FORMAT , THE FOLLOWING 25
INFORMATION: 26
(I) HISTORICAL BUDGET DAT A, VENDOR CONTRACT AWAR DS, 27
AND SCHOOL–LEVEL ENROLLMENT DATA; 28
(1) (I) HISTORICAL BUDGET DAT A FROM THE THREE PRE VIOUS 29
FISCAL YEARS; 30
6 HOUSE BILL 1257
(II) VENDOR CONTRACT AWARD S FOR THE CURRENT FI SCAL 1
YEAR AND THE PREVIOUS FISCAL YEAR; AND 2
(III) SCHOOL–LEVEL ENROLLMENT DAT A FOR THE CURRENT 3
FISCAL YEAR; 4
(II) (2) QUARTERLY REPORTS WITH CURRENT MONTHLY 5
EXPENDITURES COMPARED TO THE ANNUAL BUDGET; AND 6
(III) (3) THE STATUS OF ALL CAP ITAL IMPROVEMENT 7
PROJECTS, CURRENT SPENDING, AND PROJECTED COMPLETION DATES. 8
SECTION 2. AND BE IT FURTHER ENACTED, That this Act shall take effect July 9
1, 2026. 10
Approved:
________________________________________________________________________________
Governor.
________________________________________________________________________________
Speaker of the House of Delegates.
________________________________________________________________________________
President of the Senate.