Budget Primer
Funds: The school system finances are budgeted and accounted for through a number of distinct sets of accounts called funds:
General / Operating: Most day to day expenditures and basic functions of the school system, including salaries, materials, supplies, etc., are accounted for in this fund. Revenues from this fund are primarily provided by county, state, and federal revenues. Additional sources of revenue in this fund include non-governmental grants, interest, and certain fees.
Student Activity: Expenditures and revenues related to specific student groups at individual schools.
Food Service: Expenditures and revenues related to school cafeteria operations.
Capital Improvement Program: Expenditures and revenues related to larger construction or other capital improvement projects. Funding is provided through county and state governments.
Debt Service: This fund specifically tracks outstanding debt issued by the county government for school system capital improvement projects, including interest and principal.
Other Post-Employment Benefits: This fund accumulates resources for post-employment health benefits.
FY 2012 Operating Fund Budgeted Revenues:
$26,921,388 of the above revenues are restricted monies, including all of the federal funds reflected above. Restricted funds are those funds received by the school system which must be used for a specific purpose, such as IDEA (Special Education), ESEA Title I, Aging Schools improvements, and many more.
FY 2012 Operating Fund Budgeted Expenditures:
The Maryland State Department of Education proscribes that the operating fund budget and financial reporting be based on specific categories of expenditures:
| Key | Category (with allocated fixed charges) | Budget | % of Total |
| Instruction | |||
| Instructional Salaries & Wages | $ 166,567,755 | 50.3 | |
| Mid-Level Administration | 28,768,677 | 8.7 | |
| Special Education | 48,096,323 | 14.5 | |
| Textbooks & Instructional Supplies | 8,191,174 | 2.5 | |
| Other Instructional Costs | 3,026,300 | 0.9 | |
| 9 | Total Instruction | 254,650,229 | 76.9 |
| 1 | Administration | 8,151,400 | 2.5 |
| 6 | Student Personnel Services | 1,495,156 | 0.5 |
| 8 | Student Health Services | 4,115,258 | 1.2 |
| 7 | Student Transportation | 21,435,223 | 6.5 |
| 5 | Operation of Plant | 31,068,980 | 9.4 |
| 3 | Maintenance of Plant | 8,625,740 | 2.6 |
| 2 | Community Services | 346,000 | 0.1 |
| 4 | Capital Outlay | 1,116,867 | 0.3 |
| Total Operating Budget | $ 331,004,853 | 100.0 |
