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The Talbot PatriotEaston, MarylandMD

Schoolhouse Notes

Board Approves FY27 Budget After an Approximately $10.4 Million Gap; Weapons Detection Gets Half; Math Still Leaves Four in Five Below Proficient

The approved unrestricted budget is supported by about $84.6 million in revenue, nearly $3 million above FY26. Salary steps and a roughly 5% raise stay; the $800,000 security ask is funded at $400,000.

Talbot County school building exterior under summer light
AI-generated illustration; not a photograph of Talbot County school building exterior under summer light.

The Board of Education approved its FY27 unrestricted operating budget on June 17 after facing an approximately $10.4 million gap between projected expenditures and available revenues; the February request was $92.3 million, and the approved budget is supported by about $84.6 million in revenue, per TCPS. The adopted figure is nearly $3 million above FY26.

An $800,000 weapons-detection system sought by school safety staff and the Sheriff's Office was funded at $400,000 by the County Council. The district will run a cheaper pilot this fall.

Salary steps and a roughly 5 percent raise were kept so the district hits the Blueprint for Maryland's Future $60,000 starting-teacher floor. The board said it cut "without affecting core instructional programs."

Core programs, measured by the Maryland Comprehensive Assessment Program, still leave four-fifths of students below proficient in math. On MCAP, proficient means a student met or exceeded the grade-level standard.

The district has not published an FY27 enrollment count. The FY2025 figure remains 4,485, so any per-pupil calculation that pairs that headcount with FY27 dollars is a Patriot estimate on last year's census, not an MSDE figure and not a new count.

Source: Talbot Spy

Drawn from public records; drafted with AI and edited by Peter Gorman before publication.

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