001Okay, Ms. Mcmillan, please begin the recording. Alright, the time is now 5.32 PM. Good evening, and welcome to the February 12, 2026. Prince George's County Board of Education budget work session and public hearing for the FY2027 Interim Superintendent Proposed Operating Budget. I'm Jonathan Briggs, Vice Chairman of the Prince George's County Board of Education. I want to thank you all for joining us. The chairman would like to inform the public that Spanish interpretation is available by clicking on the globe at the bottom of the screen. Could the Spanish interpreter assist with translating this announcement in Spanish, please? Si ve escuchar esta reunion en espanol en la computadora en la secion sum en la parte baja de la pantalla. globo y seleccione espanol. la pantalla. language interpretation, do que Spanish. Thank you so much, Ms. Acevedo. For
002anyone unable to join us live, this meeting is being recorded and will be available for later viewing on the PGCBS YouTube channel. In keeping with the board's rules of procedures, Section 4, internet meetings, the Internet Standing Rules are as follows. Members shall keep their video on and remain on camera at all times. keep their microphones on mute until recognized by the chairman. raise their hand icon and wait to be recognized by the chairman, and unmute their microphone to speak. and mute it when done speaking. Members may speak twice on any motion for 2 minutes each time. Failure to adhere to the internet standing rules will result in the member being removed until the member can rejoin when the rules can be adhered to. For recording purposes, the chairman reminds all to ensure that their microphones
003are muted when not speaking and turned on while speaking for recording purposes. Before we proceed, the Chairman reminds everyone to adjust their wireless communication devices to prevent technical interference. with the meetings recording. Please ensure all microphones are muted until the chairman grants you the floor. Lastly, in line with Policy 8345, public comment, it is established. that the public can register on-site for public hearings until the public is notified that the testimony registration form is closed. The chairman wishes to inform the public that the registration link for tonight's public hearing will remain open until 7.15 PM. to accommodate additional comments. To register, please visit the link displayed on the screen or scan the QR code. Ms. Mcmillian, please call the roll. Ms. Ajakae? Dr. Anderful? Ms. Buzerstruther? Mr. Briggs? Ms. Brown? Present. Here. Ms. Goins McCants?
004Doctor Moss? Ms. Oliva? Present. Mr. Jackson. There are 6 members present. Great, there are 6 present, a quorum is present? If there is no objection, the February 12, 2026 meeting agenda will be adopted as amended. The chairman would like to inform the public that the board office and internal audit's presentation has been moved to the February 19 budget work session. and public hearing to allow the administration additional time to review the board's budget cuts. There being no objection to the February 12, 2026 meeting agenda, it is adopted as amended. The chairman recognizes Board Member Goins McKenz, Chair of the Operations, Budget, and Fiscal Affairs Committee to open the Budget Work Session. Board Member Coins and Kantz? Thank you, Vice Chair Briggs. And thank you, everyone else for being here tonight. These budget work sessions are
005intended to address questions and provide answers regarding the budget. Each division will have 10 minutes to present and provide an overview of its mission, core services, and budget. So without further ado… The committee chair recognizes Dr. Collins. For the budget process overview. Thank you, uh, Board Member Goins McCants, and on behalf of Dr. Interim Superintendent Dr. Sean Joseph. Um, thank you all again for providing this time for our team to present. So this evening, we will continue our presentation of the proposed budget revisions by. Our divisions. Uh, we want to make sure we preserve the integrity of our primary mission. And where there is no compromise into the sustainability of instructional quality. Leadership, development, or service delivery. So, these budget work sessions are really important. For us to engage the board, also the larger community.
006Uh, tonight we'll begin with the proposed FY 2027 operating budget. We will provide an overview, uh, similar to what was provided this week. We just want to make sure that, um, for those that were not able to join us last week, we provide another high-level overview. of some of the key points, um, that we want to make sure are very clear to the public. So with that said, I will turn it over to Chief Howell to kick us off. Chief Howell? Good evening. Thank you. Share my screen here… Alright, so, um, before we get into it, just wanted to kind of give a little bit of backdrop, and first off, good evening to board members, our PGCPS family, staff, community. Um, stakeholders, um… This evening, we want to continue our deep dive into the 2027.
007Uh, proposed operating budget. As shared last week, the 27 proposed budget book. is a data-rich document with required elements that must capture. certain components, um, as outlined in legislation. Um, that includes our budget and accounting methodology, our fund structure, our revenue sources. expense categories by these state-mandated buckets, just to name a few. And while this format is required by law. The structure does not really lend itself to telling a clear story of operational budget considerations. And so that is the goal of the work sessions that we're having over these next. few weeks. So when we were last together, um, we reviewed the Division of Academics. operations and school support and leadership. And tonight, we will review the Division of Accountability. Human Resources and Information Technology. So this here is a familiar slide that we've. ground
008ourselves in, in terms of our overall process and where we stand. We had a gap coming into this process, a budget gap of $150 million. Um, we've worked… towards closing that gap, achieving 99% closure. and identifying reductions of around $148 million. We know that we have planned enhancements or investments for 2027 that are being proposed, which includes $35 million in accelerants. Um, and another $23 million, that's tied to the cost of doing business. So, at a high level, the gap that we knew we had coming into this was really tied to maintaining our employee compensation commitments. Um, that have been negotiated. In addition to that, we have commitments to our retirees as well. And then one point that I do want to clarify, because it did come up as a question later on, is around
009the adjustment that we're having to make. That's actually an impact. Um, to increase our budget for 2027, and that is the, uh, making the adjustment to our salary lapse assumption. This is not a cut, this is an expense, because we want to make sure that we're properly reflecting. The expense associated with field positions for the coming year. Because we've had a pretty dramatic change in our. Bill rate, and our vacancy rate for 2026, which we anticipate to continue in 2027. We have to adjust that assumption that's currently in our base budget, so that is actually an add-back to our budget. So these are the mandatory investments that we know that we needed to cover coming into this budget cycle of $150 million. in order to help balance this budget, we knew that we would have
010to put in some work to reduce our base budget in order to absorb these. In order to help close the budget gap. We identify reductions of around $148 million, and this provides a high-level summary. of where there was the reductions came from. As I stated earlier, we spent quite a bit of time at last week's session, and I encourage those. Um, who were not able to join us to go back and watch the videos when we spent time talking about academics. facilities and operations, as well as school support and leadership, which really focus on the student support and services buckets that you see here. Tonight, we're going to spend time talking about information technology, so this 6.1 million that you see here. And then the Division of Accountability and Human Resources, they are included in.
011the operational and central efficiencies, which you see outlined here. Um… In addition to what we had to adjust in our budget in terms of reductions for 2027, we have these planned accelerants, which we've been discussing throughout the budgeting process of around $35 million. across these various categories, special education, safety and security. Professional development. AI literacy and math and reading. In addition to the cost of doing… in addition to the, um, accelerance of $35 million, we also have just the cost of continuing with our existing operations. Um, there's an annual impact associated with maintaining those operations every single year. Um, that includes our investments that we need to maintain, our buses, um, investing in our, uh, technology for students and staff. Um, primarily laptops and Chromebooks. We also have the impact of, um. of our, um,
012textbooks as well. In addition to that, we make additional investments to support our schools. That's $3.8 million, and then we have the impact of this. costs going up, that includes, um. Maintenance of our, um… software, um, which has annual cost escalations associated with it, higher cost for utilities. Um, as well. So, all in, those additional impacts of just maintaining our existing services are around $23 million. Um, so with that being said, we will now transition over to the first division, which I believe is a division of Accountability. Board Member McCann, would you like me to… Do the introduction or. Yeah. Okay, thank you. Ah, yes, please, that's. So, and we will hear from our Division of Accountability, um, as we all know, accountability plays… All electric operations by establishing and monitoring the progress. Uh, in
013the strategic goals, um, that are in our strategic plan. Um, they do a lot around secure both competitive and formal grants to support. Our goals, they generate data to assess the level of achievement towards reaching those goals. And then ensuring compliance and currency with reporting. This upcoming fiscal year, in particular, will be challenging for the vision. Um, these are just greater data and reporting demands, which are really important to support the district's priorities. And to make sure we have what you'll hear us all say, return on the investments. We're also developing a new strategic plan, which will be closely aligned to our district's blueprint plan. All of which were accomplished, uh, with fewer resources. Um, and you'll hear the division talk about a proposed reduction to annual budget. The Division of Accountability has attempted to
014match. As its core budget efficiencies. by leveraging the reorganization of the strategic initiatives Office. Into the strategic office, and also leading several contractual obligations and consolidating. resources wherever possible. So now Dr. Strader will lead us through the details of his division's budget. Dr. Strader? Hi, good evening, everyone. Um, am I bringing… sharing my screen, or is someone else looking for me? Sure. Mr. Strader, Dr. Strader, you should share your screen. Okay, I will share. Alright, can someone confirm that you are now seeing the presentation? Yes, sir, we can see it. Yes. Alright, thank you. Uh, so thank you everyone for the opportunity to share our budget for this upcoming year. Um, let's start my timer. Alright, very good. So, I will jump right into this. When you look at our, um. division, our goals and
015drivers. I'll just start with what's included here. Um, the mission of the Division of Accountability is to provide and manage support. and support transparent accountability measures for Prince George's County Public Schools. That will lead the students prepared for college and career readiness. We have 3 primary goals. that we stand behind, align transparent and reporting accountability measures for Prince George's County Public Schools that will lead to schools and students understanding. and the adoption of the strategic plan and the Maryland Blueprint. Goal number two is to implement national, state, and district policy to ensure equitable access to instructional programs and opportunities. And goal number three is to ensure families and students' access to timely enrollment and registration. We support and facilitate the strategic boundaries and facility planning. in collaboration with our operations office, as well as. manage
016our student records. We have 3 primary core services, and this is our goals. Number one, to support student achievement by providing testing. Research, program evaluation services, actionable data, and excellent committed support to schools and our community. offering transparency, in particular. Core Service 2. identify, secure, and manage external. Grant funding resources that includes both federal and state. both competitive and formulaic grants. And poor service number 3, managed performance by implementing Prince George's County Public Schools Accountability Program. When you get into our budget plan. There is a lot here. The Division of Accountability has 5 departments, which I'll go into greater detail here momentarily, that are very diverse. So we attempted to pull together a statement. that is inclusive of all. So I'm going to read this, it's very loaded, but again, it is comprehensive in nature.
017So the Division of Accountability Budget Plan is designed to support the work of culture transformation. equitable resource acquisition. allocation and retention? And data-formed decision-making at all levels within the district. We're here to support innovation. change management, continuous learning. knowledge application, routine monitoring and evaluation. effective risk management and routine for continuous improvement, cultivating an empowered workforce, and strengthening the district's capacity. To adapt as the environment and priorities change. Very loaded, but again, it's very comprehensive for what we do. So let's take a closer look at the division of accountability. The division currently is made up of 5 departments. And I am actually joined this evening by our five directors representing these departments, and I'll give you a quick overview of these. We begin with the Department of Title I. They manage all 107 of our Title
018I schools, supporting them. Uh, with the Title I grants, the federally restricted Grant Fund. They work through the compliance measures for that, as well as. I'll offer them instructional support and everything else that that grant allows for. The second department is, uh… The monitoring and accountability. departments. They have two primary departments, uh, I should say sections within that department. But then the monitoring accountability, what's titled monitoring accountability here. That section focuses on supporting schools with their school improvement processes. In particular, they support schools with their school improvement planning. processes. The other section here, the Accountability Data Management. Office, this office provides support in all of our state. data reporting. They offer all of that data quality checks for any external data that we are providing. to any of our stakeholders. And they manage many of
019our ad hoc data requests. that come in from various stakeholders seeking information. The third department to highlight. is our student enrollment services. That has 3 sections, contains 3 sections. The Pupil Accounting section. They focus primarily on that registration and enrollment processes. of our parents, uh, first engaging our district. The second section is the school boundaries. This office maintains our school boundaries. and any type of redistricting efforts, large or small scale. The third section is a student records office. This office is very familiar to most. Especially students that are graduating, seeking their transcripts, and anyone that's moving within the district or outside of the district requesting. their student records. The third department is a department of strategic planning and resource management. that has 3 sections now. First is the strategic planning section. You may be familiar
020with the Transformation 2026 Strategic Plan. That section. as responsible for the development and maintaining and monitoring of that plan. It also includes the dashboards. Uh, that, um, share our progress in meeting our. critical success indicators, or CSIs, or KPIs. They also -- the second section here is the Grant Resource Management Team. They monitor the acquisition of all competitive as well as formulate grants that flow through this district. That includes grants such as our title grants, that formal application process flows through this office. as well as many of the other competitive brands. And last but not least, this is the newest section to join this office. This is the blueprint Initiatives Office. Formerly known as the Strategic Initiatives Office. We are collapsing what was formerly its own department into this department for efficiency purposes. I'll talk
021a bit more about that in detail in just a moment. And last but not least is the testing, research, and Evaluation Office. That office is responsible for maintaining over the 1 million assessments administered every year at both the. Federal, state, and local levels. Uh, they also manage the reporting of all those assessments, supporting all of our stakeholders, including our schools, our parents. any outside entity that is engaging in our assessment-related data. And last but not least, within DTRE, testing, research, and evaluation, is that evaluation office. A formal evaluation office, they conduct many different evaluations and research for the district. Supporting in the return on investment initiatives that we have. across many of our call centers, as well as support. Other research activities, like understanding the benefits of our summer school programs, understanding the benefits of
022our national board-certified teachers and teacher placements. We have many different activities that they engage in throughout the year. So that is the 5 departments that make up this division. Let's take a closer look now at the staffing. So, when you're talking about the division of Accountability, you're talking about. A team of 109 staff members strong. I wish to emphasize on the second level there, you'll see that ESSA and Title I. The reason why you see the staffing split out in such a way. is because for budget purposes. We're talking about generally two different funding sources. Our general funds. As well as our restricted or slash grant funds. Within that Title I office, there's actually two staff members. the director and their assistant that's funded with the general funds. And they have 23 supporting staff members
023that are actually funded through the grant. This often becomes a question, and that's why I chose to parse those positions out in such a way. So, the division is 109 members strong. Now, let's start getting into the nuts and bolts of what we've done with our budget for this upcoming year. As was shared in the introduction, there are several initiatives that accountability is taking on for this upcoming school year. We have to develop a new strategic plan. We're in the process of working through those. details, as well as we have to update our blueprint plan. Both very labor-intensive and requires a lot of stakeholder engagement. There's several other initiatives that accountability has taken on, including. Return on investment. analytics, and looking at. trying to provide better support in the decision-making of the different cost expenditures
024we have. This is all in addition to the greater need for data. A lot more folks are trying to make more informed decisions, database decisions. Uh, so there's many, many requests of this office. So when we were looking for cuts. we basically have two pools of money within this division. The first pool is for the staff. The staff make up the majority of the budget for this division. But the second major category are contracted services. There's not much in between. So when we look for reductions, we really have to look in those two primary coffers to see what it is that we can do. But we were, this upcoming school year, able to reduce the budget by $1.7 million. And how do we do that? programmatic changes, we collapse, the strategic initiatives Office into the
025Strategic Planning Office. This allowed us to combine the resources. Of those two departments to help us overcome those obstacles in dealing with the new strategic plan, as well as the blueprint plan. We've eliminated several contracted services, which I've included here for your review. Um, we were able to collapse. And look for efficiencies and. in scope of work. As an example, we had a major grant that was through the strategic initiatives Office. that we could leverage community school funds. Or, it was a similar scope of work, so we're able to move that work over to the community schools. eliminated some other key contracts that were in place that may impact our operations in years out, but for this upcoming year. We're looking pretty good. So, these were the major reductions that we have. within a division,
026again, total up to be about $1.7 million. being sensitive to my time, so… I also wanted to show the yin-yang of this upcoming school year, so although we were able to look to reduce our budget by $1.7 million. There is some cost of doing business enhancements. Uh, that are going to kick in for this upcoming year. So I just wanted to identify these. The support of the student growth measure reporting element that we have for this year has some cost associated with it, as well as. are new. Excuse me, uh, to share the district school performance dashboards. This is a board policy to maintain the dashboards for the district. As we're transitioning to a new strategic plan and an updated blueprint plan to maximize that transparency to our stakeholders. We have considerable revisions that we
027need to do to our dashboards that have costs associated with that. And last but not least, uh, we have. down below, which is going to be covered by this. Mm. Um, the student growth dashboards. We want to make sure. that all of our constituents are understanding where our students are in the continuum of growth. And we're making all of this available to our parents and to our stakeholders to get a better understanding of where our students are. compared to their peers within the district, as well as outside of the district. So these are the major initiatives. within the Division of Accountability in both reductions. and enhancements moving into this upcoming year. And again, I am joined by my. five directors. We're here to answer any questions that you may have. Thank you for the time.
028Thank you so much, Dr. Strader. Board members, do we have any questions? Board member Buza-Struther? Hi, thank you, uh, so much, and thank you, Chief Howell and Dr. Strader, for the opening presentations. I'm going to go back to, um… Chief Howell, um, for a moment. Um, when you did the overview of the, um… of the funding sources and, uh, looking at budget. Uh, the budget book, page 25, that breaks that down, that about 95%. of the funding sources come from the state and county. Can you talk about, like, when. how and when you understood we'd have a $150 million. budget gap? Like, how… how that's communicated in… And why? Because we are… we are actually quite early in a budget process for. the county and the state, the county executive hasn't. proposed a budget yet.
029The County Council hasn't voted on the budget. the state delegation is still in session, so we are not. at the end of a cycle of when PGCPS could receive. final information on budget, we have time. To… bring that impact to our legislators, so… What I'm… what I would like for you to explain is how you knew we would have $150 million gap. Thank you for that question. Um, so it's twofold. when we are starting any budgeting process, we want to at least look at. at a bare minimum, the cost that we must be able to cover on an annual basis, and so we will do some early projections. Around what that looks like, tied to the negotiated agreements that we. have executed. We'll make some assumptions about those that are not settled yet, and then
030we'll run some modeling based off of the employee base that exists at the time that we actually do the model. So this was in the fall. And you do it several points throughout the year, but at the time we were working on this, it was based off of what we had on hand in the fall. So that helps us to quantify that number. We knew that we had to also. Um, add back to our budget the contribution that's required for our retirees. Um, for 2027, so we knew that number as well. Um, and then you just… we also make some high-level assumptions around some of the other. Um, annual cost that we expect to see. Um, so initially, that's how we came up with that $150 million target that, at a minimum. We have to
031make sure that we have enough to cover this. Once you had to have that as your target of what you have to be able to cover, we then ran some high-level modeling on our revenue projections. So we do… it's all based off of assumptions at… on that… at that point. But we make some assumptions around our enrollment trends, and we know what the PPAs are, the per-pupil amounts, because they're outlined in legislation. So we can run some modeling on the revenue calculation. So, doing those two pieces, we could look… do the math to see this is what we expected to have come in. Versus being able to kind of cover the bare minimum and realize that we would have that… that preliminary gap of $150 million. Thank you, Chief Powell. I believe the question, and
032Board Member Buder-Struthers, correct me if I'm wrong. The question is specifically around, like, where did those numbers come from? So, will you have all of that modeling that you did. And then how do we know that we need to come down $150 million? Like, where did that. those two numbers come from. like, who told you this is the amount of money? That you have. Thank you, uh, Board Member Goins and McCants. Yeah, the… I think what I'm getting at is, is there a communication from the state. from the county early on. That provides you with an estimate. number. Like, that those calculations have already been done. by the state, by the county. You have outlined how state law. Yeah, so we don't know… Early in the fall. what we expect the contribution to be from
033the state. And county. So when we do our modeling, we're looking at the blueprint program funding. In aggregate, because we know it's a shared component associated with that. So we just model the revenue in total by Blueprint program. Not worried about where it was coming from, but just in total. So that is how we were able to come up with the total revenue projections. for the district is based off of that. component of it. Um… And then, in addition to identifying the bare minimum cost that we have to cover. We also know we have our current base budget, so you start with your current budget for 26, and then you sort of add to it. these additional items that would be on top of. Uh, what you have in your current budget, which is $150
034million that I just outlined with compensation, OPEB, etc. And that's how you get to your total expected cost. So that's how we do that revenue modeling. We do it in total for all the Blueprint program funding. When we fast forward to December. Now we have, um, wealth data that becomes available, and we can then refine our assumption to figure out, out of that blueprint funding source. How much is going to be the state share, and how much is going to be the county share. But in October, we don't have it yet. We mull it at the aggregate. Thank you, Chief Howell. Doctor Moss? Uh, Chief Howe, thank you so much for… Explaining this process a bit more. Um, as much as I… complained last year when I first got here. Um, I've got to tell
035you, I finally get it now. that this budgeting process is an iterative process, and the table. is always moving from December all the way to June. Um, and we just can't say that enough. I also want to, before I ask my real question, I want to thank Chief Strader as well. Uh, last year when I first got here, I had a budget amendment to merge the strategy offices, because I couldn't figure out how we had two offices with strategy, so I appreciate the work you've done there, um, to bring some efficiency on that side. And I also just want to say to the general public that's listening. Um, we've not yet made it to our office, um, which there are some things that will happen in the future around that. I think that happens at
036the meeting on the 19th. Um, so just as much as we're cutting other spaces, the board, it looks at its own work, too. I don't want that assumption to be out there. But, Ms. Howe, what I'd like for you to do for me is. Um, you know, I've gotten lots of phone calls and lots of emails around. Why do we have to cut certain programs? Can you tell us what we cannot pay for with Blueprint dollars, um, and why some of these programs… and. how, when Blueprint doesn't cover an item, we have to go into. our general fund to be able to cover that. Um, and how if there's no dollars left in reserve, because we're not able to roll dollars into that. it goes into, I mean, our operating dollars. So, can you talk
037about, kind of, how that works when. There's no direct weight for it in. Um, the blueprint allocation, how we go over into operating expenses. to be able to cover some of these things. I think it would be helpful for the public. to hear that, which is kind of contributing to some of this $150 million. Because you don't just have it sitting over an operating dollars. And if I'd said something wrong, I'm hoping you'll clarify it, but that's the way I see it. Thank you for that question. Um, and it is a bit confusing to sort of understand our budget in its entirety. So when you think about our budget. There is a portion that's covered that relates to, sort of, general operating, which means those resources are unrestricted. And then there's those that are restricted.
038And for Blueprint, we… the funding. covers both buckets. Some of it is restricted, and some of it is unrestricted. The biggest component of which is restricted relates to the community school's funding. And that is a substantial amount of funding that does come into the district. But it is restricted in use, um, and so that is… Um, something that we have to be very mindful of when it comes to what we're going to pay for. On the unrestricted side. Um, the funding is tied to specific Blueprint programs, and the legislation does outline. That the funding needs to follow the student to the school. So even with the funding that comes into the district, and I want to be clear on the unrestricted side, 95% of our funding is tied to Blueprint, so we don't have a
039lot of other. non-blueprint funding sources. Um, so that is the majority, the lion's share of our unrestricted dollars that come in. And so we have flexibility in how those dollars are utilized on the unrestricted side, but it's still… we have to still make sure that the funding is. primarily supporting our schools, um, and the costs are attributed to the intent of those dollars, and so. For example, if it's special education funding that comes into the district, we need to use it for special education. Um, so that's just kind of a general example. Probably the two other big buckets of revenue that we receive that is unrestricted is transportation. And we also receive funding for… it's called a transition grant. Has the word grant in it, but it is unrestricted, and it's tied to the blueprint.
040Um, so we have some flexibility with that as well, but even the transportation funding that we get. It's not enough to cover all full transportation costs. So, out of all the other Blueprint programs, foundation, Compensatory education, ML, etc. We're having to cover all the expenses for the district, those that support schools. And the portion that would cover just the general overall operations of the district as a whole. So, I know I'm limited on time, but I'm gonna pause there to see if that helped to answer. 5 seconds if the chair will give it to me. Or provide you some clarity around your question. So, the short question is. things like our specialty programs, are they funded with Blueprint dollars? Yes, the blueprint dollars has to cover everything. Thank you so much, Chief Howell. Board Member
041Olivo? Thank you so much, um, Board Member Goins. This, um, question actually is going back to Dr. Strader. I wondered if you could share a little bit more about, um, our work in going after grants. I was in a meeting last night, and some members of the public were asking. you know, do we… do we turn over every stone looking for… Um, grant that could be applicable and help us, um, with funding needs in the, in the system, and I wondered if you could just share a little bit more about that, please. I can. I'll begin the response, and then I'll turn it over to our Director, Vanessa Weathington, that oversees that office, but. It's a two-prong approach. We stand up our staff and constituents to. seek their own grants, and we do a lot
042of work providing that professional development to them to seek their own dollars, and. However, we also go after what is made of, uh, made. were shared with us as potential opportunities. So, I'll tee that up, and I'll turn it over to… I'm Director Weathing to… chime in, Narshall? Absolutely, yeah. So, we do go out and look for competitive grants. Many of the grants that we apply from… apply for come from the state. Um, there are quite a few that are federally, um, funded grants, but as you know, the federal landscape. Um, it's ever-changing, and so wherever possible, we work with the program directly to identify grants that. align with their programs. Um, whether it is federal or state, but we also want to be mindful of the bandwidth and capacity of staff to implement said
043grants. Um, what we don't want to do is go after grants for things that are already funded, and ultimately, we are returning money to the federal government, so we support all teams in the district with looking for grants. We also. Identify other grants and share them with teams, um, just to see if they can, you know. use the money if they have the bandwidth on their teams to, um, ultimately spend down and provide those services. Dr. Webbington, can you share how… what was the dollar amount, uh, that we went after last year? I believe it was $125 million is the, um, amount of grants that we went after last year. That includes our, um, competitive grants, some of our formula grants, title grants. Yep. We've gone after quite a few. Ultimately, some were canceled by
044the federal government, so we were not ultimately able to see it through, but we still went after quite a large, um… Dollar amount. Yeah, thank you for sharing. I just wanted to provide that scope. For everyone. Thank you. Thank you so much, I appreciate it. Vice Chair Briggs? Thank you so much, Committee Chair Goins McCants. Um, my question is for Chief Howell. Um, and… but I do want to say thank you to Dr. Schroeder for the presentation. It was really thorough and clear. Um, so I didn't have questions about it. But, um… Miss, uh, Ms. Howe, I did have a question about the telecommunications revenue bill. that's been named a few times throughout this process. I know that you, along with. Um, our interim superintendent has kind of discussed how that. pool of money, or
045that funding stream at some point. has been minimized to some extent because of a recent bill in the General Assembly. And one of the things that I wasn't clear on, that I was hoping you could clarify is one of the words that was used was that the county council was able to supplement. the telecommunications funding for the required Blueprint, um, minimum requirement. What I wasn't clear on was once that became that telecommunications revenue. became applicable to the minimum for the Blueprint funding. is the clarification or the distinction when you all say supplement? I guess in my mind, I was thinking that they were using the telecommunications money. Instead of giving money. So were they giving us the telecommunications money for the Blueprint in addition to other money, or what has changed specifically? Yeah, thank you
046for that clarifying question. The energy and telecommunications revenue that we received prior to Blueprint was above and beyond whatever we were getting in state aid funding. Once Blueprint. Um, was implemented, and even for the first couple years, 22 and 23, we were receiving what was required and mandated in Blueprint. As well as the energy and telecommunications revenue on top of that. Um, the energy and telecom revenue beginning in 20… For, um… is when they, uh, the law passed or the bill changed that resulted in that being a funding source. one of many funding sources that goes towards the county contribution for PGCPS. Their funding sources include property taxes, income taxes, recordation taxes, and then now energy and telecommunications taxes. And it may have already been a component of it in the past, but they have
047now increased. Or they're utilizing more of those funds to meet the minimum required for Blueprint. So in 24, when that new bill, um, and that new law passed. is now one of the funding sources to meet the minimum requirement. And then just lastly, if you have it right now, like, what's the dollar amount? So, what was the… what we were getting versus what we're getting now? The energy and telecom amount that we were getting, it varied from year to year. It, you know, fluctuated 30, 35 million. I think it got up to $50 million one year. Um, and I think the year that it was. projected to end, it was going to go up even more. Um, but I would say between 35 and $50 million, depending on the fiscal year, it varied by. Um,
048you know, it just depended on how much revenue they had coming in. And then, can I ask one last question, uh, Chair Gomes-Bancancis, really quick? Um, we are going to second round, so if we can restart the timer, and then you can ask your question of the second round question. Okay, great. Um, I just had really quickly, so this was the other piece Chief Howe, was that, um, for the… contribution amount for Blueprint, so there's the county and there's the state contribution. I know that the state amount you all named was going up, but the county amount was going down. Can you just clarify that? That to… that, uh, that rationale why. Yes, so now that the governance budget has been released, and we have the state aid document, we can sort of verify our
049assumptions based off of the wealth data that we received in December. Um, because the wealth for the county. grew at a slower pace than the wealth for this state. then that means that the contribution now required between the state and county is shifting. The state now is going to be contributing a greater percentage. Um, then the county had been previously contributing the year before. So in 26, um, versus… The proposed budget for 27, that shift is taking place, so the amount of the county contribution now. Um, is actually going down in terms of a percentage relative to, um, what it was previously, and the state will be picking up a bigger portion of those costs. Okay, so this isn't about values, it's not about does the state care, or does the county care? This is
050a matter of, like, there's a base amount, percentage-wise, that needs to be given, and whoever has more revenue coming in, that's going to be adjusted. Based on some algorithm to ensure that we're getting the adequate amount of funding. Every jurisdiction in the state of Maryland. Follows the same funding formula, and it is wealth equalized. So the wealthier counties have to contribute more. And those that are less wealthy contribute less. And they're all following what's required by law, and it's driven by those. But by those wealth-equalized percentages. Board members, do we have any additional questions for the Division of Accountability? Seeing no hands. Thanks so much, Doctor Strader, and your team, as well as Chief Howell, for answering our questions. At this point, the committee chair recognizes Dr. Collins for the Division of Human Resources budget
051presentation. Thank you. The next budget discussion is from Division of Human Resources, um, which is a one point… $4 million, uh, in reduction. reductions are primarily from discretionary spending, which is designed to limit the operational impact. our human resources, also known HR functions. Human Resources is responsible for human capital, so all of the strategies that help us to have the best staff. to magic schools. Um, as you all know, hiring quality candidates is really, really important. And we need to do it more efficiently and quickly. We've had some wins. Our HR area this year, reducing the number of. Driver vacancies to 60. Um, that's the lowest in 5 years. We were, uh, our district was recognized by Governor Wes Moore, State Superintendent Dr. Wright. For decreasing teacher vacancies by over 50%. Again, that was the
052lowest reduction of all the local education agencies in the state. And we will also recognize, uh, we've… process for all positions for this coming school year. In addition to the hiring, attention, and focus we've had. are also, uh, focusing on professional learning. Uh, as you've heard, our interim superintendent. We provide aligned and coherent job professional learning. looking at all of our staff and what the needs are. Um, we have not finalized or developed a model. Of what our systemic improvement model will look like, but we are in, sort of, mode of, sort of, figuring out what currently exists. Uh, what do we lean into in Kenyu? What do we need to pull back on? it's critical that we hire, uh. a really strong and committed associate superintendent that could work across offices. to bring coherence
053and help us to implement a systematic model. That has the voices of all of our stakeholders. So at the time, I will turn it over to Dr. Edwards to lead the presentation. for the Division of Human Resources. Thank you, Dr. Collins. Good evening, Vice Chair Briggs, Committee Chair Goins McCants, and all of our board members. As Dr. Collins shared, I am Dana Edwards, and it's my pleasure to serve as our district's Chief Human Resources Officer. And tonight, I'll share with you the division's FY27 recommended budget. Um, human resources equals people, where they work, what they do, how they work, and their lived experiences every day when they're at the work sites. Our 22,000 employees equal, really, how our district's vision comes alive with the work they do daily. And that gives us the growth and
054the results of student learning, um, and their experiences equal our organizational culture. I want to share with you a little bit about. the different offices that are under the umbrella of the division. Each one of these offices speaks to kind of where our employees. enter, how they grow while they're here, um, and then how we make sure that they're growing roots within our district and we take care of them. Our talent acquisition and management office focuses on those touchpoints of when someone has the interest of working in Prince George's County Public Schools. It's our recruitment, our hiring that we focus on here. We do substitutes and temporary staffing within this particular office, as well as the certification and licensure. that our staff need. While our staff are here, it's very important that as we hire
055them, we recruit them, we also need to be able to provide them feedback about their performance. Um, and really focus on that through our Office of Employee Performance. And our Office of Employee Performance. Um, for our teachers, we use the framework for teaching and learning, and we really use that as the grounding of when we are providing feedback and doing observations within the classroom, we use that as that framework. But we have a performance management system for all levels of our employees within the district that really provides information in terms of how you are doing with the work that you have been assigned to. Um, if there's coaching that needs to be provided, and then really creating a cycle of improvement to help people, um, either maintain their performance and or get better. Our Office
056of Professional Learning and Leadership really focuses on pipeline work when we think about school leadership opportunities, as well as our teaching opportunities. Hi, Doctor Edwards, I'm going to. I'll stop you for a little bit. I don't think we're seeing your. presentation. I just saw it on the screen, but definitely will… Try it again. How do we see now? Are we good to go? Okay, we could say that, yeah. Okay. No worries. Thank you. I think we can see it, I think it just wasn't moving if you were moving slides. Nope, it was still on this slide, but I appreciate you guys. Okay, I'mma start… I'm not gonna start over, I'm gonna pick up where I left off. Um, so in our Office of Professional Learning and Leadership, they really focus on the space of really
057looking at our new teacher induction support, which is extremely important within our district. Research states that 3 years is really the space of when induction takes place. And so they take time to really make sure that our new teachers are receiving the support that they need to be able to really try to make them stay here within our district. We are very proud here in Prince George's County Public Schools that we have 633 educators who hold national board certification, and we have 914 who are currently pursuing that. This work takes place in the Office of Professional Learning and Leadership, really kind of doing case management and supporting those educators through that. We want to maintain our status of being number one in the state with the most diverse MBCT. CADRE, and this only happens, um,
058when we really think about doing that work systemically. Our final area in the Division of Human Resources is employee and labor relations. Um, and it's important within that, when we think about the relational component, um, of not only creating those contracts that we have with our labor union partners, but ensuring that we're doing some real good authentic collaboration, um, working collectively and collaboratively with them as we think about the experiences that employees have and limiting variance across worksites. Included in this, uh, office also would be our fingerprinting and background, um, unit, um, that every employee, um, within our district must go through, as well as our volunteers with fingerprinting. And they also maintain our employee records and verification. So those are the different areas within the Division of Human Resources. Each one of those aligns
059with the employee life cycle in terms of how they enter into the district, where they have these experiences, and definitely taking time to grow talent and making sure that people have what they need as they move on. On the next slide, just to give you an overview of… now that you know about the work that we do, we have 178 members within, um, staff members within the Division of Human Resources. Within my office, there are 3, including myself. One of those staff members actually focuses on a new initiative that came forward this year of new employee induction. And so every employee who is new to the district, or if they are starting a new position and changing unions. Um, uh, goes through almost an introductory or an induction program. Um, to be able to kind
060of level set, and so everyone comes in and hears that information. We have 73 members who actually do the hiring, the hiring, the support of staff as they're coming in the district. Eight members in the Office of Employee Performance. Um, 68 in professional learning and leadership, and 26 in labor relations. These numbers are important because as I go over the individual division's budget, you will see and hear the focus will be on the discretionary reductions. And not necessarily reductions in terms of personnel. On the next slide. I'd like to just talk about, um, our mission. As you can see on the left, and the core services that we provide. To make sure that we recruit, develop, and retain a high-quality and diverse workforce. to ensure, um, educational excellence, quality recruitment and staffing services is critical,
061and making sure that we're in the right places and spaces to bring in the top-tier talent. We want to offer a robust offering of professional learning opportunities. We've talked as a district over the past couple of months in terms of really aligning our resources. to create a coherent model that will continue to give us the results that we need, but also the support of our staff so that they… we can use it as a retention effort. And then finally, positive labor and management relationships to be able to support our employees within the district. Our next slide. What you will hear are key highlights. Um, again, I've shared that this budget focuses on coherence and efficiency. There's a $1.4 million savings that was achieved. And then, um, for key highlights 3, 4, and 5, they do
062focus on professional learning, looking at the coming year. Establishing an office of organizational development that will focus on not only the organizational culture. But also looking at building out the systemic job embedded professional learning across the district. Being able to support the needs of our staff, which in essence, will also support the needs of our students. An associate superintendent to be hired within this fiscal year, FY26. to adequately prepare and do the necessary collaboration needed, um, within all of our divisions, and also with our labor associations. And there is a request for a $1.1 million accelerant to be able to use for the inaugural year. of OOD, and Dr. Joseph has shared that within the recent budget discussions. Next slide. We had a $1.4 million target. The bulk of that was achieved through $858,000, um,
063through discretionary spending, and then $586 with reductions of, uh, 5… 6.0 FTEs. Next. Within the Office of the Chief Human Resources Officer, the total proposed reduction was 92… approximately $92,000,282. We focused on discretionary reductions with catering services and meeting expenses. reducing non-local travel. This is in alignment with other divisions and what we've done as a system. And really looking at dues reductions, um, and contracted services. The implications of being able to approach how and being more strategic with our professional membership, um, not from an individual standpoint, but looking at group memberships, which sometimes are often cheaper. And then we've had some audits done by Urban Schools Human Capital Academy in the past. And in reducing those contracted services is important to note that we have to focus on integrating the recommendations and best practices. Versus
064working directly with the company and spending more with those contracted services. Next slide. In our Employee Labor Relations Office, reductions were made, um, for $202,000. that focused on reduction in office furniture. Um, again, contracted services. And in a seat of transparency, I do want to share, within the budget book, there is a 1.0 FTE reduction of an identification management clerk. That position is currently filled. However, in going back and reviewing the operations of the office, there are only two people who do that work. They're responsible for taking the ID badges for every single employee within the district. Um, and that is a safety measure that we do here in Prince George's. schools, um, with. Give me one second, Dr. Edwards. Ms. Mcmillan, can you reset the timer for 3 additional minutes, please? Let me continue,
065Dr. Edwards. Thank you. Um, reducing this by one to one person is just not operationally sound. So, um, I will be reinstating this position, but for the $50,000… about $50,000 that's associated with it, I will balance that out by making a $50,000 reduction from. my budget for my office. Next slide. Office of Employee Performance, there was approximately $73,000 that was reduced from this office. Again, the focus on catering service and office supplies and contracted services, there are no implications here that we can see at the moment, um, but we will continue to monitor this space should there be in order for us to course correct. Our Office of Talent Acquisition and Management, um, again, as a reminder, this is the space that does our recruitment and hiring and credentialing of staff. The reduction here was
066$484,000. Um, 822. Um, focus on temporary staff and supplies. and associated funding with workshops. The continued focus is on recruitment. There was no reduction made there, and there were no reductions made in FTEs to make sure that we're focusing on recruitment, selection, and hiring best practices. And finally, our Office of Professional Learning and Leadership. There was a $541,000 reduction, um, focused on workshop costs. Um, there are 9 vacant induction coach positions. Um, this is a reduction of 5 FTEs that are all vacant here, which leaves us 4. The focus here in terms of the implications for, um, this particular space is to really examine our roles to look at how we kind of broaden our approach to coaching. and really design a systemic and aligned approach for job-embedded professional learning. And as Dr. Collins shared,
067we do need the support of the incoming position that we've identified, but we also need to take time to continue to authentically collaborate. and design that work. And then finally, I could not end this without sharing. We are hiring. And so, the link is here, as well as the QR code. Um, this is our talent acquisition portion of our talent and acquisition team, who does a lot of the hiring. We are hiring, we are hiring, we are hiring, and at this point, I turn it over to you. Um, committee chair McCants for any questions that the board may have at this time. Dr. Magruder, you can go for questions. Thank you. Board members, do we have any… Questions? Board member Oliva? Thank you so much, um, and thank you so much, Dr. Edwards, for this,
068um, this really strong presentation. Um, it was a real pleasure to stand with you and Chair Jackson and others at the. County Executive's press conference really sharing how dramatically we've reduced our teacher vacancies, um, which is really exciting. I wondered if you could just talk for a moment about specific recruitment for, um, bilingual, especially Spanish bilingual, um, teachers, as well as staff. Thank you for the question, and it was a pleasure to stand with you as well. Um, I would like to have my Director of Talent Acquisition and Management to be able to support a lot of the details there. Um, the one thing I'll say, as Dr. Malone, um, comes off of mute. is that as we, um. do our recruitment this year. Um, we definitely know that that is a space that we
069do want to increase staff who are bilingual here within our district to be able to create the level of comfort many of our families and students need. We do have some specific areas I'd like for her to be able to highlight at this time. Thank you, Dr. Edwards, and good evening, everyone. Um, so some of our recruiting efforts around increasing our bilingual workforce, we actually do a targeted bilingual hiring event at Sonia Sotomayor Middle School. We do that each year. where we open it up and we hire for. Teachers, substitutes, uh, custodians, security, paraprofessionals. um, dedicated aides. A lot of the clerical support positions. We also have increased our presence by returning to Puerto Rico. We've brought that back where we go out, we actually have. Recruiters leaving this Saturday. Where they will be going
070to Puerto Rico to actually, hopefully. provide some early contracts to those who are interested in coming to be a part of our workforce. Um, in addition to that, we have started making connections with different. Hispanic institutions and conferences so that we can be a part of that. and increase our recruiting there as well. Thank you, Dr. Malone. One additional ad I'd just like to share is we recently received a grant. Thank you so much. That gave us an opportunity to be able to provide as we think about going to Puerto Rico, relocation, um, costs for incoming staff who are out of state, um, as well, so that will be a benefit for us in this process, too. That's great. Thank you both so much, I really appreciate it. Board members, do we have… Any additional
071questions for first round? I have one. Can you speak to… When you went through all of your cuts and… different subsections. Can you speak to how, if at all, any of those cuts will impact recruitment efforts broadly? So they won't, um, and that was one critical component. If we go back and look at talent acquisition management, it was important that we reserve those funds and really have, um. almost a safety net around them. We have a fantastic recruitment team with a great vision, they're doing some different things, and because of the fact that we hire anywhere between 800 to 1,000 new teachers every year. We have to be on the forefront. We have 113 recruitment, um, and hiring activities for this coming year, so we didn't want to touch any of that. Um, and looking.
072backwards in terms of what was helpful for that team to be able to really reduce those vacancies. Some of it was organizational, just structures we put in place, um, in addition to that, it was just the recruitment. So, none of this will impact recruitment in any way. And that was a critical safeguard we wanted to put in place. And then with that, a lot of the things that seem to be cut from that budget seem to be. Maybe, like, they were on the retention side, so how are we addressing. Some of those cuts to ensure that we are retaining the talent that you all have done such a wonderful job recruiting. No worries, thank you for that question. So, um, when we think about retention, that has to be a cornerstone of our work. Um,
073while we do fantastic with recruitment, it's not really sustainable to do that high level every year. And that really is a bedrock, um, retention of organizational culture. So, a couple key things that will be critical that, um, we've talked about as a district in terms of. really looking at the professional learning opportunities and using the space of the Office of Organizational Development. To really ground into, kind of, formulating the employee experience. A component of that, um, is really looking at what does employee induction look like. how we really cultivating and offering safe spaces and affinity groups for people to really come, be their authentic self, really kind of build networks. and stay here and see themselves here within our district. Um, in addition to that, uh, I would also say, um, really, again, focusing on
074just building those opportunities and working with our labor partners. Um, because when there is a healthy relationship there, our staff feel as though that we're taking care of them. Together versus separately. So the reductions will not, um, impact, but we'll be looking more systemically to align for coherence. And I know my time is up. Thank you so much, Dr. Edwards. Doctor Moss? Uh, Dr. Edwards, thank you for, uh, your steady hand at this work. Um, you know, I want you to take an opportunity. Um, to clarify for the public. Um, how you've kind of reduce. these large vacancies. There's, you know, there's some tension out there that. Perhaps we really didn't reduce the vacancies, we just, uh, moved them. around, or we hire people that were less qualified. And that our children, you know, don't
075necessarily deserve these less qualified folks. So I'd love for you to talk about your theory of change around making sure every kid has access to an excellent and effective teacher in the way that you. done that in the reductions. And then secondly. Um, you've proposed a $1.1 million accelerant. Um, if that is not funded with this Office of Organizational Development. Like, what kinds of impacts will that have on the system if we're not able to do that this year? If the board says. you know, Dr. Ayles, we just don't want to do that this year, right? That's… that's just too much. what would we lose by not doing that? So, one, clarify for the public. what your theory of change has been with respect to. Um, making sure every kid has access to a great
076and effective teacher, and where we are with that, and then. What do we stand to lose if we don't approve the accelerant? Thank you, Dr. Moss, for two questions in a minute and a half. So, the one thing I know, being a former conditional teacher, a middle school principal. Um, and the work that I've done in operations as well as instruction. We have to have a qualified teacher in every room. To be able to do the work that's needed to instruct, um, but it's twins, teaching and learning, and we need the learning to be in place. The work that the team did last year, I want to celebrate. The reduction is real. We don't have fake numbers here in terms of what was done, and that was done from being fully staffed in the human
077resources space. Um, to be able to do that. Having the leadership in place. Um, and really working collaboratively, um, with our school's office. and really kind of, um, hiring quality candidates. For this year, the theory of change is we need to maintain the things that we have done. However, we have to do it earlier, and we have to do it quicker. We are offering early contracts, um, to, um, qualified teachers. Um, to know that you work for Prince George's County Public Schools. We have to be ahead of our other districts. And we have to market ourselves from a place that this is a place where you can come and grow. We've done a great job of that as a system, and people have to see themselves in it. And our customer service. has to be
078top-notch. We have to get back to pe… And we have to let them know we want them to be here. So really, earlier hiring is one component, and then being present. and communicating, um, effectively. Thank you so much, Dr. Edwards. Board members, do we have any more questions for first round? Seeing none, move to Board Member Olivo for a second round. You're muted. Thank you, Chair Goins-Mcance. Thank you. Um, Dr. Edwards, you actually kind of started to answer this a little bit with Dr. Moss's question, but I wanted to say one of the, um, in addition to, you know, filling so many vacancies. One of the things that I was really impressed with was, um, in filling those vacancies, was our work. what seemed to me a lot of attention to potentially promoting from within.
079So, you know, are you working in this area? you know, come consider being a bus driver, for example, if that might be a higher wage, or a better schedule, or, you know, something like that. And I wondered if, um, could you share a little bit more about that ongoing work and. I guess give me a little bit of a reassurance that some of the cuts that you're looking at in your office won't. won't stymie or slow down that sort of building from within that we've started to do with PGCPS. We want to maintain… thank you for the question, we want to maintain, um, almost like a grow your own, I think is the best way to look at it. Um, MSDE has really provided, um, Maryland State Department of Education has provided and afforded us
080an opportunity. I want to thank Dr. Matthews and her team who are currently working. to put together a grant for us to get additional funding from our State Board of Education to be able to do that if. We are provided that opportunity. Focusing on our paraeducators, of course, because they're right there within the classroom, but then you bring up the component around how we really take other positions. and feed into. trying to fill vacancies for our bus operators and our bus attendants. And so, these are spaces where we know that many of our employees may work part-time jobs. But we also have part-time jobs in the district. So our reductions, um, do not take away our ability to do that. I think one of the pieces in terms of our Office of Professional Learning, um,
081our Office of Professional Leadership and Learning. They do work with our different, um, employee groups around creating those opportunities. That work will not go away. I think what I want to give the assurance around is what we're trying to see is. How do we tighten our alignment and our coherence around it, and possibly maybe reduce some duplicity that's there, and also being able to enhance those opportunities more so than anything else. Thank you, Dr. Edwards. Um… Board Member Brown, and then we'll go to Dr. Moss. Hi, everyone. I just had a quick question about, um, the recruitment in Puerto Rico. Can you speak to that a little bit more, and exactly what it's for? Because somebody who's here, it's like, well, we can't find anybody here? What exact… can you kind of speak to. The
082advantages of that, um, and why that is so important to recruit. Thank you for that question, Board Member Brown. I'm going to ask Dr. Malone to be able to provide additional details. As she comes off a speaker, I just want. piece for context, we're not the only district that does this, so it's a practice. that many people find, um, beneficial. Thank you, Dr. Edwards. Um, the reason that we've started going back to Puerto Rico, because what we find, one, there are not many. Um, individuals who are seeking. degrees in order to teach Spanish within our schools. Spanish being one of the, um, major. content areas that students have been seeking to take. So by going to Puerto Rico, we know that there… we have a. an MOU with a, um, company. And they actually have
083a selection of teachers who are fully certified, professionally certified. And that they are looking to come here and teach, so we actually go there, collaborate with them, offer early contracts, and then they come over. So the reason is just that there's a limited amount of. people here available for us to actually consider having them. teach Spanish, pretty much. Has, have you all seen. um, a success rate when you recruit from Puerto Rico? Do you feel like… and then to… Chair Goins McCants, is there… Like, what is the retention rate for those who are recruited from Puerto Rico? Do they actually stay and continue to teach? Spanish, are they… are they able to be… Um, do they get higher certifications when they come here? What does that look like? So our retention rate has, um, been
084really well. could say, out of the last couple of years, there may have only been 2 or 3 who actually returned. And they return not because they didn't want to continue, they return for other reasons. So our retention rate is really helpful, um. positive, I would say. We also get support from our… partners in curriculum and instruction. They actually provide workshops and sessions. To help strengthen anything from. I'm writing lesson plans. to helping support students and classroom management. That helps with the retention. Excellent, and I know, um, Dr. Edwards mentioned that other districts do it. Does, like, Montgomery County do it, Anne Arundel, who else does it besides us? I can share that Montgomery County, um. Should I keep talking? Okay. About 5 more seconds, please. No worries, Montgomery County, uh, also visits Puerto Rico.
085The one thing I will share that is also of benefit, the schools in Puerto Rico are in a. a bilingual environment. And so the teachers are teaching through the lens of almost like a, um… They do Spanish, and they do English, so they come with that particular skill that is a benefit for us as well. Thank you, Dr. Edwards. I'm asking these questions because, obviously, we've gotten an influx. of immersion, um, from families, and so I wanted people to kind of see also the importance of keeping those programs, so thank you. Well, I've got to tell you, um… We are blessed in District 7 because of the Puerto Rico recruitment program. Principal Santiago, um, is a direct reflection of. PGCPS having a decades-long partnership. in Puerto Rico to bring folks here. Uh, our principal. had
086overlook, um, actually came here as a teacher. And has availed herself to the principalship. Um, and those are the kinds of results we get from those kinds of programs, so… Um, to answer that question around retention, it seems to be strong that folks are onboarding into the principalship as a result. Um, of that program, so I just want to clarify. Um, the importance of that work for schools like Overlook that sits in District 7. We've benefited tremendously from that. Um, I do want to come back to my original question. Dr. Edwards, should we not give you the $1.1 million, what would we stand to lose? You got 2 minutes this time. Oh, man. Okay, no, just joking. Thank you, and I appreciate you coming back, because I felt bad I couldn't get to it. If
087we don't receive the 1.1 million accelerant, and this is something that Dr. Joseph has been speaking of. Um, I don't think that there will necessarily be a loss. Um, if you notice the request is not a very large request. Because as we've shared, much of what we do focused on professional learning, what we do focused on, um, support and coaching, and what we do regarding, you know, cultivating the employee experience. We have FTEs within the district, and we have, um, funding within the district. It's just where it's situated. Um, without the build-out, Dr. Maas, Board Member Moss, I can't really give those specifics. But what you do bring in mind for me to be really considerate of is to create a Model A, a Model B, and a Model C. If we receive the 1.1,
088if we don't receive the 1.1, um, and then if we receive a portion of it. Um, so I appreciate, um, just kind of pushing that thinking at this moment. What was the vision for this office, again, just for further clarification? Absolutely. Okay, go ahead. Sure. Doctor Amber, would you like me to assist? Yeah. So, uh… One of the things that Dr. June and I, um. have noted throughout our visits to the district around professional learning. The major question is, is the learning that we're providing. being done, uh, Melody. and coherently, and in a. that is meeting the needs of each of our employees, from our operations team to our teacher team all across the district. The idea is for there to this professional learner to live in one office with one person. That can have
089a laser light. on systemic approach. A specific framework that we're looking at. to provide personal learning. Dr. Zuckerman last week talked about AI. We need to have AI in it across all of our professional learning streams, no matter what. Um, so we need to have an office. That is looking systemically across every single division office in the district. around what are we currently doing around professional learning. What is needed for our teachers? What are they saying? What do our leaders need? Um, in terms of building their capacity around our core areas, specifically in literacy and mathematics. But some of the areas that Dr. Edwards mentioned, how we're retaining our teachers? And so it's a much more systemic approach. If we don't receive the funding, quite honestly. We're resilient, right? We're educators, we will be resilient
090and look at how we maximize what we have to be much more efficient. And, um, not wasteful in some ways that we have found. But we do… we have seen variants in the classroom, and we need to account for that, and to have an office that's specifically assigned to do that. I hope that answers Dr. Moss. Thank you all so much. And if there are no more questions for… the division of Human Resources. Thank you so much, Dr. Edwards. The committee chair recognizes Dr. Collins for the Division of Information Technology's budget presentation. Thank you. And now we'll move to our final budget over the evening, uh, for the Division of Technology… Information Technology. for their perforating budget. Um, their budget includes roughly $5 million in reductions, primarily to. consulting service, federal funded, uh, programs, uh,
091such as software. and some positions. Um, they're also trying to make sure they have a laser-like focus on the right infrastructure. For the hardware and software that we have in our district to report teaching and learning. Our business operations. Uh, to really drive innovation. So, I'll turn it over to Dr. Zuckerman and his team. presentation. Great, thank you, Dr. Collins, and good evening to the members. Um, I feel like I've had a lot of time with the board lately, so I'll try to be… Bree. Um… So, our, um… next slide, please. Our, uh, department, the Division of Technology. Uh, as I'm sure you know, our large focus is just continuing to advance our digital ecosystem that supports. teaching and learning. Um, we want to continue to modernize, and we continue to want to be efficient.
092Uh, as well as drive innovation. And so our budget plan, as Dr. Collins said. reflects continued advancements in our infrastructure, cybersecurity, modernizing. Um, our information systems while at the same time. pursuing efficiencies. Next slide, please. Uh, just for… to highlight the division, uh, we have 5 core areas. Our Department of Technology Integration and Support, led by Ms. Kim Robertson. Stu is here on. The Zoom with us, we have our Department of Technology Operations, led by Centeneferin. This is our engineering, our internet, our database administrators, cybersecurity focus. We have our Department of Business applications, that's led by Mr. Claude Charles. That's Oracle, largely, that's our business information system for… So, largely Oracle. Um, and our Department of Student Applications. led by Jin Huang Gao, and that's really synergy, formerly Schoolmouse, and we have developers and project
093managers, and analysts there. And lastly, we also have our print shop and mail services team. Uh, which handles, you know, obviously the printing of the district, the looping of materials from the district. Next slide, please. So the key highlights that I just want to elevate, and then we've been into the discussion, we've been preparing for. the sunsetting of the ESSER funds for several years now. working to streamline, um, just the different tools we have that are going to continue to do that. It's a couple years ago, we near eliminated some tools last year. We reduced another couple of tools, and as you look ahead to. Next year, we're looking where we can find redundancies. A good example is what we're doing tonight. We're using Zoom. We also have Google Meet inside of our district. Uh,
094it's on Google Suite, so we're looking just at a license structure to see. Can we just reduce the number of Zoom licenses to specifically the teams and departments that need it? That might be one example of a redundancy that we have. Uh, in the district, um… Just to lift up one example of looking to negotiate with our vendors just down from our. The current contracts we have. We're also looking at reducing, um, just consulting services, not too much. We think it's too, too deep there, because we do rely on consultants for staff augmentation, but. What we think we can… we can scale back there as well. We have 15 positions that we are eliminating as well. 11 of them are vaping. There's largely. Information Technology Coordinator positions that we've added several years ago. We've been
095slowly filling. Uh, to help implement all the different tools that we've added. Um, so we're gonna… Uh, not fill, essentially, and eliminate those that we… I haven't played already. So in total, that gets us to 5.1 million, um, in reductions. Next slide. Uh, and so what will we keep? Well, we're going to continue our focus on innovation, as Dr. Collins mentioned, continuing our push with AI. And soon as staff AI literacy, a lot of that will be focused on professional development next year. We're moving with efficiency to continuing to leverage the tools we have, to eliminate any ticket-based processes. Continue to enhance our inventory management. Continue to be really strong in tech support and getting our technicians out to schools, and… Um, and having a really best help desk. And we're going to continue to
096modernize, um, so hopefully within the next couple of months, we'll be bringing a. Uh, Oracle, Fusion Cloud project for you through approval. We're continuing our cybersecurity enhancements, um, the exact location. Um, and, uh, and just ongoing technology refresh that's, that obviously needs to remain. Next slide. In terms of what's going to change… oh, it says insert tools there. That's an outdated, uh, slide for some reason that got populated and given to you guys. So we are actually still negotiating with our vendors in terms of what tools. Which, like I said before, for sure, we're… We're going to reduce some of our footprint in our video conferencing platform. Um, and we're looking at other tools that we can. That where there's overlap. We have Canva, uh, and we have Adobe, for example, and so we want
097to refine that and streamline that so you can really narrow down the licenses, so we maximize both tools at a lower cost. Um, customization opportunities, this is something that will be impacted. When we reduce consultant services, it limits the availability of resources to create. Customized solutions for user groups, or there'll be delays in those customizations. It doesn't mean that our tools aren't good that we have now, it just means that there's a user group comes to us and says, hey, we want to enhance this product. Uh, what we might have been able to do in, let's say, 30 days may take 60 days or 90 days now, so you do some, like, drop on what they think. Um, and then, as I mentioned, reduction of our information technology coordinators. That will change some of our
098service delivery. Uh, that we were planning for. But it's not something we've implemented yet anyway, so I don't think there'd be much of an impact that people will feel. Next slide. Okay, so I'm gonna end the presentation and turn over to questions. I apologize for the typo in that long presentation there, not one slide. No worries, thank you for that. Dr. Zuckerman, uh, board members, do we have any questions? Yes. Dr. Moss. Chief Zuckerman, thank you for your work here. Um… I've got a question. Um… We've got… I don't know, I'm gonna exact… this is gonna be a huge hyperbole. But we have a million and one different programs. Everybody, every school is purchasing different programs. And while they may not impact your budget, can you talk to me around the work that you're doing.
099around enterprise management. Um, and I know you probably need the curriculum team here a bit. But, um, I think as the superintendent says so often, variance is the enemy of excellence. And that is certainly the case with software programs. Um… y'all know how I feel about DreamBox, it's been killing dreams for a long time. Um, but can we talk about the work that we're doing around enterprise management. So that individual schools are not contracting with. Random vendors. to buy certain software, and we have multiple… I understand principals have autonomy in that regard. But it feels, in so many respects, um, and I really shy away from this work, because it's often weaponized in education. And I'm not gonna say it, but how can we be more efficient? Um, around enterprise management with software, and what
100work is your team doing? to, um, to do that more. Yeah, so it's a great question. So we have enterpriselicenses, Dr. Moss, for a number of tools, um, at the district level. And yet, we have a legacy, like you're saying, as almost all school students do. With some level of decentralization for purchasing. And that changes with grants, with new programs coming out of the state. What we're doing with it, uh, there's a couple things. One. Two years ago, we moved so that. All digital tool requisitions have to go at least up through the Division of Information Technology. For approval. That was grounded in really 4 areas that don't quite get to what you're saying, but they're still grounded in one. Are the tools approved for safety? to insecurity. Two, are they interoperable with our system?
101Meaning, do they integrate, um, through Clever? Um, and uh… are they… do they meet data privacy standards, and do they meet accessibility standards for students with special needs? So those are the four standards we look at. In that process. Um, we now, my team. has a bird's eye view of all the stuff coming up, and we're able to now then go to. Doctor Whitestone, Doctor Straderstein say. This one, this isn't new for our environment. We're not… we haven't approved it yet, and there's a committee then that looks at us. If that doesn't get to some of the legacy tools that you're referring to, um. And so, we're moving towards a more centralized approach of that review. Uh, and we're standing… we're in the process of standing up a list of approved digital tools. But there
102are… there is a cross-tune component to it that you mentioned about whether or not it's the right tool for the student. From an achievement standpoint. So we're moving towards a more centralized model. We don't want to give up that autonomy, like you said. But I'll be honest with you, Dr. Nelson, we are not there yet. Thank you so much. But Board Member Moss, could I just add one quick, um, caveat there, just to let you know that we did share with all principals. what the digital tools are that we are purchasing. for all schools, for, um, school year 26-27, so that they are aware of what they do not need to purchase with their own funds. Um, and across the academics who are working closely also with community schools and Title I. on outside of
103those materials that we are providing as a district, what are some of the recommended supplemental digital tools that may be used for after-school programs? Or to support students academically. Thank you, Director McDaniel. Vice Chair Briggs? Thank you so much, Committee Chair Goins McCants. Um, Dr. Zuckerman, I had one just poignant question, and, um, hopefully this is for your office. It might… I suspect it might be for Dr. Coleman. Um, but I was curious about the technological modernization, the $1.9 million for the AI intelligence security camera capabilities. I was just curious to know if you could explain, and I want to… I want to kind of preface by saying that this is a. Um, this might be a more difficult question to answer, so it's not meant to put you on the spot. The goal really
104is just to understand the rationale for the purchase right now. I know that we're hearing from the community that there's a desire for, you know. funding in a certain… in a certain way. Um, and I want to just make space for the clarification around, like, why this is important, if this is actually relevant to your office. And then also, I think beyond that, um, is this… grant funding? Is it restricted? Is it unrestricted funding? Um, what's the source? So I'm gonna phone a friend, Mr. Briggs, and talk to Dr. Coleman or Mr. Washington. Specifically about them. So what I would say, just, uh, and it does tie back to something Dr. Ma said, which is. Our team is involved in reviewing this from a data privacy and security standpoint. The decision for the security camera
105software. Um, I think we'll be able to Dr. Coleman right now, I see just a little bit more about some of those details. You mentioned the previous meeting. Dan, thank you, doctor. Briggs, so again, we're working with a cross-functional team to ensure that. the security camera systems that we bring in place respect the data privacy components that look at strengthening our. Um, uh, posture to support the security of our buildings, but at the same. Um, um, not. causing issues with respect to privacy of our, of our. Okay, and I guess really the question I'm getting at, again, you don't have to give it to me now if it's not a clear answer, but really, it's just, like, why now? Is this an essential resource that's needed, and if so, can you explain? Uh, students. Yeah,
106sure, thank you for that. So again, we've had a… we're trying to take a comprehensive look. at how we can continue to strengthen the security posture in our schools. One component of that, as you know. are the security enhancement devices that we've put in place and rolled out consistently. is around the camera upgrades for our facilities, moving from analog to digital. still others are building in alert systems for our buildings. And metal detect umbrehm. And another component of that is around. being able to, with advance notice. Um, identify threats to our buildings, whether they be vehicles that don't belong in our facilities, or weapons that certainly don't belong at our facilities, and so we're trying to take a layered approach, as many. districts are to providing the safest, um. campus experience as possible. So, can
107we get by without the AI gun detection technology? We have been doing it so far, but again, we have to continue to. providers layered of their unapproach as possible to provide as safe an environment as possible. Thank you. And then the last piece was just, is that restricted or unrestricted funding, do you know? Is it a grand, or is it… These are unrestricted funds, but again, we've also been trying to utilize not just operating dollars, but also grant funds. Uh, to try to support the, um… improved security posture at our buildings. And again, when we talk about these layered approach, we're also talking about utilizing vape detectors, we're also. being thoughtful about the design of our buildings, secure vestibules, so again. One component is in everything, but everything provides something. So the more layers we
108can put in place, the safer we can make our facilities. Thank you, Doctor Coleman. I have, I guess as a follow-up to that, and kind of a clarification. Um, and this can be either, uh… Chief Howell, maybe, can you all clarify if the accelerants, that additional $50 million that we're asking, is that baked into this budget already, or is that additional funds that we're asking for. from the county over and above what's in our current budget. That, um, the accelerants that we're… we've been discussing today and over the last, you know, several weeks. is currently included in the proposed budget. Um… so it's included. Got it. Thank you. Board Member Oliva? Thank you so much, um, Committee Chair Coins McCants. Um, Dr. Zuckerman, I'm aware that, um, since you developed this budget. And today, we
109have, um, approved the possibility of virtual learning, um, if we have additional snow days or, um. you know, potentially next year. So, I wanted to ask if there were budget implications to that that. that we, the board needs to consider, um… looking at this budget. Yeah, thank you for that question. I don't think so at this time, Ms. Olivo. Um, I think the approach that we're taking. With, uh, and we'll continue to refine it. With the sign-out of the devices and the user agreement forms. I feel really good about that. Um, obviously, until we go to a virtual learning day, and we see what happens, we won't know, but I think we're gonna be okay in terms of just. where we are from an inventory perspective, and what we budgeted for, um… I may come
110back 2 years from now, or a year from now, depending on a virtual dance day. Okay, now we're… now we're not in as good shape, but I think we're gonna be okay for now. Glad to hear it. Thank you so much. Thank you so much, board members, do we have any additional questions? Seeing none, thank you so much, um. Division of IT. Doctors Zuckerman, for giving us this information. Um, with that… I now return the meeting… Back to our chair. Was Chair Jackson able to join us? If not, I turn the meeting back over to our Vice Chair Briggs. Okay, for the sake of time, because we have 16 minutes. Um, I'm gonna say thank you so much, uh, to all for the presentations. Um, and we are going to recess… Uh, I believe until
1117.30, so the time right now is 7.14. We will reassess for 16 minutes, meaning that you can go off-camera. Um, and then we'll come back promptly at 7.30 for public comment. We'll adjourn. Or, I'm sorry, we'll increase this. Okay, we're gonna get started. The time is now 7.30 PM. Welcome back to that February 12th, 2026 Prince George's County Board of Education. budget work session and public hearing for the FY 2027 Interim Superintendent Proposed Operating Budget. To those of you joining us for the first time this evening, I'm Jonathan Briggs, Vice Chairman of the Prince George's County Board of Education. The Board of Education thanks you for participating in tonight's public hearing. To share your thoughts on the FY2027 Interim Superintendent Proposed Operating Budget. Your involvement is essential as we work together to address the needs
112of the students and staff in Prince George's County Public Schools. Ms. Mcmillian, please call the roll. Miss Ajakaia? Doctor Anderful? Present. Ms. Booster-strader? Mr. Briggs? Ms. Brown? Present. Ms. Goins McCants? Doctor Moss? President. Ms. Oliva? Mr. Jackson. Present. There are 8 members present. Thank you so much, Ms. Mcmillian. There's a quorum, so we're gonna get started. Um, the chairman requested all speakers ensure that the name used to register for public comment. Tonight matches the name that you are logged in with to the meeting. You will see a pop-up message asking you to join as a panelist. You have to select the button to join as a panelist in order to speak during the meeting. We will now hear the constituents' comments. The chairman recognizes the registered speakers for their public comments. to our registered speakers,
113you are allotted 3 minutes in total to share your remarks or questions. and receive an answer. Speaking time may not be transferred to another individual. Speakers are expected to refrain from using profanity or derogatory language. A warning will be issued once. Continued misconduct will result in the speaker being muted or removed from the meeting. To support a professional and courteous environment, speakers are encouraged to refer to individuals by their titles, such as chair, board member, superintendent, or principal. Rather than by name. Our first speaker for this evening. is Miss Holly Simmons, College Park Councilmember. Paint Branch Elementary School Chinese immersion Program funding. Um, and I want to confirm Ms. Mcmillian or Ms. Johnson, that Ms. Simmons is in the queue. Alright. Good evening, uh, Mr. Chair and members of the board. For the record, my
114name is Holly Simmons, and I am speaking this evening in my capacity as District 2 Councilmember for the City of College Park. I'm also speaking as a product of public education and as an individual who comes from a family of educators. I'm here to express my strong support for maintaining funding for Paint Branch Elementary School's Chinese immersion Program, as well as the middle and high school programs it feeds into, as full immersion programs instead of world languages programs. As you know, language immersion is fundamentally different from world languages instruction. Immersion produces fluency, cognitive flexibility, and long-term academic benefits that cannot be replicated by a world languages model. The parents who have contacted me since the release of the board's proposed budget speak of older students thriving in advanced coursework. and younger students who are deeply
115engaged. This program is not incidental to Paint Branch's success, it is central to it. When I visit Painbridge Elementary, I see a diverse group of students who speak a variety of languages at home, united around a shared culture and a common language. Parents call the school a gem and wonderful, citing the immersion program as its defining feature. This program builds community and fosters cross-cultural understanding. Students and families feel connected to something special and unique. Finally, I cannot count the number of parents who have told me they either moved to or chose to remain in the City of College Park because of this program. In a region where we compete with neighboring counties, the district, Northern Virginia, and private schools, and in a system where funding follows enrollment, a program like this is strategic. The Chinese
116immersion program attracts and retains families in our city, in our county, and in our public schools. I recognize the decisions before you are incredibly difficult, and I do not envy you the task of producing your requested budget. But not all reductions are equal. Eliminating a program that is academically strong, community building, and enrollment-driving carries long-term consequences. I respectfully urge the Board to amend the proposed budget to maintain Paint Branch's program and its feeder programs as full Chinese immersion programs. I also want to share that while I am here in my capacity as an individual council member, the body of the Mayor and Council will also be sending a letter expressing support for continuing Paint Branch Elementary's immersion program. Following our February 24th meeting. With that, I thank you for your time, your service, and your
117commitment to our students and our families. And I am always available to continue this conversation. Thank you so much, Ms. Simmons. Our next speaker is Ms. Alicia Baines, individual. Budget special education. I'm going to get confirmed with Ms. Ms. Mcmillian or Ms. Johnson, that Ms. Baines is in the queue. And if not, we can come back to her. I share Briggs, I don't believe, uh, unless at least one thing is. At the moment. Okay, so we'll… we're gonna, um, we'll, uh, go to our next speaker, which is Ms. Shannon Reed, and then we can come back to Ms. Alicia Baines if she joins later. Um, so Ms. Shannon Reed, individual, the budget. And if Ms. Reed isn't here, I'm happy for us to move to the next. Um, public speaker, and then we can come
118back to Ms. Reed as well, if she joins later. Is she present? Yes. Hi, Pfizer Briggs? I'd just like to make an announcement to tell the. public commenters. If you could please have your name match what you signed up with. that would help us a lot, because we can't find you in the queue if your name is different. So that is gonna be for Ms. Alicia Baines and Ms. Shannon Reed, please update your name so that they match what we have in our records, and then we'll come back to you. Um, but we're gonna move. forward, um, to Ms. Teresa Smith, individual budget. Good evening. I'm a parent in District 6, and my child attends the Maya Angelou French Immersion IB World School in District 8. I'm here today because I feel deceived after learning
119that the proposed budget would dismantle the immersion NIB programs. Families like mine were told the narrative that there will be minimum impact to the schoolhouse. That was far from the truth in our case. Rigorous years of study and financial sacrifice occurred to supplement my child's education. Just recently, he received his first DELF diploma. concrete proof of competency and hard work. And this isn't just about my child. Immersion programs are working. Students in language immersions. in language immersion consistently perform at or above their peers academically. including the NCAP assessments. And these programs have earned recognition beyond our local school system because of the quality of instruction and student outcomes. So why is a successful model being dismantled? We didn't start this journey for just 4 years. We started it for long-term trajectory, the full K-12 pipeline
120that is now being proposed out. You cannot talk about immersion without looking at the complete picture. Immersion is not a short-term elective. It is a long-term academic pathway. By cutting the high school program, you are erasing the destination we have been working towards since kindergarten. You are telling my third grader that the path they are on. The path students are excelling in leads to a dead end. You are preserving the appearance of a global district while stripping away the very programs that make it real. To offer world language courses are not a replacement, it's a slap in the face. It's an insult to the years of biliteracy and cognitive development we have already invested. You are asking us to trade a gold standard education for a participation trophy, and the deception stings most when I
121look at the budget. You have found justification for over $600,000 in new central office and administrative costs, yet you claim you cannot afford to keep the lights on for student academic pathways. Two simple questions. What other alternatives were considered to address these budgetary concerns before you decided to cut these programs? Why are you protecting central office spending while asking our children to absorb the cuts? Do not dismantle the future my child has earned, restore the full immersion in the IB continuum. Thank you, Teresa Smith. Thank you so much, Ms. Smith. Um, we are going to go to our next public speaker. Um, Mr. Jamal Thiel, individual, FY 2027 proposed budget. Vice Chair Briggs, uh, Mr. Gemartio is not present. Okay, we can come back, and I just want to reiterate that if you are in
122the queue, please make sure that your name matches what we have in our records. Um, we're gonna go to Dr. Tiana Beard, individual funding for high school language immersion Programs. Can you hear me? Okay. Yes, we can hear your doctor. My name is Dr. Tiana Beard. I have been a part of PGCPS for 42 years as a student. Former employee and parent. I've benefited from the specialty programs, as have my two children, with my son being a current Spanish immersion student. That has been in the program since kindergarten and is now a freshman at Largo High School. The specialty programs of PGCPS are one of the crown jewels of the county, providing a wide variety of opportunities for our students to gain invaluable skills. and experiences to prepare them for various careers. and life after
123high school. The most versatile programs offered by the county are the language immersion programs in Spanish, French, and Mandarin. Leading to the seal of illiteracy. Attaining biliteracy in English in a global language will open doors for these students that would otherwise be unattainable. These programs prepare our students to not only speak to world leaders and corporations, but to read and write reports, global policies, and interpret for their neighbors as clearly. As a native speaker. The high school sequence of the program is instrumental in providing exposure to more of the real-world conversation and experiences beyond academic. beyond the academic language, the students focused on in K-8. The 9-12 program prepares them for the real-world application of their language. Beyond the classroom, which is the final step to authenticating their biliteracy. for practical use. To remove this
124access due to alleged budget constraints caused by the desire to increase security. or other non-academic measures would be neglecting the very core of the mission and values of PGCPIs. The sole purpose of us being here tonight is to ensure our children are properly educated to be purposeful and effective global leaders across. all industries, yet erasing this program diminishes that pledge to our most important. Ah. Stakeholders, our children. Before cutting programs that directly serve students, the board should make a. administrative and central office cuts. First, so I am asking the board to pause the February 26th vote on the budget, stop the elimination of language immersion programs and hold additional public hearings so parents can be meaningfully heard. I personally was beyond excited to learn about the Spanish immersion program with my son. was ready for
125kindergarten, and he received a spot at Phyllis C. Williams. His experience will help him have a strong foundation. In whatever field he chooses to pursue. Even with work opportunities. As a team. I implore you to save our Spanish immersion programs at the high school level. Thank you. Thank you so much, Dr. Beard. Our next public speaker is Ms. Jillian. Bronco, individual proposed cuts to PGCBS immersion programs. It's Ms. Brockle in the queue. Vice Chair Briggs, uh, Ms. Julia Rockard doesn't appear to be here. Okay. Thank you so much. Um, we're gonna go to our next public speaker, and we can come back to Ms. Jillian Brockle if she joins later. Um, Ms. Tanya Sweat, individual. The proposal to reduce funding of foreign language immersion programs. Good evening, everyone, and thank you for the opportunity to
126speak. I normally try to stay away from the Board of Education meetings and let you do the hard work. that it takes to oversee our education system and prepare for the budget. I recognize it's not an easy task. However, I'm concerned about the cuts that are being proposed to our academic programs. No academic program should be cut. As one of the biggest proponents of the blueprint for Maryland's future. I fought to expand. the investment in our children's education and in their future. And to cut the foreign language and immersion programs in high school for our students. would be a big disservice. We brag that PGCPS is providing a world. class education to our children. But if you cut the immersion programs. We can no longer say that. Because that would be a lie. immersion programs.
127are helpful and beneficial, not just to our children, but to our community. I meet with and speak with employers daily. who are looking for bilingual. employees to hire, and they can't find them. If we don't prepare our students for the jobs that already exist, I don't even want to think about what's going to happen. to the jobs that are waiting for them. Later. immersion programs in the high school also are beneficial because not only do our children perfect what they learn in K-8. They learn the dialect. the accent. and further bury themselves in the native tongue of the second language that they're learning. If you take that away. They won't be as perfected as we want them and need them to be. in their bilingual expertise. And later in life. We have a growing immigrant
128population in this country. But we also have a growing global economy. Prince George's County needs to be at the table, and we need to be first. at putting our children there as well. I ask you to reconsider the cuts. I hope that you can close any budget gaps with private funding. from grants that are existing. And coming every day. I hope that you can find ways to close the gaps by defunding programs that are not beneficial. to the school system anymore. But please, do not hurt our children. They are our future. And we have to invest in them now. So that they'll be prepared for what's to come. In this world. Later, this is the 21st century, and we have to give our children a 21st century. education. I thank you for listening. Thank you
129so much, Ms. What? our next public speaker is Ms. Natalie Miller, individual FY 2027. proposed budget immersion program cuts. Hi, my name is Natalie Miller, and I'm the proud parent of two students in the PGCPS Spanish Immersion Program, and a representative of the Overlook Full Spanish Immersion School PTA. The immersion program is truly one of the crown jewels in our district. Everywhere I go, people are amazed that my children are becoming fluent in a second language in elementary school, and looking forward to learning a third language in middle school. As you may well know, the gift that we're giving our children in an immersion program spans far further than just fluency. They're also being immersed in cultures that are different from their own, and learning to think more globally. These students perform as well as
130or even better than their peers in Maryland standardized tests, despite the fact that they're learning all of it in a foreign language. But the gift that we're giving them extends so much further. Research shows that learning languages as children stimulates brain development in ways that we're only beginning to understand. You should be proud of this program and fighting tooth and nail for it to survive and thrive, much like we, as the families and teachers, are. From the time we all enrolled our children in this program, we've been told time and time again by representatives from all parts of PGCPS. The school, the school board, the immersion office, all included, that our district had made and was continuing to make language immersion a priority, and that our students would be guaranteed placement through high school in
131the immersion program. You've been promising us a home for our children throughout their educational careers. The Spanish program specifically is very new, with the first graduating class still being in high school. These students have been guinea pigs their entire time, and they went into this with the knowledge that they're building a program for themselves and the students coming behind them. To cut this program off at the knees just when it's getting off its feet is unconscionable. The message these students are hearing is that this district does not care about them. Or what they've given the district over the past decade. To the students behind this class, especially the current 8th grade students and the Chinese immersion students, you're saying exactly the same, that you do not value them or the education that they've been working
132towards. Although our program is small compared to some, everyone involved, from the teachers to the staff, are committed and dedicated to its survival. As I'm sure you've noticed, the response to these cuts is only growing, and the only reason it's not larger is because of the way they're being carried out. Responsible organizations do not cut entire programs on a whim without the feedback and voices of the community involved. They do not announce it as an afterthought, at a point when parents have been home for a week and a half with their students trying to balance work and childcare. You, as our trusted leaders, owe it to the communities you serve to reach out for the feedback and deliberation prior to making sweeping decisions. that affect the futures and livelihoods of hundreds of students. Today, we're
133asking you to reaffirm the commitment you made to all of us when we enrolled our children in these programs. Reaffirm your commitment to the PGCPS Immersion program by helping us to strengthen this program, not to destroy it. And if you do decide that changes need to be made, by all means, take the time to actually reach out to the families and stakeholders involved, so that we're a part of the process and not blindsided by it. Thank you so much, Ms. Miller. Our next public speaker is, um, Pavel Zuravlyoff. individual, the only existing Chinese immersion program cancellation. Hello, my name is Doctor Pavel Durablov. I will provide input on the proposed school budget. I'm not aware of the budget being presented to the Board of Education in December as required by Board Policy 3130. What in
134your waiver being requested or approved? I'm participating today, but reserve any rights I may have. regarding the process. I have been a resident of PG County for over 15 years. The proposed budget calls to cancel our language immersion programs, including the only Chinese program in the county. I will focus on the problematic aspects of the cancellation proposal. Such as excluding stakeholders, vague and factually incorrect communications, and not providing valid reasons for the cancellation. The Chinese immersion at. Pain branch elementary that my daughter attends is loved and appreciated by students and parents of all demographics. The success of the program is reflected in the high percentage of students passing the internationally recognized language proficiency test every year. The Chinese immersion Program is proposed to be substituted by the World Languages Program. But make no mistake, this
135is not an adequate replacement. Because it would offer 10 times fewer hours of language instruction. Yet, in the program cancellation letter we received as parents, and in the… meeting in the presentation, in the meeting last week, the Chief Academic Officer. Her presentation, the World Language Program was deceptively presented as high-quality language instruction. And a similar substitute for immersion, which is simply not true. It is not a change, it's destruction. Nor was a clear reason for destroying the immersion programs provided. No stakeholders were consulted. And why the urgency? The interim superintendent stated on local news and in the budget proposal. that he wants to cut redundant programs, programs with low enrollment, or programs lacking return on investment. The Penn Branch Elementary Chinese Immersion Program is none of this three. It's not redundant, it's the only Chinese
136immersion program in the county. Second, it's not under-enrolled. In fact, the school is overcrowded, because it's a boundary school. And it has a proven success record in the form of language proficiency test. Uh, which is an indicator on return on investment. The cost of Chinese immersion program at Pain Branch Elementary is $1.2 million, which might seem high, but the program serves about 500 students, mostly from low-income families. It's a Title I school. We hear that the school system has to tighten its belt, that the interim superintendent does not want to go to the taxpayers for extra funding. Yet millions in new funding are being allocated towards shiny buzzwords like AI. For example, 4.4 million for AI surveillance in our schools. This is more than 3 times the cost of the Payne Branch Elementary Chinese immersion
137Program. What is a real waste of taxpayers' money is butchering a well-established and successful Chinese immersion program that was built. over 15 years. That's where the return on taxpayers' investment would go down the drain. I sincerely ask the Board of Education to reverse the proposed cuts to the language immersion program. Thank you for your attention. Thank you so much, Mrs. Ravli. For now, um, our next public speaker is, um, Corey Little, individual benefiting. Uh, benefits of being in the immersion program and why we shouldn't shut down immersion programs. Vice, there is someone, um, named Corey. We're not sure if it's Corey Little. Um, we tried to bring him over. behind the, um, invite, so we're not sure if that's. Or another person. Okay, I don't… oh, thank you so much, Ms. Johnson. So, I think,
138um, we're just gonna, again, request that all attendees who are public speakers have the correct first and last name. And then we will come back to Mr. Little, if that's him. Um, and we're gonna go to, um, Ms. Kelly Burgess, individual, the discontinuation of the AVID program in PGCPS. Ms. Burgess is not here either. Alright, um, our next public speaker is Ms. Amy Sawyer, individual, The Importance of keeping DLI Programs. Yes. Hi, I apologize. Am I on now? Okay, uh, thank you. Um, I'm Amy Sawyer, my second grader attends Capitol Heights Elementary. I'm the Maryland State PTA representative to the Outdoor Learning Partnership. where I co-chair the Colleges and Green Careers Working Group. I also bring a personal perspective on immersion education. My two sons were educated through a 100% Spanish immersion program. They still
139ask for money, but bilingual job candidates earn more than candidates who speak just one, so I'm grateful for their education. I could talk about Henry and Magnus forever, but I want to shift to PGCPS and my daughter, Ellery. I'm still coming up to speed on the budget. I haven't been able to identify where the budget was presented to the board in December 2025, as outlined in Board Policy 3130. Capitol Heights Elementary families only met with central office staff last night regarding changes, and a huge thank you to both Brendan Jackson and Amy Olivo for attending. That isn't sufficient time for families to understand the implications. form opinions and engage with our elected board members. So, I'll share two thoughts. The town of Capitol Heights has three elementary schools, and CHESS serves both District 4 and
140District 6. Rather than eliminating the dual language STEM program at CHESS. Let's explore expansion through a broader lottery model, making chess. both a tag school and a DLI program in Spanish. There's already a bus route and far more families boundary to Cesar Chavez apply than are accepted. Second, Governor Moore just announced a $17 million mixed-use development at the Capitol Heights Metro just a few blocks from Chess. Bringing 300-plus new housing units. How will we attract families if we're stripping down academic programs? The district faces significant fiscal constraints. However, we can't undermine our children's ability to prosper in response. The conservational for. The conversational focus of world language programs is not equivalent to a full immersion pathway. In a region like ours, multilingualism means jobs. Tonight, I asked the board to pause the vote on dual
141language programs, allow times for meaningful review. Recognize that a strategic realignment of this magnitude should wait until PGCPS. has a permanent superintendent. Engage families in transparent dialogue. Do not close the doors on our children. Now… Thank you so much, Ms. Sawyer. Our next public commenter is Beatrix Chacon, individual. Chinese immersion program in Paint Branch Elementary School. Good evening. Sorry, one second, Ms. Beatrice. I want to acknowledge that I see that Mr. Corey Little is in the room, so we are going to come back to anyone who. Hasn't had a chance to speak because we called your name, we'll come back to that after we continue down the list of our public speakers. Ms. Beatrix? Thank you. Good evening, members of the board. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for the opportunity to speak. My name is
142Chapizu Laoshi. And I have served as a long-term substitute at Pain Branch for 6 years. During that time, I have witnessed the dedication, care, and excellence of the Chinese immersion teachers. And the powerful impact this program has on its students. And the staff alike. I also speak to you as a parent. My name is Beatri Chacon. My husband and I, I have made a significant professional and financial sacrifice so our children could learn Chinese. When we chose Chinese as their third language, our options were extremely limited. 1 program in Washington, D.C. Campaign branch here in Peteorges County. We were committing to studying in the county that we love and to its public school. So we fall for the opportunity to be part of Fame Branch. We apply multiple times for a transfer before being accepted.
143I later moved to College Park so our younger child could also attend Pain Branch. Because transfer, we were no longer available. The sacrifice was great. But the reward has been graded. Today, our oldest son, now in middle school. confidently speaks Chinese and excels in his classes. Seeing him use the language so naturally affirms that every sacrifice was worth it. We are not the only family who has worked hard for this opportunity. Many families deploy value this program and believe. It is long-term academic, cognitive, and professional benefits. We understand concerns about the cost and numbers. However, programs like this create extraordinary opportunities for residents of our country. language immersion, foster critical thinking, cultural awareness. And lifelong skills that cannot easily be replaced. I will close with a simple but powerful moment that reminds us why we
144must preserve the Chinese immersion program. While traveling through a large apron. tired and completely lost. We were searching for the exit, so we called finally. risk to being… and being our vacation. Our 8-year-old son suddenly said. There is… there is the exit. confused, we ask how he know? There were no sings. We call Reed. He pointed a symbol and say. Mommy, daddy, in Chinese, it did say exit. At that moment, we understood that this program is not just about learning vocabulary. is building confidence, independence, and global competence. He's a king, our children with real-world skills that improve time that every day, especially we cannot. If in 8 years old can confidency guide his parents through an international airport because of one of the heel learning in this program? Imagine that with these students will be
145capable of adults. That is why this program matters, that is why it's worked, and. That is why it deserved to be safe. Thank you for your time and consideration. Thank you so much, Ms. Chacon. Um, I want to acknowledge really quickly that we have about 9 additional public speakers, and then if your name was called. Um, and we're coming back around to you, we'll come back to you, um, once we get through those 9 public speakers, so we will acknowledge you if you, um, have. if you've rejoined us. Um, we're gonna go to… Um, Hamina? As per Ross Cicero Individual Immersion Programs. Um, good morning, everybody. Um, I'm a student in Lago High School, and I'm in my junior year. And I want to. Um, speak why I think that we should see all the
146immersion prawns and I. I speak as a student in the. Chinese, and sort of in the Spanish immersion program, too. So, um, I'm gonna give a brief speech, and if. Okay, let me too. I'm gonna draw it in. Spanish, and Chinese, too. Thank you for allowing me to speak in this meeting, and good evening, members of the. Prince George County Board of Education. My name is Ximena, and I am a student in both the Mandarin Chinese and Spanish immersion programs. Hearing about the possible closure of these prongs worries me deeply because immersion education is not just about learning a language. It is about opening doors to a world. The immersion, students gain fluency, cultural awareness, and real-life opportunities. In a globalized society, speaking more than one language. creates access to international careers, higher education opportunities,
147and stronger communication skills. Programs like ours also allow students to earn the Maryland State Seal of Biliteracy. And takes exams such as STEMP and APs. Which recognized years of hard work and dedication. Personally, this problem have gave me a sense of belonging and allowed me to study abroad and grow. Academically. Closing immersion programs will take away these life-changing opportunities from future students. I respectfully ask you to reconsider and protect these problems for the next generation, and thank you for your time. Now, if. You hear me? I would do my speech in Mandarin Chinese. Hui. The Good Wei Cheng Yuan. We'll tell him. Yeah, 2. Zhong when. Um, you know, kono. Rangwu Shanggang Dan Yeo. Yin Wei changing. Or should I wish we should take. Tong Guo Cheng. Xue Xiong Huerto. Yeah, slowly too. When Hua
148Yishu E. D. Xiang Huo. Through the string way. Side change, huh? Show Hui Zhong, Zhang. Zhao E. Fajan. Kung Kautong. Jiao Yuji. Kotongnong, this young woman Zhang Yu. Xiang Mun Hai, Xi Xiuxeng. Zhou Shuang Yun Nong Li. P. Cool. Sure. Gui Shugan. Ping pong zoo. Yes, shampoo. Put on Cheongjang. Hi Rong woman. Um, sure, I see. Who are the guy behind. Shangmi. Miss, uh… Oh, you were doing amazing. Rugo Guam. And I am super impressed. I think we're all super impressed. Um, and I'm just… I'm so grateful that you… provided that testimony to us. Um, we want… if you want to also submit that as written, uh, testimony so we can see exactly what you were saying, that is… I mean, that was powerful. Um, but, um, you know, we have a finite amount of
149time, so we are gonna have to move forward, but I'm so grateful for you, um, presenting that and sharing that with us. Uh, alright. Um, well, just a final thing, just. Thank you. Um, Australian, the emotion province, I think that. The programs bring a lot of opportunities to students and. we… we shouldn't close them yet. Um, time is not enough, but… Yeah, absolutely, that was amazing. Alright, our next public speaker is, um, Dale Jimminson, Individual Number of Schools Teaching Immersion and Attendance Records. Yeah, well, I knew you were gonna call me after that. That's just not fair. Uh, good evening. My name's Dale Jimison. I'm a veteran and a parent, and my two children. Mm-hmm. are enrolled in Dora Kennedy French Immersion Language Program. I'm here because the proposed FY 2027 budget was released on
150February 5th. The same day as the first public budget hearing, families were expected to review hundreds of pages and provide feedback immediately. Board Policy 3130 exists to prevent exactly this situation. Despite this, the board is moving forward. toward a February 26th vote that would eliminate language immersion programs. These are not extras. They are academic pathways that the students are already in, and that families relied on when making school decisions. And I think people have iterated that earlier. What you're doing is you're stripping away years of dedication, perseverance, and commitment from the children that have shown up and given their all. Cutting their wings before they can fly will not make PGCPS a stronger program. In fact, it will for sure make it a bland, uncultured, and weaker one. For the record, you have at least
1515 immersion programs. Um, 8 immersion programs, 5 of which primarily focus on Spanish. If this process were fair, it would involve a pathway for French, Spanish, and Mandarin equally. until at least the kids in the system can go through the program that they started. For example, Montgomery County has 3 Spanish, 2 French, and 2 Mandarin programs, and they seem to manage just fine. Why can't we? Um, one of the county's biggest challenges, um, from your own records. is attendance. Take a look at the attendance rates of immersion programs throughout the county, and see just how dedicated these students and families are compared to the system in general. Dora Kennedy Fritch immersion, for example, scores at a 91.7 attendance. While the district-wide. attendance on averages sits around about 70%. What does that mean? That means we
152show up. So, if we're showing up, that means that parents and students alike are dedicated to the system. At a bare minimum, there should be a road map for the students that are currently in the pipeline to achieve the goal they and their parents have worked so long and hard to achieve. Before cutting programs… I'm sorry, I'm scrolling a little bit. Before cutting program that directly serve students, the board should make administrative and central office cuts. Our children should not pay the price for failures in planning or process. I am asking the board to pause the February 26 vote, stop elimination of specialty programs and language immersion, and hold additional public hearings so that parents can be meaningfully heard. Thank you, Dale Jim Simplify. I got up. Thank you. Thank you so much, Mr. Jimerson.
153Our next public speaker is, um, Erica Watson-Staples, Individual Language Immersion Programs. Good evening. My name is Erica Watson-Staples, and I live in District 9, but I have 2 children in the Spanish Immersion program, one at overlook full Spanish immersion School in District 7. And when a Kettering Spanish immersion Middle School in District 6. I am here to voice my concern and frustration. Regarding the proposed elimination of the language immersion programs, and to advocate for the continuation of these programs. My family has been involved with this program for 9 years, and I say family because when parents make the decision to enter their children in a language immersion program. It is truly a family effort that requires additional work and tremendous sacrifice from every member of the family. We live in Brandywine, so my middle schooler's
154bus arrives at 5.45 in the morning. before the Transportation office even opens. To ensure that he's at school by 7.30am. Our days are long between family obligations, sports, school clubs, and activities. And we spend a significant amount of time doing work. As there is additional challenge of having to interpret and translate assignments on top of learning new concepts. And you know what? We wouldn't have it any other way. Because we understand the privilege. and the value of this opportunity. Being multilingual is a hidden superpower that breaks down barriers and builds bridges. In the language immersion programs are the training grounds for these young superheroes. There have been countless instances throughout the years where my children were able to assist. In the most helpful yet unexpected ways because of this superpower. Whether at the grocery store,
155doctor's office, and even helping adults to navigate in a foreign country by serving as translators. According to the Prince George's County Board of Education website, your vision is to ensure that every student graduates ready for college and careers in a global society, and as elected members of the board, it is your duty to honor that. This program has provided students with an incredible opportunity to be global leaders and public servants, and you owe it! To them, to do whatever it takes to ensure that this opportunity not only continues, but also grows. and thrives so that they can equally compete with their peers in surrounding counties, many of which, as you know. also have language immersion programs. The fiscal year 2027 proposed budget was not presented to the Board of Education. or to the public in
156December, as required under Board Policy 3130. So I'm asking the Board to pause the February 26th vote, stop the elimination of language immersion programs, and hold additional public hearings. So parents can have meaningful conversation and be heard. And I leave with one question. It was mentioned in this meeting that you recognize the need for bilingualism in the school district, and that there is a concerted effort to hire bilingual staff. All while putting the language immersion program on the chomping block. How do you justify that? Thank you for your time and consideration. Thank you so much, Ms. Watson Staples. Our next public speaker is Karina Lawrence, individual supporting… support of maintaining the Largo High School Immersion Program. Good evening, members of the board. My name is Karina Lawrence, and I'm a parent in Chevrolet with two
157children in the French Immersion Pathway at Dora Kennedy Immersion School. I am here to respectfully urge you to maintain the funding for the language immersion programs, too. I appreciate the difficult financial choices facing PGCPS in this budget. But I want to highlight that emergent programs are not extracurriculars. Their core academic pathways that align with PGCPS's own goals. for students to become bilingual, biliterate. And multicultural. Pgcps highlights. On your website, that immersion students develop. higher levers of proficiency in a second language. while mastering that same rigorous academic curriculum that their peers do. immersion students often outperform their monilingual peers in the standardized test. And they demonstrate enhanced problem-solving skills that will last them for a lifetime. Immersion works because of the language and the academic content every day. Developing proficiencies that world languages classes alone will
158never be able to achieve. My family also knows firsthand how fragile the access to the immersion pathway can be within PGCPS. After a brief overseas assignment last year, my family returned to Prince George's County. And we received conflicting information about re-enrollment. and language placement processing. my son's reentry process. took months. it was unreasonable. And it reflected a strong preference throughout the entire process. for us to be pushed towards our catchment school. Over honoring the commitment that I made with my family. to the immersion program. Ultimately, we prevailed, and today, my son is an honor roll student back with the DKFI family. Thriving academically and socially because of that rigor and the community within the immersion programs. PGCPS explicitly highlights that immersion students have multiple opportunities to earn the Maryland State Seal of Biliteracy. Giving students
159an academic recognition. that they can support scholarships. college pathways and career advantages. tonight, the immersion community is here because we care deeply about these programs and the future of our children. I ask you to listen to our… to your constituents. protecting these pathways. Not just a line item. But as a long-term investment for the student successes. that align with the core mission and values within the PGCPS. As you are balancing the FY27 deficit. Please do not solve a short-term budget challenge by dismantling a long-term success. Thank you so much, Ms. Lawrence. Our next public speaker is Camila House, Individual Programming Cuts for the FY 2027 budget. Okay, we can come back to Ms. Camila House. Well, Ms. House is not present. Um, our next public commenter is, uh, Waida… Stoker, individual, paintbranch Elementary, Chinese Immersion
160Program. Good evening, Ms. Stoker. We can hear you. Can you hear me? Yes, we can hear you. You're muted now, but you were unmuted initially. Our… sorry about that. I just wanted to speak in favor of the immersion program. I am an educator. Retired public school teacher. Who has talked for over 40 years. This is a wonderful program. every… school system in the state of Maryland. You should be offering it. There are 555. Children. who are in the Chinese immersion program. From kindergarten to 12th grade. These kids, when they go out. As many other speakers have spoken. They will speak fluent. Chinese. They will be able to get a job and bring an. Extra. benefit to their employer. you are saying you support bilingual education. By bringing teachers from Puerto Rico. You said you wanted
161to grow your own employees. You are growing your own employees. Because the child with 13 years of Chinese. has to step up into college. And if they want to go into education. Where you have them. This must be reconsidered. You must take all the immersion. programs in Prince George's County Public Schools. Thank you, Ms. Stoker, and thank you for your service. Thank you very much. Our next public speaker is… is Brianna Boswell. Um, individual proposed cuts to the language immersion, dual language programs, especially at Cesar Chavez. Um, and that's Capitol Heights, actually, but thank you, thank you. Good evening, everyone. Um, I'm a PGCPS parent and educator. My son is enjoying his second year in the dual language program at Capitol Heights Elementary School, and my daughter's in the 4th grade TAG program there. Learning
162to speak Spanish for my son has been such a joy and a source of pride. After only one and a half years of learning and speaking Spanish, his accent is better than my 7 years of study in a world language-like model when I was in school. And this is what is being proposed to replace the dual language program at Capitol Heights. Studying in a world language model does not at all compare to the value of being in a dual language classroom every day with the native Spanish-speaking teacher or, you know, someone who's studied and is an expert-level speaker. I'm extremely concerned about the language opportunity that would be lost for my son and his peers at Capitol Heights and the other children that you hear, the families. Today, across the county. If this proposal succeeds,
163the loss of language is not my only concern. Spanish language and culture is a very big piece of what shapes the school culture at Capitol Heights Elementary School. Not only for those in the dual language program, but throughout every space of the school. The influence of our Spanish-speaking teachers and the dynamic cultures they represent is priceless and cannot be replicated through a world language model. If the county moves forward with this proposal. I'm very concerned about the teachers whose positions will be eliminated, and the representation that will be lost within the school. Not to mention student-to-teacher ratios would double, um, in all those classrooms, which affects teacher workload, teacher morale, and the level of support students receive each day in their classrooms. I'm also very concerned about families that opted into… that opted out of
164the lottery program when their child was eligible because they had a strong language program in their neighborhood school at Capitol Heights. What will these students do now? If this program is eliminated. If this proposal were to move forward, it would not be… it would only be equitable to do so in a phase-out model, where students who are already in the dual language program will be given the opportunity to finish their K-5 dual language experience. If this had to happen, choosing to stop one grade level at a time with beginning with kindergarten. Um, like, not beginning to enroll would be the only way that would make sense, but I pray we can find another solution around this. I also want to mention that the timing of this proposal feels very insensitive. I cannot imagine a time
165when there would be a good time to cut language programming, especially in a county as diverse as ours. But it truly feels like this is the absolute worst timing to propose this change. We're living in a time where language is being weaponized to divide Americans, programs meant to encourage and support people of diverse backgrounds and historically marginalized and oppressed groups are being cut left and right. Surely we would not allow that to happen in our county. Our county's beauty is in its vast diversity and ensuring that the next generation of PGCPS students and families are able to learn a second language and experience and understand the culture should be a priority. Also, earlier in the presentation, there was a conversation about the importance of hiring bilingual staff. This is the future. Bilingual Spanish and English-speaking
166staff are needed across. Country and all fields. Cutting this program will threaten the chance that our children are among those being hired 10 to 20 years from now. I hope that, um, the board and everyone else that has a say in this process can please reconsider, um, this… the proposed cuts to language. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Boswell. I want to acknowledge, again, for those public commenters that we may have called your name, we're going to come back to you. We have one. Um, last original speaker, so we are gonna go to Mr. Timothy Meyer, individual, the importance of being one PGCPS. Thank you, Chair… Vice Chair Briggs, and thank you to all the parents who signed up to engage on this budget tonight. We need your energy, and we need each of you. But
167I want to make very clear. The board and this administration are not choosing to make cuts. They are being forced to, because Prince George's County has spent decades consciously failing to give us the resources that we need. Annapolis refuses to even debate new sources of revenue this session. Despite the blueprint facing a $3 billion shortfall by FY30. This budget crisis will only get worse unless we unite as one PGCPS and act together. This board in PGCPS are not the problem. I have been in the trenches with them, fighting back against a billion dollars in proposed cuts last year. We save funding for community schools and English learners, and so much more. But we need help. To every parent. We need your voices throughout the county. And we need you in Annapolis. We cannot fight school
168against school or program against program. Or all our children will lose. PGCPS is overly reliant on… sorry, PGCPS is overly reliant on state funding. With about 33% of our budget coming from the county. That's far lower than our peers. Montgomery County gets two-thirds of the budget from their county. Anne Arundel is nearly half. Now, imagine a year or two in the future when that state funding really starts to collapse. We are not heading towards a fiscal cliff. We are already dangling over it. That's why we are asking the county for an extra $50 million this year to help stabilize PGCPS. We have done our part, tightening our belts by $150 million. Now we need the county and Annapolis to give us a little bit of breathing room and help us out. The number one thing
169every parent can do right now is call or email the county demanding that $50 million. And while you're at it, go ahead and ask for even a little bit more. I'm also asking PGCEA to help hold our legislators accountable at every level of government. Don't use endorsements to reward incumbents or friends or big names. Use them to fight for students and teachers. No full funding, no Apple ballot. Period. Finally, we need everyone to join us in Annapolis for Blueprint Day. On March 2nd. And I'm asking PGCPS to help in this effort by promoting this event district-wide to all parents and families. Prince George's parents and teachers can be one of the largest, most powerful lobbies in the state. But we cannot fight each other. We must put students first. work as one PGCPS, and fight
170together. Thank you all very much. Thank you, Mr. Meyer. Our next public commenter is Coraline Glassman, Individual Immersion Program Support. And overlook for Spanish Immersion School. No sevia una palabra de espanol cuando empender y ahora yo cuedo hablar en nuestras paises. Your momi escura. Today, we heard you say that bilingual teachers are important for our school district. If that's the case, why are you getting rid of our high school Spanish program? Thank you, Ms. Glassman. Our next public commenter is, uh, Michelle Clark, Individual Special Education. My cowboys, uh, it appears Michelle Clark is here, but. She's been declining, um… Over to join the panel. Okay. Well, we can come back to Ms. Glassman… I'm sorry, Ms. Clark. Well, I'm not sure. Um, and then we'll go to Ms. Alicia Baines, but we do… we can
171come back to you, Ms. Clark. Um, if you accept the invite. Um, so the next public speaker commenter is Alicia Baines, Individual Budget Special Education. Mayor, board members? My camera is off on purpose. This represents what too many families experience, and Peachy County Public Schools IEP meetings. When a parent brings an advocate. asked to document the meeting, or request to record. The tone shifts, assets get smaller. Transparency gets treated like a problem. They remain with their cameras off. And when you escalate, nothing is done. The behavior continues. My name is Alicia Renee. I'm a Prince George's County parent. I'm also a proud autism mom, and I am a non-attorney special education advocate. According to my records, I did register tonight as Alicia Renee, but. If my name is not properly reflected, that is consistent with
172a broader pattern of how my family has been handled. My child has been denied faith. And I have read… I have written findings documenting non-compliance with federal and state. Special education requirements. Instead of correcting the issue and funding services. PGCPS continues to devote public resources. to due process litigation. That is not accountability. I'm asking this board to prioritize compliance, again. Timely correction, again. and services over legal strategy. On the slide titled Accelerant slash Strategic Investments, the $35 Million. Special education is listed as an accelerant alongside AI-enabled cameras and AI literacy. Special education is not an accelerant. It is a legal obligation under IDEA and COMAR. This budget also reflects the $150 million gap. A $40 million salary lapse assumption, and more than $64 million in non-public tuition. That combination signals capacity failure and predictable service
173risk. Before approving this budget, the board should require a clear breakdown of how special education dollars. will directly improve IEP implementation. And how success will be measured. Missed services, evaluation timelines, compensatory services owed versus delivered. Staffing vacancies and restrictive placement trends. If you can't measure compliance. Thank you, Ms. Baines. Our next public speaker is, uh, Jamal Thiel, individual FY 2027 proposed budget. Um, it appears that. Yes, Mr. Teo. may have gone… may have left out, and… I'm not sure there's a gentleman… well, there's someone, um… Listed as teal, but I'm not sure. Yeah, I see, and I know he was in the room, so Mr. Thiel, if you are Teal. The Northeast. We can definitely give you about, you know, 5 seconds or so to just update the name so that we can pull you
174over, otherwise we are going to have to move to our next public. Uh, commenter. But we appreciate you coming tonight. Okay, I haven't seen any updates, so I'm gonna move to Corey Little, individual. Benefits of being in the immersion program, and why we shouldn't shut down immersion programs. Hey everybody, my name's Corey. I am a student of the aversion program. I'm here to talk to you about how important the emotional program has been. I completed 9 years at a K-8 commercial program, my ancrew French immersion. And it's definitely given me a huge advantage over many people around me. Currently, I'm bilingual, fluent in English and French. I'm a senior class president. have over a 4.0 GPA, and over 25 college credits, and I've been selected for honors programs at colleges I applied to. Um, the
175language… Immersion program basically with IB brings more challenging curriculums. Having to learn another and different subjects in another language at a young age. Keep your mind being able to retain your information. I would personally say I've been able to pick up things pretty quickly, mainly because learning English is much easier, since I was used to learning both English and French. My elementary school was often very challenging. It kept me on my toes, and it produced very smart individuals, including myself. So, when I got to high school, all of my work felt way easier. This effect, what does this mean? All of my friends, everybody I surround myself with to have the French Immersion Program have been consistent honors students. And not only are we good academically. But our ability to communicate personally and professionally is
176better. We're able to interpret our emotions better, and have a better sense of responsibility, as well as being able to articulate ourselves better. We sometimes still talk to each other in French. And we borrow the times that we had together. It was shocking when we finished the program, when we saw how a lot of the other kids acted. We were more mature than people, not only in our age group, but people above that, too. Everyone is way easier to communicate with. And you'd be surprised how many people. Especially in my age range, don't have that communication yet. And being able to know two different languages. It's opened many different doors. I don't know where I would be without my African friends. who I would not have met if I didn't know French. So, knowing that
177my experience isn't unique. is a testament to the quality. that this program is a necessity. When I heard was going there, I was confused, because why would school. take away a program that's so important and so beneficial, and has been proven time and time again. To produce quality individuals. So… I just say… I wouldn't be here without it, and I don't think other kids should have to go about it. Thank you, Mr. Little. Our next public speaker is Camila House, Individual Programming Cuts to the FY 2027 budget. Thank you, and I apologize, I was here. Um, good evening, um, Chair and members of the board. My name is Camila House, and I'm a parent, um. at MayaAngelo French Immersion. I'm also the PTSA Advocacy Chair for the. Mafi PTSA. I have two children at Mafi,
178and I'm speaking tonight, um, in my individual capacity. Um, with one clear request for you to preserve the full IB continuum and protect immersion, especially secondary immersion, a core academic pathway. I chose PGCPS because I found Maya Angelo French immersion paired with that IB pathway. Something families often believe that they have to leave the country to access. I grew up a diplomat brat in an international environment where multilingualism. was normal. Or globalism was normal. I learned French as in an immersive setting. And I wanted the same opportunity for the children of this county, a county that I always came back to and that I love. if I ever doubted the value of immersion. Um, and of a global education that IB provides. That doubt ended at an airport in Montreal. My most timid child, the
179one who often refuses to speak French outside of the classroom, um, or did so at one point. asked another child in English what, what is your name? When that child responded in French, without hesitation, my child switched languages, continued in French for the rest of our time there, no freezing, no translating, just communicating. She was used to making that switch, and when she needed to do so, she did so without hesitation. It was an acute… this is an acute travel story that I tell you. It was confidence that she built. It was confidence that she had, and it was access that she had to that other child, to other… to other opportunities, because she speaks another language. And she has that global culture, and it matters here. We live in the D.C. Region, one of
180the most internationally connected job markets in the country. Multilingual workplaces are not rare here. Globalism is not a field trip. Um, in this… in the DMV. It is in the neighborhood. Reducing these programs that prepare our children for the reality moves us backwards. Immersion and IB work. Hand in hand, and must be discussed together. Immersion builds biliteracy. cognitive flexibility and communication skills, but IB builds the academic structure, the critical thinking, the analytical writing. inquiry, and the global perspective through a proven continuum. Um, from PYP to MYP to the diploma program. Together, they form a coherent pipeline. Across the country, there are districts facing budget pressures that make it… that have to make difficult choices, even in our area. But high-performing enrollment-driven pathways are often protected because they strengthen the entire system. So I have to
181ask, why are we considering reductions to programs where students are thriving and families are deeply invested? Families have planned around this pipeline, and so I'm going to ask you once again. Please take your time. Do it right according to your board processes. and preserve the full B continuum. and protect immersion. through secondary immersion. Thank you very much for your time. Thank you, Ms. Half. Our next public speaker is Shannon Reed, individual, the budget. Good evening. Consistent, accountable, job-embedded professional development could happen by reimagining the PDLT role. At each school for content-specific PDOTs with strong backgrounds in literacy and pedagogy daily teach one class. Teachers routinely reserve that teacher during two other periods, the PDOT co-teaches with various teachers spending a week. To a month with 1 teacher on an ongoing rotating basis. Students' benefits because
182they observe active collaboration. That sharply contrast the effortless learning that has enthralled and entrapped them. And they benefit from having the support of two teachers. The teaching and investment at the school level enables each PDLT to develop a school-wide workshop. twice each year, based on students and teachers developing learning profile, the school's goals and data, the PDOT's observations and interactions. This deep dynamic work is priceless. Nevertheless, you must pay PDLTs appropriately, and the elimination of SDMs, which have decreased focus and increased work while wasting time and money. freeze resources for this. Everyone's goal is the same. Build literacy and legitimacy. Importantly, this work signals the shift from the costly overinvestment in administration, including 12-month administrators. and the ensuing overinflated roles and expectations. This has cost everyone. But robbing the Abbey and language emerging students of
183opportunities because many of their peers who are no closer to grade level reading than they were before consuming massive resources in EOP, EVP, and summer school year after year after year is equivalent to starving your possibilities so you can feed your problems. Students need teachers' tasks, time, and test to develop literacy. PGCPES is focused on administration and technology compromise all of those things, including the buses. Students needed to access. After-school tutoring, sports, and extracurricular activities. This. underutilization of tutoring reflects lack of access. Additionally, many students simply need an all-year school year to create additional possibilities for them. Most are three or more grade-level grade levels behind. The 15-year disinvestment in instruction in students and teachers. It's chiseled on tube stoves, written on hearts, tattooed on data and printed on culture, and typed in honesty. While
184weeping in my classroom, I responded to my 18-year-old daughter's text at 917. AM on August 27, 2025, with Enjoy, I Slept Until 6.46 a.m. Today. tire and say it. She wrote, Why are you sad? I responded with, just the weight of Marshall's death, knowing that the stress and. She endured undoubtedly led to her coming in on Monday and took the toll on her body. Boom, that could have been me. she responded with, yeah, that's what I was thinking about. It's definitely the environment and the constant stress. I think it would have been you if you didn't take that break this summer. The break 12 days before the school year ended cost me my last bit of leave. In the past 4 years, I've used excessive leave dealing with out-of-control students. The disinvestment in them is
185also memorialized in budgets. This budget must change to show that PGCPS is serious about transformation. and literacy, because it prioritizes students and teachers, too. Thank you for your time and attention. Thank you, Ms. Reed. In our last public speaker is Michelle Clark, Individual Special Education. Good evening, everybody. Thank you for the opportunity to speak today. I want to start off by thanking a couple of people, because I know some of your priorities are in line with my priorities. Because Dr. Felton and Amy Olivo presented at our last PGCEA. of representative counsel on some of the priorities and extra funding that you're asking the County Council for. Um, I can tell you, I am a special ed, early childhood special educator teaching. in a pre-K co-taught classroom. at Kenmore Early Childhood Center. And the problem that's
186come up over the last few years, and I'll also think, Cherno. Bowman, because we meet with her every month and work with her very closely. Um, is… that we have a lack of options for our students going in. to elementary school. Um, there was formerly a comprehensive program which has gone by the wayside several years ago. Um, right now, students are either going into a resource, a gen ed setting with a resource teacher and resource services. Or, for those who have been diagnosed with autism and qualify for the autism program, they're going there. Or in some cases, they're going to regional programs. As a co-teacher in pre-K, I have never in my career. past 7 years, I believe, I've been doing this. Um, had to send a student anywhere other than autism or a Gen
187Ed setting. Last year, unfortunately, I had a student who was nonverbal, and therefore did not score very. while on the Battal inventory, because some of those answers must be given verbally. Um, it's… it's a good inventory for those who have those verbal skills, but for those who don't. It's not necessarily an accurate reflection on their true abilities. And when we got the response back in an email. That… he wasn't accepted into that program, and unfortunately, at this point, they're not really able to come out and observe our students to see. what they're really like in person. Um, and that I had to send him to a CRI, comprehensive program, which is a non-degree. Seeking track. And he had to be put there at 5 years old. I literally left our special ed coordinator's office and
188cried for a half hour. Because I had seen what that baby went through in the year he was with me. Yes, he was still nonverbal, but he had some words. He was trying to talk, he was trying to communicate, he was trying to get out what he knew. And he just wasn't quite there yet. I'm still in touch with his parents, and I give them every resource I can. But for there not to be enough seats in elementary autism to service our students. who are on that borderline is a shame. And I just wanted you to know that your fight and my fight is the same. Any support you need going forward with the County Council, I'll be there, just ask. Y'all know how to find me. Thank you very much. Have a great evening.
189Thank you so much, Ms. Clark. Okay, and we, um, have had a few, I think about 3 or so public commenters that weren't able to. speak tonight, so you can always submit testimony to, um, our, our… we have an email for that, and we're happy to send that out to you if you… You send an email to any board member or board staff member directly. There are also 26 written comments, which are on diligent for public viewing. There are no pre-recorded videos submitted. And I want to say thank you all for all the participants who provided comment tonight. Um, as the vice chairman, I want to inform the public that the board will hold its final virtual. board work session and public hearing on Thursday, February 19, 2026, at 5.30 p.m. Please check the Prince
190George's County Board of Education website and or Diligent for meeting information and updates. Um, and I want to thank you all again for watching and joining us. There being no further business, the time is now 8. and the February 12th, 2026 Prince George's County Board of Education budget work session and public hearing. for FY 2027 Interim Superintendent proposed operating budget is adjourned. Have a good night.