Q: Why is PGCPS facing a budget crisis, and how big is the gap?
A: PGCPS is facing a structural budget gap of approximately $150 million for Fiscal Year 2027. This gap is the result of several converging factors:
In simple terms, the district’s ongoing costs have grown faster than its reliable, recurring revenues. To operate responsibly and sustainably, expenses must be aligned with actual enrollment and available funding. This process—often referred to as “right-sizing”—is necessary to ensure long-term stability and protect classroom instruction.
Q: How does this budget prioritize workforce stability?
A: In an exceptionally challenging fiscal environment, the district made a deliberate decision to prioritize people over things. While discretionary spending on contracted services, travel, software, and other non-essential costs has been reduced, PGCPS protected the full $102 million in negotiated compensation commitments.
Our goal is to safeguard existing, filled positions and protect employee wages by closing the budget gap through operational efficiencies rather than workforce disruption. While no budget can guarantee future conditions, these decisions were made specifically to preserve stability in FY27 as we continue to advocate for longer-term funding solutions.
Q: Will teacher jobs be impacted?
A:The district’s primary strategy for reducing workforce costs is not layoffs of active classroom teachers. Instead, PGCPS is permanently eliminating long-term vacant or “ghost positions”—positions that have been funded but unfilled for two years or more.
These eliminations do not increase class sizes, eliminate active classroom teachers, or reduce instructional time for students.
Q: What program changes are being considered?
A: Based on enrollment data, funding formulas, and long-term sustainability, staffing reductions and program adjustments are proposed for some specialty programs:
AVID: $2.5 million reduction
Language Immersion (some underenrolled offerings): $2.5 million in reductions across select programs
International Baccalaureate (IB) Elementary Years Programs (MYP) and Middle Years Programs (MYP) only: $2.8 million through program changes
All specialty program decisions were guided by four principles: student continuity, equity of access, analysis of duplicative efforts, and responsible stewardship of limited resources.
Q: How were specialty programs selected for potential reductions?
A: Programs with low enrollment, duplication of efforts, limited equity of access, a largely theoretical focus, or insufficient data demonstrating return on investment (ROI) were reviewed. This analysis enables the strategic redirection of current staffing and funding, allowing the system to serve a greater number of students more effectively.
Q: List the programs being considered and share the rationale behind each one.
A:
AVID
The AVID elective in middle schools will be discontinued. In its place, the district is expanding college and career readiness supports for all students. Through Blueprint and Employ Prince George’s, every middle school is currently served by a career counselor serving all grade levels, ensuring equitable access to guidance, planning, and postsecondary pathways.
International Baccalaureate (IB)
Our elementary and middle school IB programs currently use the PGCPS curriculum. While the IB Primary Years Programme (PYP) and Middle Years Programme (MYP) are designed to promote critical thinking, global awareness, and a love of learning through inquiry-based and interdisciplinary approaches, PGCPS believes these same instructional priorities can be fully realized without the IB designation at these levels.
The district will continue to emphasize inquiry-based teaching and learning through the PGCPS Student Learner Profile, which focuses on critical thinking, global-mindedness, and rigorous academic engagement, values that remain central to our instructional vision for all students.
The International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (DP) will continue to be offered at the high school level as a pathway for students through the Specialty Programs application process.
Schools impacted by IB elimination include:
Melwood ES (PYP)
Maya Angelou French Immersion (PYP and MYP)
Dwight D. Eisenhower MS (MYP
James Madison MS (MYP)
Frederick Douglass HS (MYP only)
Language Immersion
Boundary-based immersion programs will transition to a World Language model, enabling students to continue language study with greater flexibility, regardless of their initial entry grade level.
Chinese Immersion: The boundary immersion program at Paint Branch ES will conclude. Instead, Paint Branch ES will offer a Chinese World Language Program. The Chinese Immersion program at Greenbelt Middle School will be phased out and will not accept new students.
Spanish Immersion: The boundary Immersion Program at Capitol Heights ES will conclude. Instead, the school will offer a Spanish World Language Program.
Largo Immersion HS will be phased out and will not accept new students.
Q: What does the Immersion High School phase-out mean for current students?
A: Currently enrolled students will be fully supported to complete their immersion experience through graduation. No new 9th graders will be accepted to this program at Largo High School. Middle school families will continue to have access to high-quality world language instruction at their boundary high schools.
Q: What about students already accepted into an impacted specialty program for the 2026–27 school year?
A: PGCPS has not provided students with any entrance information for the 2026-2027 school year. Therefore, there are no new acceptance impacts.
Q: Will the International Baccalaureate (IB) High School Diploma Years Program (DP) remain?
A: Yes, as IB is a postgraduate pathway, the high school DP program will remain in all of its current locations.
Q: Will any student in one of the AVID, IB or Immersion Programs have to leave their current school?
A: Students in AVID, IB, or Immersion are already in their boundary school and will not have to leave. Out-of-boundary students approved to attend Frederick Douglass MYP program will be allowed to stay at Frederick Douglass through the conclusion of their senior year. Current students at Largo HS will be allowed to remain until the conclusion of their senior year.
Q: Will there be core curriculum impacts to any of the schools closing?
A: All AVID, IB, and Immersion programs being proposed to end will use the PGCPS core curriculum. The programs either had an elective course, a theoretical approach, or our curriculum taught in a different language.
Q: What reductions are included under Instructional and Student Supports, and how will they affect students?
A:The FY27 budget includes approximately $55 million in reductions in this area, focused on how services are funded—not on removing services from students.
Key actions include:
Paraprofessional funding shift: Nearly 70 paraprofessionals will be funded through stable, multi-year grants rather than the General Fund, keeping them in classrooms while protecting jobs.
Central substitute fund realignment: A $20 million reduction based on actual usage, while ensuring continued coverage.
Auxiliary costs: Reductions to SAT administration, dual enrollment fees, and graduation expenses, with dual enrollment still expanding to all high schools by 2026–27.
Q: Do these reductions mean fewer teachers or less classroom instruction?
A: No. These reductions focus on operational efficiencies, funding shifts, and ancillary services — not direct classroom instruction or core teaching positions.
Q: What technology-related reductions are included?
A: Approximately $4.1 million in reductions are included, focused on consolidation and efficiency. These changes do not reduce student access to required instructional technology or classroom devices.
Q: Will Facilities & Operations reductions affect cleanliness or safety?
A: No. Custodial staffing is fully protected. Approximately $10 million in building repairs will be covered through Capital Program funds rather than classroom dollars. Streamlining maintenance supplies allows reinvestment in safety improvements, including $1.9 million for upgraded AI security camera capabilities to support safe learning environments.
Q: If the district is cutting its budget, why are there new investments?
A: Even in a year of constraint, the district must invest where student needs are greatest and where the return on learning is highest.
Key investments include:
Special Education: $27.2 million
Safety & Security: $4.4 million
Reading & Mathematics: $1.2 million
AI Literacy: $1.3 million
Professional Development: $1.1 million
These investments stabilize essential services and accelerate student growth.
Q: Is this budget final?
A: No. This is a proposed budget. The Board of Education will hold work sessions and public hearings before a final vote to adopt the Board's Requested budget. The final budget is approved in June.
Q: What is the timeline for developing and approving the FY27 school budget?
A: The FY27 budget is developed in several phases between January and February 2026, with key milestones that ensure state guidance, public input, and Board oversight are fully incorporated. Reconciliation and final changes are incorporated in June for final adoption of the Approved budget in June.
Early January 2026
Week of January 12, 2026
Mid-January 2026
January 20, 2026
January 22, 2026
January 29, 2026
January–Early March 2026
Q: When does public input and formal budget adoption occur?
A: Public engagement and Board action take place in February 2026.
February 5, 12, and 19, 2026
Board of Education Budget Work Sessions and Public Hearings
February 26, 2026
February 27, 2026
Q: Where can I find information and updates about the FY27 school budget?
A: Prince George’s County Public Schools provides a centralized Budget Information Portal where families, staff, and community members can access timely and transparent budget resources. The portal includes:
All budget-related information can be found here
This page is updated regularly to ensure the community has clear, consistent access to budget information throughout the development process.
