When the Howard County Council approved a measure last spring to direct surplus revenue to the school system, then-Chair Liz Walsh breathed a sigh of relief.

County Executive Calvin Ball had signed off on her bill, so to Walsh, it was a done deal: Any leftover money from the fiscal year ending on June 30, 2025, would be shifted to the school system to chip away at its roughly $194 million backlog of deferred maintenance, or the timely upkeep of buildings.

So when Walsh learned this month that the county had amassed a nearly $38 million surplus, she wasted no time in sharing the good news with the school board and Superintendent Bill Barnes.

Ball, however, had a message of his own: Not so fast.

In a Dec. 10 letter to the council, Ball said yes, the surplus was roughly $38 million, but he stopped short of saying the county will turn it all over to the school system, which had to cut $11.3 million in costs and eliminate 127 positions after a difficult budget process earlier this year.

Why? Ball said $7.1 million of the surplus was an “unspent appropriation” that was previously allocated to the health department and is needed to get matching state funds. As for the remaining $30.8 million, Ball wrote that he would like to keep the money in a rainy-day fund to help maintain the county’s AAA bond rating and prepare for any surprise financial needs.

Ball’s letter is perplexing to Walsh.

“This is locked in. I don’t see how he undoes it,” Walsh said in an interview. “I don’t know why [Ball is] confused, but that money belongs to the schools now.”

In a typical budget cycle, the County Council is only allowed to restore whatever Ball cuts from the school board’s funding request, meaning the council cannot just turn over additional dollars to the school system.

This was until Walsh’s legislation.

“I implore the board and the superintendent to incorporate this $37.99 million into the HCPSS budget request to the county executive so these dollars can be put to work quickly for the benefit of students, educators and staff, and school communities across the county,” Walsh wrote in a Dec. 8 letter to Barnes and the school board.

The school board in November submitted a $116.6 million request for school construction projects to the county and voted to advise the council that they intended to ask for all funds made available by Walsh’s legislation to chip away at the backlog of projects.

The list includes school roofing projects, generators, water heaters, playground surfaces and more.

For years, communities have fought over which should be the next to receive updates and renovations to their aging schools. Decisions about where to invest the limited funds grew so contentious that the school system attempted to create an unbiased ranking system.

School Board Chair Jen Mallo said that the board looks forward to “having productive conversations” on how to use the surplus money to fix schools.

The county has “regularly” provided such surplus money to fund the school system’s deferred maintenance, Ball wrote to the council. In the past five years, Ball’s letter noted, $61.3 million in surplus revenue has gone to school construction projects.

The school board is seeking $89.5 million from the county and $27.1 million from the state for its annual school construction project budget. The $38 million would be added to this overall total.

Ball said the request is “an increase of more than 53% over Howard County’s average annual contribution” to the school system’s construction budget.

Walsh said she intends to file similar legislation ahead of the county’s next budget season in the new year.

“I’m just sad it took me this long to figure out this neutral way to identify this overage and set it aside for the schools,” Walsh said. “It’s too much money not to do something.”