Montgomery County Public Schools staff presented a breakdown of contractual services spending in the FY26 operating budget and explained how district procurement and contracting translate the budgeted amounts into executed vendor agreements.
Carly Thompson, executive director in the division of financial management, told the committee that out of the district’s operating budget (about $3.6 billion in FY26), approximately $417.4 million covers non‑salary operating expenses and about $111.4 million of that is budgeted for contractual services. "When you whittle that down a little bit, it makes up about a quarter, a little more than a quarter of the, you know, all the other expenditures that we have," Thompson said.
Thompson mapped contractual services to Maryland state budget categories and district chapters. Major allocations include central district operations (bus and taxi support for special populations, recycling, green energy and snow removal), category 5 other instructional costs (curriculum materials and program support), category 6 special education (private duty nursing, speech and language contracts) and technology services (business systems, disaster recovery, Wi‑Fi and telephony). She said many technology platforms — including enterprise finance and human capital systems — are housed under category 1 because they serve the whole district.
Board members asked for line‑item detail and clarification on specific increases. Thompson and CFO Yvonne Alfonso Windsor said staff can provide the detailed contractual spreadsheet previously shared with the board and county council. Thompson said contractuals can grow because vendors negotiate rate increases and noted that some services that the district prefers to provide via staff are sometimes delivered contractually when hires are unavailable.
Committee members asked about particular items such as ADA independent medical consultations and family childcare line items; staff described the ADA spending as accommodation costs for staff and the childcare line as federal reimbursements to family childcare providers under the child and adult care program. The district said it will continue to share detailed contractual spreadsheets and respond to follow‑up questions from board members.
No contract approvals were requested at the meeting; staff described how budgeted contractual services are translated into procurement actions and returned to the board for contract awards or extensions during business meetings.