Amid the loss of 120 positions in Harford County Public Schools due to budget cuts, the district will start this school year on Sept. 2 with no core teaching vacancies but about 63 other staff vacancies.

Current vacancies include:

  • 2 school counselors
  • 1 unified arts teacher
  • 40 instructional support positions
  • 10 bus drivers
  • 10 bus attendants

This time last year, the total vacancies for the district were 20 teachers, 36 paraeducators, 25 custodians, 17 bus drivers and 12 bus attendants. All 20 teaching vacancies were filled by the end of August last year. 

This year’s staff reduction stems from a $60 million deficit the school system faced in its fiscal 2026 budget. The deficit was caused mainly by inflation-related cost increases, increased state-mandated funding of items such as teacher pensions, and a loss of $30 million that the district covered using its reserve fund in the prior fiscal year’s budget.

The district’s reserve fund could not sustain the $30 million expense for a second year, which left the school system with a choice: cut its budget or ask for funding from the county government. County Executive Bob Cassilly declined to provide the additional $30 million, which resulted in a proposal to cut 167 staff and eliminate school programs.

The Harford County Board of Education amended its budget in June to use an additional $2.5 million of its reserve to hire kindergarten through third grade teachers. The additional funding, according to officials, covered the cost of about 25 educators.

After an intricate budget reconciliation process of adding and subtracting a variety of positions, staff reallocations and a budget amendment to use more reserve funds, the district’s final budget for fiscal 2026 shows a reduction of 120 staff members. The fiscal year began July 1.

None of the cut positions led to firings or layoffs. All eliminated positions were done through attrition, retirement, and reallocation of personnel to different schools and grade levels.

“While we have had to make some difficult staffing decisions due to budget challenges, our teams have worked carefully to allocate resources in a way that maintains strong instructional programs and services across all schools,” Harford Schools Superintendent Sean Bulson said. “Despite the challenges, I am optimistic about the year ahead.”

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