Residents and educators urge Washington County to shift school resource officer costs to sheriff to free funds for teacher pay

Several public commenters during Washington County’s FY2027 budget hearing urged the Board of County Commissioners to move the cost of school resource officers out of the Board of Education’s budget and into the sheriff’s budget so savings could be reallocated to staff pay.

Dave Williams, a Smithsburg resident who said he is a candidate for county commissioner, argued that moving SRO costs would free roughly $1.6 million for the Board of Education’s salary resource pool and help larger pay increases for school employees. “Pay for school resource officers out of the sheriff's budget and let the school system use the savings to increase the salaried resource pool,” Williams said.

Carol Malone, speaking for educators, highlighted staffing and compensation pressures across the school system and asked that school employees receive comparable adjustments to those provided to county staff. “The employees of Washington County Public Schools respectfully ask for the same commitment,” Malone said.

A student, Evan Mahlo, told commissioners that nearly all other counties in the state fund SROs from safety budgets and estimated it would cost around $2,000,000 to fund all SRO positions in Washington County out of the sheriff’s budget.

Representatives of the school system addressed the same hearing to note operational constraints. A Board of Education representative said the board is not requesting additional local funds for FY27 while acknowledging growth in special-education needs and recent central-office reductions.

No formal action or vote on changing which department funds SROs was recorded during the hearing; public commenters asked commissioners to consider those changes before final budget adoption.