Pursuant to Maryland's Public Information Act (PIA), I am requesting public records detailing financial transactions, specifically:
• A report (such as a check register, expenditure report, or purchase order history) reflecting all transactions from July 1, 2024, to the present date (2024-2025 and 2025-2026 school years), including but not limited to:
o Purchase date
o Vendor name
o Description of goods/services purchased
o Line-item quantity
o Line-item price/amount
• If vendor names are coded in the file, please provide a vendor list with corresponding codes.
Responsive to this request, the following readily available records reflect our school system purchasing:
• The Board of Education of Howard County awards contracts over $50,000 regularly through Bids and Contracts Reports: https://go.boarddocs.com/mabe/hcpssmd/Board.nsf/files/DSAS5770F654/$file/Updated%20Bids%20and%20Contracts%20Agenda%20BR%20Revision%201%20March182026%201236pm.pdf - this is an example of the most recent one, and there is typically one per meeting of the Board found on Board Docs: https://go.boarddocs.com/mabe/hcpssmd/Board.nsf/Public.
• Contracts between $25,000 and $50,000 are reported quarterly: https://go.boarddocs.com/mabe/hcpssmd/Board.nsf/files/DQYPQC65B461/$file/02%2026%202026%20FY26%20Q2%20Procurement%20BR.pdf – this is an example of the most recent report.
• A public contracts database was also recently adopted by the school system: https://hcpss.bonfirehub.com/portal/?tab=openOpportunities.
• Outside of contracts, total yearly payments by vendor over a threshold of $25,000 are also reported on this website: https://www.hcpss.org/f/vendors/index.html