Baltimore County Superintendent Myriam Rogers is proposing a $125 million increase for next year’s budget to keep high-quality staff in schools and strengthen special education.

In a presentation to principals and elected officials Monday, Rogers called her proposal a “no-frills budget” in light of state fiscal concerns and rising utility costs.

“It will cost us $9.4 million more this upcoming year to provide gas and electric to our schools and facilities. That is a significant increase,” she said. “We also know that there are some things that we must do as a school system, that we must invest in, to continue to take care of all of our students.”

Rogers’ budget creates 32 special education positions — most of them classroom support staff — and funnels $75.5 million into district-wide raises and benefits. It also adds pre-K spots at four schools and maintains current class sizes.

“I am asking that you strongly consider the degree to which we can fully fund the budget so that we can keep our recruitment and retention compensation package intact, and that we do not impact class sizes, which have a direct impact for us on our students,” Rogers said to the elected officials in the audience.

Rogers will present her budget for school board approval on Tuesday. It will then go to the county council and county executive in late February.

Last year, Rogers’ version faced pushback for increasing some middle and high school class sizes by two or three students and eliminating 527 school staff positions.

This year’s proposal cuts nearly 120 positions, most of them from the district’s administrative office. It also transfers 55 teacher and health assistant jobs to grant funding and decreases pre-K to second grade school budgets by 10 percent.

In total, Rogers’ budget saves just over $26 million. Finding that money went “beyond low-hanging fruit and the obvious,” she said.

“It requires an approach that is very precise, line-by-line identifying,” Rogers said. “There were not big pockets where we could find this.”