Contracted out: How Maryland school districts do business
Maryland's school districts are required by law to tell the state how they spend their money — and the Local News Network at the University of Maryland took a close look at that data. The records include every business or individual contractor that got $25,000 or more from a school district in a single fiscal year. See what we found in our featured stories below or see how your district spends their money and search the data yourself. Project credits
Featured Stories
An unprecedented look at Maryland public school spending
Billions of local, state and federal tax dollars go to funding Maryland’s public schools every year — and now, it will be easier for you to find out how your local school district spent that money. That’s because the Local…
Health care, construction, tech among biggest school expenses
With employee health care costs leading the way, Maryland’s public school districts spent $21.1 billion between fiscal years 2019 and 2022 not on teacher and staff salaries, but on everything else that keeps the schools running. That’s the bottom line…
Baltimore County leads state in transparency of school expenditures
If you’re curious about how your local school district is spending its money, you can download data from the “Contracted Out” database. But if you want to know exactly why school districts spend what they spend, you’re out of luck…
Some school expenses, big and small, remain a mystery
If you take a look at some of the ways Maryland school districts spend your tax dollars, you may be left with an obvious question: Why? In one major case, it’s not a question the spokesman for Anne Arundel County…
Audits show trouble lurking in school contracts
Auditors keep a close eye on school district contracting in Maryland — and if you’re wondering why, just look at what happened in May in Montgomery County. After auditors raised suspicions, the district’s former assistant director of transportation pleaded guilty…
About the data
The data compiled in “Contracted Out” was provided by all of the 24 public school districts in Maryland. The data provides records of vendors that receive payments of $25,000 or more during a fiscal year from a board of education…
About the project
“Contracted Out” was a massive effort pulled together by four faculty members and dozens of students at the University of Maryland’s Philip Merrill College of Journalism. Derek Willis, lecturer in computational and data journalism, suggested the project and worked with…