State Funding Per Pupil
The state’s per-pupil funding for Montgomery County Public Schools increased 32.8% between fiscal 2019 and fiscal 2024. That ties with Carroll County for the sixth smallest increase among all 24 Maryland public school districts.
Per-pupil funding is based on a formula that utilizes the district’s total enrollment and the characteristics of its students. It’s too soon to know what the per-pupil funding level will be in the later years of the Blueprint.
Here’s the district’s initial Blueprint Implementation Plan. And here’s what the state Accountability and Implementation Board – which oversees the Blueprint – had to say about Montgomery County Public Schools’ Blueprint Implementation Plan:
Strengths:
- The district has proposed a plan to reach out to as many families as possible about its Pre-K enrollment process.
- Montgomery County has developed a strong program to equip English language learners with necessary literacy skills.
- The county selects high quality instructional material, which are reviewed extensively and compared against the county’s rubric to align with the curriculum.
- Montgomery County is introducing a restorative justice coach position in all schools to support student’s behavioral health and help fellow teachers. Teachers that take on this role will still be able to stay in their classrooms part-time.
Needs improvement:
- Montgomery County will take five years to implement a common registration platform for pre-K. The district should consider how to shorten this timeline to ensure all families can enroll more quickly.
- The district should improve its math plan to resemble the standards of its literacy plan. This improvement should ensure all students are ready for higher education.
- Montgomery County needs to outline a specific plan to support students who are not meeting the college and career readiness goal by the end of 10th grade. The district should engage with and gather input from families when creating the plan for their children.
– Jon Dennis and Tyler Boden