State Funding Per Pupil
The state’s per-pupil funding for Baltimore County Public Schools increased 35% between fiscal 2019 and fiscal 2024. That’s the 11th 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 Baltimore Public Schools’ Blueprint Implementation Plan:
Strengths:
- Baltimore County is changing its half-day pre-K programs to full-day programs. It’s also merging special education students with general pre-K classes.
- The pre-K enrollment process benefits from involving staff who are trained to help foreign-language-speaking families.
- The district has partnerships with colleges and universities to support its teacher pipeline and the training of paraprofessionals.
- The district conducts “exit” and “stay” interviews with departing and remaining staff and will analyze the data they produce to aid in recruitment and retention.
- Baltimore County is expanding career and technical education by increasing programming and youth apprenticeship opportunities.
Needs improvement:
- Like many districts, Baltimore County is focusing its career ladder on salary structure – but it also needs to rethink teacher leadership roles, professional development and the structure of the school day to benefit students.
- The district has comprehensive plans for increasing reading and math literacy, but should consider adding coaches and tutors and using data to monitor the plans’ progress.
- Baltimore County needs to make sure that its six-year college and career readiness plan fits Blueprint requirements and supports students who are falling behind.
- Shaela Foster