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MSDE reports $20.9 million in philanthropic commitments to support literacy, tutoring and school improvement projects
Summary
MSDE staff described philanthropic grants and partnerships totaling $20.9 million (Feb 2025–2027), including awards directed to MSDE and larger awards routed through external fiscal agents to fund literacy coaching, high‑dosage tutoring and related initiatives.
MSDE staff told board members the department has secured $20,900,000 in philanthropic awards covering fiscal years February 2025 through 2027; of that amount, MSDE said $4,300,000 has been awarded directly to the department with the remainder routed through partner fiscal agents.
Staff described several partnerships and their purposes: a multi‑partner academic excellence grant (presented as $5,000,000) that MSDE said involves SUNY, the Science and Reading Center, the AIM Institute and Johns Hopkins University; a $3,000,000 statewide Academic Excellence grant spread over three years with Instruction Partners to stand up a literacy coaching network and a math school improvement network; an academic excellence pilot in Prince George’s County creating state school‑based literacy coaches with job postings recently announced; and a partnership with Saga Education to provide high‑dosage online math tutoring through Saga Connect and related AI insights tools. MSDE also described a partnership with Harvard strategic data fellows to study implementation of the Saga tutoring model in Maryland.
MSDE staff said funding arrangements vary: some awards route funds and services through external fiscal agents (including partner organizations and districts), while others provide funds directly to MSDE. Staff told the board that overhead, indirect costs and position salaries vary by grant and fiscal agent and are determined on a case‑by‑case basis by funders and fiscal agents. Board members asked staff to clarify indirect cost and overhead arrangements; MSDE replied that where funds are paid directly to MSDE the department retains oversight of spending.
Staff said these philanthropic investments are intended to extend MSDE capacity for initiatives tied to MSDE strategic priorities such as PreK–3 literacy, adolescent literacy, coaching, and high‑dosage math tutoring.
