City, Baltimore City Public Schools sign multi-year agreement to fund school health suites through 2030

Deputy City Solicitor Steven Salisbury presented and the Board of Estimates approved an agreement between Baltimore City and the Baltimore City Board of School Commissioners to sustain and fund school-based health suites through fiscal 2030.

The nut graf: the agreement includes a one-time payment to reimburse recent school staffing expenses and a predetermined per-school reimbursement schedule, adjusted annually for inflation, designed to provide staffing clarity and budget certainty for the life of the agreement. "This agreement will provide clarity and certainty both from a staffing perspective and from a budgetary standpoint for the life of the contract that goes through fiscal year '30," Deputy Solicitor Steven Salisbury told the board.

Salisbury said the arrangement resolves long-running negotiations about which entity bears which costs for school health services. The city will make a one-time up-front payment of $9,140,000 to cover costs incurred by the school system for staffing health suites during fiscal years 2022–24. Going forward the agreement establishes a fixed reimbursement rate per school and an annual inflation adjustment; the parties will renegotiate if the number of city-staffed suites changes. Salisbury said, at the time of the agreement the health department staffed 113 school health suites and city schools staffed 36.

Board members and city officials praised the negotiated settlement and noted the policy importance of school-based health care in supporting children with limited access to primary care. The board approved the agreement by motion; the clerk recorded the item as approved.