Carroll County officials outline process, timeline for charter school application

Carroll County Public Schools officials told a joint meeting of the Carroll County Board of County Commissioners and the Board of Education that a charter school application received on March 31 is under review and must be decided within 120 days under Maryland law.

The application, if approved, would create a Carroll County public charter school scheduled to open in the 2026–27 school year and would be funded by the Board of Education on a per-pupil basis like other public schools. The review is ongoing; the superintendent and staff will complete the evaluation and the superintendent will make a recommendation to the Board of Education.

Board staff summarized the state and local rules that govern charter schools in Maryland and how those rules apply in Carroll County. "Under Maryland law, charter schools in Maryland are public schools," a CCPS staff member said, explaining that the board is the authorizer and the application’s operator would run the school. The staff member said charter school employees would be employees of the Board of Education and covered by the same bargaining agreements as other public-school employees.

Why it matters: the discussion tied the charter application to ongoing budget concerns. Officials said a new charter can alter where existing students enroll, creating startup-year budget pressure for the district even though a charter receives per-pupil funding. If students move from existing Carroll County Public Schools (CCPS) into the charter, CCPS will still carry many fixed costs during the charter’s startup year, officials said.

Officials gave additional operational details discussed during the meeting: the school would be tuition-free and open to all Carroll County residents; if applications exceed capacity the Board of Education would run a public lottery (the board would oversee the lottery process); transportation plans must be included in the applicant’s proposal; capital costs and facility maintenance would be the operator’s responsibility; and charter operator alliances typically form as 501(c)(3) organizations that may fundraise and seek startup grants.

A CCPS staff member summarized funding mechanics: charter schools receive a per-pupil allotment under the state funding formula and must spend school-level special education and compensatory-education funds as required. Officials said the per-pupil allotment is tied to the state’s funding formula and noted a year-to-year timing lag: even if students enrolling in the charter come from outside the district (private school or homeschool), the district typically does not receive the corresponding enrollment funding until the next fiscal-year enrollment count.

Board members pressed for clarifications about extracurriculars, class size, teacher pay and bargaining: extracurricular programs and career-technical offerings would be available to charter students in the same way as other public-school students, but a charter would need to field its own teams if it wanted a separate athletics program. Charter teachers would remain subject to the district salary scale and bargaining units; teachers in a charter would be Board of Education employees and eligible for tenure and the same due-process protections that apply elsewhere in the system.

The board has not taken a vote on the application. "The board has not made a decision yet," Superintendent Dr. McCabe said; she and staff will complete their review and then make a recommendation to the Board of Education to approve or disapprove the application. No timetable for the board decision beyond the 120-day statutory review window was specified during the meeting.

Next steps: CCPS staff will finish the statutory review, present findings to the superintendent, and the superintendent will recommend action to the Board of Education. If the charter is approved, a separate charter agreement would be negotiated that could include multi-year terms and provisions for renewal or termination.