Baltimore County superintendent reports attendance gains, higher teacher retention and outlines $126 million operating increase and $541 million capital ask

Superintendent Rogers updated the Baltimore County Delegation on Jan. 31, saying Baltimore County Public Schools (BCPS) has seen measurable gains in student attendance and teacher retention while presenting the school system's operating and capital funding requests for the coming fiscal year.

Rogers told delegates the system has “relaunched our efforts” around teaching and learning and that BCPS recorded “the highest improvement in the state of Maryland” last year on chronic absenteeism, an outcome she said was driven by professional learning communities, evidence-based curriculum and expanded support services. She also said BCPS is “outpacing the state” on teacher retention and that local retention is above 93 percent, compared with the most recent state figure of 89.3 percent.

The superintendent presented the operating budget request that includes a $126,000,000 increase (approximately a 6.5 percent rise) that would bring the operating-subtotal estimate from about $2.10 billion to about $2.26 billion. She identified components of the request as year-two compensation agreements covering roughly 20,000 employees; carryover of ESSER funds used for an extended school day; budgeting to actual expenditures for substitutes and related service providers; and additional paraprofessionals and special-education staff. Rogers said central-office savings, a hiring freeze and other efficiencies produced internal reductions of about $130,000,000.

On capital needs, Rogers described a roughly $541,000,000 capital request aligned with projects prioritized after an 80 percent yes vote on a recent bond referendum. She listed the major projects the district has prioritized: Delaney High School (about $281,000,000), Towson High School (about $260,000,000) and Lansdowne High School (about $204.7 million), along with Scotts Branch and Deer Park elementary school projects. Rogers noted the Built to Learn Act has provided about $350,000,000 to the county’s school infrastructure since 2021 and warned those funds are winding down.

Rogers also flagged potential state-level reductions that, based on a recent fiscal note, could cut roughly $5.6 million in state aid, $4.8 million in other state revenue (primarily nonpublic placements) and about $9.4 million in required state retirement contribution changes, producing an approximate $20,000,000 impact to BCPS if the proposals move forward.

On special education, Rogers said the district is seeking 32 new positions tied to specific programs, five prekindergarten special-education teachers, 25 additional paraeducators and roughly $8,000,000 to compensate adult assistants so those positions can cover a full school day. She said about $4,000,000 of the funding request would cover related-service providers (speech-language pathology, occupational and physical therapy) and roughly $9,000,000 reflected higher nonpublic placement costs after last year’s legislation that created pay parity between nonpublic and public-school teacher pay. Rogers said the $9,000,000 difference between budget and actual expenditures remains a moving target and that an additional proposed state cut could increase the shortfall.

Delegates pressed Rogers for more data and locality-level detail. Delegate Niraki cited high chronic-absenteeism rates at several schools — Chesapeake High (58.3 percent), Stemmers Run (44.5 percent) and Hawthorne Elementary (63.5 percent) — and asked how the district is addressing those outliers. Rogers pointed to community-schools strategies, morning outreach calls, additional bus runs, mentors focused on attendance, wraparound services (including on-site health care and interpretation), and school-level plans as measures that are producing improvements; she highlighted McCormick Elementary as an example of a school that reduced chronic absenteeism to below 10 percent and rose two state rating stars in a year.

Delegate Carden raised constituent complaints that some school restrooms are locked at times during the school day. Rogers said principals have closed or limited access to particular restrooms where supervision was insufficient but emphasized that “all bathrooms are not locked all days” and that the district will ask principals to clarify which locations remain open and improve communication to families.

Rogers said the district will distribute her slide deck to delegation staff and will follow up in writing with detailed special-education budget breakdowns. She also noted the district continues “budgeting to actual expenditures,” maximizing grants and philanthropic support, and using a central-office hiring freeze with limited exceptions to find savings.

Rogers closed by saying BCPS will continue to monitor state proposals and continue outreach to families and community partners as budget and policy discussions proceed.

Ending

Rogers said BCPS will provide the delegation a copy of the presentation and a written follow-up with detailed special-education figures; delegates asked staff to circulate the slide deck so members could review the line-item figures more closely.