Carroll schools lay out phased plan to meet state Blueprint fiscal rules; staff reallocations and class-size shifts possible

Carroll County Public Schools officials on Jan. 8 presented a work-group report and a phased timeline to bring the district into fiscal compliance with the state’s Blueprint for Maryland’s Future, saying the changes could require reallocating staff systemwide and alter class sizes and course offerings.

The report, compiled by a nearly 40-member work group and released to the public as part of the board meeting, lays out three immediate actions: maximize school-level expenditure reporting by program area, realign existing resources among schools and establish a new classroom teacher staffing-allocation standard. District leaders told the board they will put secondary schools into full compliance in fiscal 2026 and elementary schools in fiscal 2027.

District leaders said the district’s initial, refined analysis shows a roughly $39 million gap in compensatory-education spending and about $5 million in multilingual-learner spending under the blueprint funding and reporting rules, and that Carroll currently spends about $10.2 million more on special education than the statute requires. The report says some of that special-education overage can be treated as legitimately chargeable to other program areas under state guidance.

“This will fundamentally impact every school in our school system,” Superintendent McCabe said, characterizing the work group’s findings as showing “sweeping changes” to historical staffing and resourcing at schools. Staff members said the district is preparing school-by-school detail that will be presented to the public in February.

Why it matters

District staff stressed that the blueprint’s fiscal rules require a higher degree of specificity for how state and local dollars are spent: blueprint program funds must be spent in the program area for which they were received, and at least 75% of those program-area funds must be spent at the school level in most program areas. To meet those requirements, the district must both re-code some existing expenditures to the proper program area and change how staff are allocated across schools.

“Mister O’Neil” (staff member) told the board that “fiscal compliance means that we have to spend a 100% of all blueprint funds in the program area for which they're received” and that the district must report expenditures “by school, by program area, on a monthly basis” to the state. District staff said they are already building the monthly school-level reporting spreadsheets but emphasized the volume of work required to maintain monthly compliance monitoring.

How the district plans to close gaps

- Maximize reporting. Staff said the first step is to ensure the district is identifying and coding every expenditure that legally qualifies for a blueprint program so those amounts reduce the size of the compliance gaps.

- Use special-education overages. The report notes that Carroll, like most Maryland systems, spends more for special education than the blueprint’s required share; staff said state guidance allows some of those overages to be charged as legitimate expenditures to other program areas in order to lower apparent shortfalls.

- Realign staff. The largest operational change proposed is a new classroom teacher staffing-allocation standard that uses four tiers tied to a school’s compensatory-education percentage. Staff said the model applies only to classroom teachers (elementary homeroom teachers plus related arts at the elementary level; secondary grading differs) and does not directly change positions such as special educators, counselors or related-service providers. District leaders cautioned the tiered ratios are a starting point that could be adjusted if the monthly reporting and special-education re-coding lower the identified gaps.

- Phased schedule. Superintendent McCabe reported the district will move all middle and high schools to full compliance in fiscal 2026 and all elementary schools in fiscal 2027 to meet the state’s three-year compliance window.

Board questions and community outreach

Board members asked about likely effects on course offerings, dual-enrollment expansion and which subjects could be most affected. District staff said graduation requirements would be preserved and emphasized efforts to use creative options — including virtual offerings or college-provided dual-enrollment seats — but said some elective and differentiated course offerings could become less frequent. “Could we see more students participating in dual enrollment at the college? Possibly,” staff said.

The district plans to post the full written report and a fiscal-compliance section on the Board of Education website and to schedule town halls and stakeholder briefings once February analyses are finished. Staff said a February board meeting should include final compliance-gap figures and a school-by-school class-size analysis derived from the new staffing allocation standard.

Votes at a glance (action items during the meeting)

- Approval of awarded bids (five items): alternative transportation for nonpublic students; compressor replacement at Manchester Valley High School (emergency procurement); refrigeration units for food services; central office security improvements; musical instruments purchase list. Motion moved by Dr. Dorsey, second by Miss Zimmer; board approved unanimously.

- Approval of board-member assignments to advisory committees. Motion moved and seconded; approved unanimously.

- Ethics panel appointment(s) to fill a vacancy. Motion moved and seconded; approved unanimously.

- Monthly personnel action items: five new hires, one release from contract, one broken contract, one leave of absence. Motion moved and seconded; approved unanimously.

What’s next

District leaders said the work group’s written report will be posted on the district website under a new blueprint/fiscal-compliance page, with an email address for public questions and a calendar of town halls. Staff said they expect to return in February with finalized gap numbers, any adjusted staffing ratios and a school-by-school staffing and class-size impact assessment.

The board scheduled additional budget-related meetings in late January and February to coincide with FY 2026 operating-budget work, and district staff said they will continue to update the community as the implementation plan evolves.