City Schools presents facilities master plan showing short-term enrollment gain but long-term decline and $375 million capital gap

Baltimore City Public Schools officials presented the districts Comprehensive Educational Facilities Master Plan (CEFMP) to the board on May 27, reporting a one-year enrollment increase of about 1,000 students but a projected 10-year decline of roughly 3,000 students. Facilities staff said the short-term gain was driven by rising Latino enrollment and a substantially smaller drop in Black enrollment than in prior years.

"Baltimore City's population is potentially stabilizing," Maureen Gershberg, director of facilities planning and strategy, told commissioners. Gershberg said the most significant contributors to this year's enrollment uptick were increases in Latino students and an unusually small Black student decline (474 students) compared with prior annual losses around 1,800.

The CEFMP is a state-required planning document that sets 10-year enrollment projections, highlights utilization and capital needs, and informs the districts capital improvement program (CIP). Gershberg reported the district-wide building utilization rate for school year 2024-25 at 87%, above the states ideal planning rate of about 86%. But staff warned that utilization is projected to fall if population trends revert because the state ties some capital funding to schools that meet a 60% utilization threshold.

Lynette Washington, chief operating officer, explained that the district expects to need systemic capital work across older buildings and that the current maintenance and capital budget is approximately $375,000,000 less than needed to meet existing building demands. "This means we're constantly having to make difficult decisions on what we can do and what we must postpone from a facilities perspective," she said.

The CEFMP also flags geographic imbalance: overcrowding in certain elementary-school zones (notably areas with Latino growth in South, Southeast and Northwest Baltimore) and excess secondary seats in other parts of the city, notably West Baltimore. Gershberg said planned and in-queue projects include the Southeast building retention, additions for Holabird and Graceland zones, and watchlisted developments such as Keys Pointe and Perkins Somerset Old Town. Officials said those developments could alter demand depending on timing and occupancy.

The CEFMP adds a non-academic consolidation plan that would surplus three non-academic facilities and demolish two others, reducing non-academic square footage by more than 400,000 square feet; staff said that element is currently paused because of federal funding changes.

Board members pressed staff on projection methods, the role of city development and housing policy, and practical options to address underutilization. Several commissioners said the board must have candid public conversations about possible consolidations or closures in parts of the city with sustained enrollment declines. "Talking about merging a school or closing a school is the least popular thing we can do, but if we don't have those conversations, we're not being responsible stewards of the resources that we have here," one commissioner said.

Staff said planning decisions will continue as a multi-year, collaborative process that combines demographic trends, city development data and programmatic redesign to try to maintain high-quality schools where families live. Gershberg urged the public to consult the districts interactive dashboard for maps, chapter PDFs and appendices.

Ending: The board took the presentation as information; the document will move through state review as required. Staff said they will continue portfolio conversations with the board and the city about capacity, program placement and capital funding priorities.