PGCPS details expansion, funding and data plans for 147 community schools

Prince George’s County Public Schools officials on Nov. 10 told the Academic Achievement Committee that the district now supports 147 community schools and is working to strengthen staffing, vendor oversight and family engagement as state grant funding expands. The presentation laid out the office’s theory of action, the funding mechanics, and operational challenges that accompanied rapid scale-up from about 45 schools in the initial cohort.

The district’s associate superintendent for teaching, learning and innovation, Dr. Reese, said the Maryland State Department of Education provides concentration-of-poverty grants that are formula-driven and flow to eligible schools. He told the committee those grants include both a personnel component (to fund community school coordinators, registered nurses and mental-health clinicians) and a per-pupil component tied to the four‑year average of students living in poverty. “If the office of community schools strengthens the capacity of the community school coordinators… and monitors the impact of each of those wraparound services… PGCPS will be empowered to eliminate barriers to learning,” Reese said.

Why it matters: PGCPS…