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Superintendent Dyson tells committee FCPS is prioritizing staffing and equity amid funding uncertainty

Frederick County Public Schools Racial Equity / Community Corner Committee · November 14, 2025
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Summary

Superintendent Dr. Cheryl Dyson told the committee FCPS retains about 94% of staff, is pursuing 'grow-your-own' pipelines, and is budgeting toward a $60,000 starting salary by July 1, 2026, while warning potential cuts to Title grants could force difficult tradeoffs for multilingual learners and other programs.

Dr. Cheryl Dyson, Frederick County Public Schools superintendent, answered committee questions about recruitment, retention, funding and how equity work is being operationalized across schools.

In her response on staffing and retention, Dyson said FCPS has an overall retention rate of about 94%. "When we do exit surveys about why people are leaving, generally, it is because of higher opportunities or because of additional salary," she told the committee. Dyson described investments in "grow-your-own" strategies — partnerships with universities to move special-education instructional assistants into teacher certification, work with the Teacher Academy of Maryland, and targeted recruitment at HBCUs such as Bowie State University.

Budget pressures and federal funding: Dyson said federal funds make up roughly 4% of the district budget (largely Title I) and that Titles 2, 3 and 4 fund academic coaches, multilingual-learner supports and additional services; she warned that reductions — particularly to Title 3 — would require the district to consider shifting those grant-funded staff onto the operating budget or to make cuts elsewhere. "We have to get to $60,000 by 07/01/2026," she said of the district's starting-salary goal; she added that roughly 86% of the district budget goes to staffing.

Equity and organizational culture: Dyson emphasized translating equity into classroom practice through consistent codes of conduct, a student code of conduct, an employee code of conduct, hate-bias reporting, an elevated ombuds role, and school-improvement work focused on Tier 1 instruction and progress monitoring. She urged the committee to focus on concrete KPIs — such as chronic absenteeism and suspension rates — where the committee can advise and elevate student-voice initiatives.

Next steps: Dyson said the superintendent’s recommended budget process is underway, including principal feeder conversations and program reviews; the committee accepted the briefing and flagged follow-up on budget choices and targeted KPIs.