CECIL COUNTY — Among the 24 public school systems in the State of Maryland, Cecil County Public Schools ranked as the lowest funded — based on per-student funding — in FY23, falling just $42 behind St. Mary’s County, according to the Maryland Department of Legislative Service’s rankings.
The ranking for school system funding is based on per-student allocation where a school system’s overall operating budget — not including capital improvement funds — is divided by student enrollment. All of the numbers disclosed are state and local funding numbers compiled by the DLS and do not include federal funds, as federal funds utilize different metrics and calculations.
Despite falling to the ranking of lowest funded school system in the state, Cecil County Executive Danielle Hornberger said that her unanimously passed budget not only makes a significant investment in education, but it also plans for the future.
“That’s why we’re funding two new schools, numerous capital improvement projects and created a $10 million committed fund to stave off future education related tax increases,” Hornberger said.
Counties that are classified as having a low average household income typically rank lower on the county wealth scale which allows them to be granted more money from the state to operate institutions like education.
In FY21, Worcester County ranked first of Maryland’s 24 school systems for school funding, with a student population of 6,711 and a per-student allocation of $19,270.
Worcester County’s $19,270 allotment was comprised of $4,423 state money, $14,779 local government and $68 miscellaneous funds.
St. Mary’s County ranked last in FY21 with a student population of 17,246 and a per-student allocation of $14,356. St. Mary’s allotment used $7,715 state money, $6,550 was government funds and $92 miscellaneous.
CCPS ranked 17 out of 24 for school funding in FY21 with a student population of 14,718 and its per-student allocation was $15,148.
Of CCPS’s $15,148 per-student allotment, $8,820 came from the state, $6,071 was made up of county government funds and $257 was miscellaneous.
After the 2020 election, Cecil County’s leadership changed hands from the McCarthy administration to the Hornberger administration, meaning the FY22 budget the first budget County Executive Danielle Hornberger passed in her role. At the time, Cecil County rated 15 out of 24 for county wealth and had a slight increase in student population from 14,718 to 14,780.
The FY22 budget funded CCPS at that year’s state-mandated Maintenance of Effort level and showed an increase of $553 in CCPS’s per-student allocation, making it $15,701.
The increase was found primarily in state funding as the use of state funds for student allocation increased by $384, local government funding increased by $179 and miscellaneous increased by $10.
Despite the increase, CCPS fell from its DOE funding ranking of 17th to 19 out of 24 in terms of school funding.
Similar to FY21, the school system to rank first in the FY22 ranking was a small school system — Somerset County — which had a student population of 2,741 and a per-student allocation of nearly $21,000.
Somerset ranked second to last for county wealth in FY22, which was reflected in their per-student allotment breakdown that shows the use of $16,841 in state funds, $4,072 in local government funds and $62 miscellaneous.
The school system to rank as the lowest funded in FY22 was Frederick County, which had a student population of 45,220 and a per-student allocation of $14,680.
Frederick County ranked 13 of 24 in county wealth. The breakdown Frederick County’s $14,680 per-student allocation shows the use of $7,398 in state funds, $7,205 local government funds and $77 miscellaneous.
In last year’s budget, CCPS had a reported student population of 15,047 and a per-student allocation of $15,520 — only $372 more than CCPS’s per-student allocation in FY21.
With inflation, CCPS’s FY21 per-student allocation of $15,148 is worth approximately $13,245 today. With an increase of $372 per-student from FY21 to FY23 and the impact of inflation, operating expenses have increased which has put a strain on institutions that still use roughly the same funding numbers from more than two years ago.
A common theme among all of the per-student allocation numbers is that when state funding is lower, the local governments of school systems that rank higher in wealth are seen to increase their funding in per-student allotment. The same can be said for when local governments commit lower funds- the state compensates for the difference.
But both of these instances seem to only occur for counties who either rank at the top or the bottom for county wealth- not the middle.
“It’s not a situation where we can point the finger at any one person or thing, it is an overall flaw with the state funding formula,” said CCPS’s Chief of Finance Denise Sopa.
As seen in both FY22 and FY23, Somerset County, a county that ranked 21 in FY22 and 23 in FY23 out of 24 for county wealth, also happened to be the highest funded school system in Maryland with the highest state funding in terms of per-student allotment.
Similar to Somerset County, in FY22 and FY23 the top ranking wealthiest county, Worcester County, ranked second; but instead of having high state funding, Worcester County had the highest local funding in the state for its per-student allotment.
As for Cecil County, which has been in the lower middle classification for county wealth the past three years, the difference between CCPS’s FY22 and FY23 state and local per-student allotment is $71- combined.
CCPS has remained relatively flat in its state and local contributions for school funding since FY21 whereas the counties who have done similar shared the same fate of dropping in rank.
In FY22, a county that ranked an upper middle classification of 7 out of 24 for county wealth — Garrett County — ranked 9 out of 24 for state funding with a per-student allotment of $17,184. State funds made up $8,596 of their per-student allotment and local funds made up $8,566 with only $22 defined as miscellaneous.
In FY23, Garrett County’s total per-student allotment dropped by $104 with its state and local contributions showing a difference of less than $500 and Garrett County fell to 13 out of 24 for school funding.
On the other hand, Harford County ranked at 21 out of 24 for school funding in FY22 while ranking almost exactly in the middle for county wealth at rank 11. Harford County’s per student allotment was $15,417 with $7,348 of that being state funds, $7,955 being local funds and $114 being miscellaneous.
In FY23, Harford — still ranked 11 for county wealth — jumped from rank 21 to 14 out of 24 for school funding by matching its $510 per-student allotment increase from the state by contribuing an additional $822 per-student allotment.
As for Baltimore City, which jumped from 8 out of 24 for school funding in FY22 to rank 3 out of 24 in FY23, the county maintained a rank of 19 in FY22 and 20 in FY23 out of 24 for local wealth. Baltimore City’s school system saw a $2,363 increase from the state in its per-student allotment from FY22 to FY23.
“As we see with Baltimore City and elsewhere in Maryland and the country, higher spending per-pupil does not translate into higher graduation rates, higher ranking academic exam performance or higher post graduation salaries,” Hornberger said.
Counties that are ranked within the upper middle, middle or lower middle classifications will often see slight increases in both state and local funding for per-student allotment depending on their county wealth.
When state funding increases, like with Harford County in FY23, the local government can choose to increase its contribution or remain close to flat in its funding and risk falling in rank. The same can be said for state funding of counties that rank anywhere in the middle for wealth, but since state contributions are based on algorithms, the fluctuation in funding will often be minimal until a county’s wealth moves further up, or down.
The future of state school system funding continues to be unforeseen as Blueprint for Maryland’s future — a statewide funding plan that aims to increase education funding by $3.8 billion in the next 10 years — only promises increases in funding, but no real plan for how it will be fully implemented.
FY24 school funding rankings will be available in the fall of 2023.
Cecil Whig Clip
