WESTMINSTER, Md. — Carroll County Public Schools will avoid having to layoff or reassign dozens of staff members, at least for now.
The new development comes after Maryland's Blueprint Accountability & Implementation Board (AIB) granted the school system a waiver.
Carroll County said they're experiencing a more than 86 percent increase in Compensatory Education students qualifying for free and reduced price meals.
That's a 33.6 percent gap compared to the statewide average, limiting financial resources towards the Blueprint which is funded on a per-pupil basis.
Due to prior budget cuts, predating the Blueprint, the school system was already digging themselves out of a staffing shortage.
Without a waiver, Carroll County would've somehow had to find a way to fund 50 percent of the Blueprint by next school year.
Funding mandates would've reached 100 percent by 2026-2027.
Seeking a waiver was the last resort, as last month Carroll County's Board of Commissioners appeared hesitant to provide extra funding.
The newly approved waiver gives Carroll until fiscal year 2028 to meet minimum funding requirements, meaning for the moment, nearly 200 school based positions can be retained.
"We know that the Blueprint is not one size fits all," said AIB Chair Isiah “Ike” Leggett. "The AIB found the increase in compensatory education students is significant and that changing the status of approximately 200 full-time equivalent positions in a single school year will likely create an environment that interferes with effective teaching and learning."
Prior to being granted a waiver, the board heard from 1,300 Carroll County constituents.
“This agreement does not solve the long-term issues associated with the implementation of the Blueprint, but it does grant a critical additional year of digesting the local impact of the statewide implementation by the Governor, General Assembly, and statewide other decision makers in what must be an ongoing discussion,” said District 5 Delegate, Chris Tomlinson, who serves as Carroll County Delegation Chair.
The issuance of a waiver comes with some conditions.
One requires the school system to code all compensatory education and multilingual learner expenditures by February 1, 2026.
School officials also have to submit written progress reports to the AIB every six months.
