Baltimore City school board approves $1.95 billion budget. Here’s how the money shakes out.

The Baltimore City school board passed a $1.95 billion budget Tuesday night that reflects increased but uneven spending on the district’s public schools.

The budget, which was adopted unanimously, allocates 4.3% more for the next school year. But differences in the number of students that schools enroll, the ages of kids they serve, and how many of them come from low-income families will drive how principals can spend their money.

Christopher Doherty, the chief finance officer for Baltimore City Public Schools, called the spending plan a “solid, conservative budget.” It’s the last to pass under CEO Sonja Santelises, who is leaving the district after 10 years and will be succeeded by Jermaine Dawson this summer.

“By design and by direction of Dr. Santelises, it didn’t embark on new directions in the year that, after all, would be the first year of the new CEO,” Doherty said.

Here’s how district officials said the numbers shake out.

12

That’s how many more students Baltimore City Public Schools expects to get state funding for next school year.

That’s a tiny uptick for a district of 76,000 students. But it bucks the state trend: Maryland public schools have lost more than 11,000 students since the last school year.

Enrollment is the primary way the state determines how much money each district gets.

4%

That’s how much more funding the city school system expects to get from the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future next school year. The Blueprint is the ambitious education spending plan that mandates districts direct money to schools with more kids who need extra support, like those with disabilities or from poor households.

But that money can’t be spent just anywhere. Next year, it’s mostly earmarked for pre-K, special education and schools where more than half of the kids live in poverty.

“This is a belt-tightening year,” the budget reads. “We have created a budget that aims to minimize the impact on schools and students.”

$20 million

That’s how much the district will spend on literacy coaches to help kids read — about $4.5 million less than this year. There’s currently a literacy coach in every prekindergarten through eighth-grade school.

The system will also spend $11 million on math coaches, a $3.2 million increase. There’s another $1 million set aside for math and literacy intervention.

The state plans to use literacy coaches to improve students’ reading scores. Baltimore got on board early and has seen literacy gains that outpace the state’s. Still, the district’s improved reading and math scores are some of the lowest in Maryland.

$95 million

That’s how much Blueprint money Baltimore is projected to get to support multilingual learners, down from $97 million this year.

Baltimore is getting less money because it lost nearly 1,200 students who need help learning in English. That was previously one of the district’s fastest-growing demographics.

Sandi Jacobs, the district’s executive director for strategic resourcing and Blueprint implementation coordinator, said at an April meeting that it’s “hard to imagine” the decline is disconnected from increased immigration enforcement.

Immigration plunged in every Maryland county last year amid crackdowns and deportations that have largely targeted people with no criminal history.

About the Education Hub

This reporting is part of The Banner’s Education Hub, community-funded journalism that provides parents with resources they need to make decisions about how their children learn. Read more.