Baltimore County schools’ student population shrinks as the number of administration workers grows

Baltimore County Public Schools had 531 more full-time staff and 3,790 fewer students last year compared to the 2018-19 school year, according to a new report from Georgetown University’s Edunomics Lab.

The new research update highlights the district’s unincorporated communities as exemplifying an unsustainable trend of public schools lavishing taxpayer dollars on non-teaching hires as they attract fewer students and fewer teachers, custodians, cafeteria workers and bus drivers.

“Baltimore is just an example,” Marguerite Roza, the lab’s director, told The Washington Times. “Many of these districts can’t continue to afford the staff they’ve added, especially in cases where enrollment is falling.”

Analyzing federal education data, the researchers found that Baltimore County’s district office workforce surged by 21%, adding 267 full-time people. The number of non-teaching school administrators grew by 16%, adding 378 employees, while the tally of support staff paraprofessionals increased by 12%, or 126 people.

Over the same period, enrollment in the suburban district dropped by 3%, from 113,814 to 110,024 students. There were 53 fewer teachers, and the number of custodians, bus drivers, and cafeteria workers declined by 188 workers.

Baltimore County Public Schools spokesman Charles Herndon said the school system has taken steps to address the imbalance. He pointed to recent reports that the central office is no longer growing.

“Over the past three fiscal years, BCPS has prioritized eliminating vacant and central office positions in an effort to retain teachers, school-based staff, and frontline service and support employees,” Mr. Herndon said in an email.

Pandemic spending

Public schools nationwide have scrambled to unwind a pandemic-era hiring spree fueled by $189.5 billion in temporary federal relief funding.

The problem has become acute at many campuses in Maryland, Virginia and the District, where proximity to federal funding sources has long boosted per-pupil spending well above the national average.

The Baltimore County district now has over 20,000 employees serving 108,017 students in 174 schools and centers. That makes it the third-largest public system in Maryland and the 22nd biggest nationwide, the district says.

District officials have proposed a $2.49 billion budget for the coming fiscal year.

The Edunomics Lab’s online database shows that some urban school districts in Maryland face even bigger gaps between hiring and enrollment.

Serving over 76,000 students in the state’s largest city, the Baltimore City Public Schools had a net gain of 2,095 full-time staff and a loss of 2,490 students between the 2018-19 and 2024-25 academic years.

Montgomery County Public Schools, Maryland’s largest district at roughly 159,000 students, added 1,769 full-time employees and lost 3,499 pupils. But the suburban system hired more teachers and frontline workers than office staff, distinguishing it from Baltimore County.

In all Maryland school districts, the full-time workforce increased by 9% to 130,932 employees in the 2024-25 school year. Enrollment decreased by 1% to 891,525 students.

Julie Giordano, the Republican executive of rural Wicomico County in eastern Maryland and a former public high school English teacher, questioned the “balance and sustainability” of district budgets.

“The real priority should be putting strong teachers and direct student support first,” Ms. Giordano said. “Families and taxpayers deserve to see a clear connection between education spending and classroom impact.”

According to the Edunomics Lab, Wicomico County Public Schools was one of the few districts in Maryland where hiring kept pace with enrollment. The small system added 633 pupils and 333 employees, including 88 teachers and 30 frontline workers, serving roughly 15,000 students.

Statewide, the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future has called for a $30 billion investment in public education over 10 years. Gov. Wes Moore, a Democrat, has proposed increasing the state education budget to $10.2 billion in the coming fiscal year, or a record-high $11,811 per student, to meet these goals.

D.C. and Virginia

According to the Edunomics Lab database, which excludes charter schools, D.C. Public Schools and Virginia’s school districts face similar problems.

Statewide, Virginia’s public school district workforce jumped by 13% to 210,812 employees between the 2018-19 and 2024-25 school years. Enrollment fell 2% to 1,257,315 students.

In the District, a surge in the Hispanic population over the period drove up enrollment by 6% to 51,904 students last year, making the system an outlier in the region. Meanwhile, the number of D.C. Public Schools employees grew by 4% to 2,007.

But anecdotal reports have emerged of a sharp drop in Hispanic enrollment since President Trump returned to office and launched a sweeping crackdown on illegal immigration. An official headcount for the current school year is not yet available.

“Enrollment trends in many places have flattened or declined due to long-term demographic changes such as lower birth rates and shifts in migration patterns,” said Yesim Sayin, executive director of the nonpartisan D.C. Policy Center.

In its report, Georgetown’s Edunomics Lab called on public schools to “right-size this larger workforce” as Americans have fewer children.

Noting that “fewer students mean fewer dollars,” the lab advised school districts to lure administrators back into the classroom with pay increases, then eliminate their vacant office positions.

“We’re seeing a reckoning,” said Ms. Roza, the lab’s director.