By Christine Condon | Reporter
“The most foundational part of school is showing up to school.” - Joshua Michael, president of the Maryland State Board of Education, on declining chronic absenteeism in Maryland schools.
Education leads the way in today’s newsletter.
In Maryland, education officials are touting a 9 percentage point drop in chronic absenteeism last year, compared to the 2021-2022 school year. Pera Onal has that story. But on the national level, a congressional watchdog is concerned about the reliability of absenteeism data, after the U.S. Department of Education suspended a comprehensive monitoring process, which could also allow wasteful education spending to go undetected, as Robbie Sequeira reports.
Maryland education advocates, meanwhile, are meeting to talk about the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future, the multibillion-dollar school reform plan that is likely to be a target in 2027 as lawmakers grapple with a projected $3 billion budget gap. Advocates have a clear response to that: No cuts to the Blueprint, as William J. Ford reports.
And a math lesson that’s not school-related from Danielle J. Brown, who reports on a new study that says the high cost of housing in Maryland is one of the leading factors for poverty in the state, and that cutting rents would cut poverty. Those stories and more headlines are below for your Wednesday morning.
Maryland Board of Education members pose with T-shirts promoting the "Maryland Shows Up!" campaign, implemented to incentivize student attendance, at their meeting Tuesday. (Photo courtesy Maryland State Department of Education)
By Pera Onal
Maryland school officials Tuesday celebrated a sharp drop in chronic absenteeism since the pandemic, despite uneven results across school districts and not reaching their goal of cutting post-pandemic rates in half.
The Maryland Department of Education announced earlier this month that nearly 23% of students were chronically absent during the 2025-26 academic year, down from almost 32% in the 2021-22 academic year.
But data released during Tuesday’s Board of Education meeting showed rates ranging from 41.4% in Baltimore City to 15.4% in Harford and Howard counties. The state considers a student who misses 10% of the school year, or 18 days of the 180-day school calendar, as chronically absent, whether the absences were excused or unexcused.
Attendees raise their hands after Kenzie Funk, standing, a policy advocate for Strong Schools Maryland, asked a question about education during a community meeting at Elkridge Branch Library in Howard County. (Photo by William J. Ford/Maryland Matters)
By William J. Ford
They acknowledged the looming budget shortfall, and said there have been challenges implementing the Blueprint for Maryland's Future, the state's sweeping education reform plan, but those weren't the main themes at a meeting on the plan Tuesday.
“They better not cut it,” said Cheryl McLeod of Howard County after a two-hour meeting Tuesday night.
McLeod, a member of a nonprofit organization called World Class Grads, was among two dozen parents, educators, community leaders and others gathered at the Elkridge Branch Library to talk about education, with a specific focus on the Blueprint. It was the latest in a series of meetings by the Blueprint Coalition, a collection of nonprofit organizations, community leaders and education advocates who support implementation of the 10-year, multibillion-dollar plan. Five years in, the costly plan is increasingly seen as a target for lawmakers grappling with budget issues in the 2027 legislative session.
A new report says Maryland is among the states where high housing costs contribute most heavily to the state's poverty rate. (Photo by Getty stock images)
By Danielle J. Brown
Maryland is one of 10 states where high housing costs contribute the most to the state’s poverty level, according to a new report by the Pew Charitable Trusts.
The report, released Tuesday, said approximately 21% of Maryland poverty is attributable to above-average housing costs, stretching the budgets of the state's low-income families and offsetting positive impacts of anti-poverty measures such as federal food assistance. The Pew report says that Maryland and other states face a severe housing shortage that drives up housing costs. It urges states to prioritize building new units, arguing that a 20% decline in rental costs could significantly reduce poverty rates.
While Maryland officials have pushed some measures to speed up new housing, one of the report’s authors said more could be done to chip away at the state’s nearly 100,000-unit housing shortage.
IN OTHER NEWS
Worries about school waste: The U.S. Department of Education’s suspension of comprehensive monitoring puts billions of K-12 dollars at risk of undetected waste, fraud and abuse, says a new audit, that also questioned the reliability of absenteeism data.
Third-country deportations: The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday granted, for now, the Trump administration’s request to continue rapidly deporting immigrants to countries other than their own.
College sports in the Senate: A bipartisan measure to overhaul the college sports landscape got a step closer to becoming law Monday after passing the U.S. Senate — without the support of the Maryland delegation.
TODAY'S COMMENTARY
Maryland regulators should give more battery storage projects the green light amid increasing strain on the region’s electricity grid, writes Bruce Daggy, volunteer co-chair of the Maryland Sierra Club’s Clean Energy Team.
MATTERS YOU MAY HAVE MISSED
Lottery sanctioned: The battle over a lucrative lottery contract has landed the state's gaming agency in hot water with the Maryland Board of Contract Appeals, which sanctioned the agency for dragging its feet on document demands.
Utility refund: A win in Maryland’s top court over disputed property tax payments by Maryland utilities will result in credits for customers of several of those companies — at least eventually.
Howard memorialized: State lawmakers reflected on the life of Del. Carolyn J.B. Howard (D-Prince George’s) after her death earlier this month. The former teacher and longtime legislator was remembered as a thoughtful mentor and dedicated public servant.
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