Posted on 12/19/23
| News Source: FOX45
This year, Baltimore City Schools will spend a record amount of money per student, but what kind of education are those students receiving? According to new data, nearly two thirds of City Schools earned the lowest possible performance ratings from the state.
City leaders gathered last week for a ribbon cutting at the newly built Cross Country Elementary Middle school, the latest project funded by the 21st Century School Buildings Program.
But, as City Schools continues meeting construction goals, it’s failing to meet academic goals.
The Maryland State Department of Education, also last week, released the results of the 2023 school report card. Every year, roughly 1,300 public schools in the state are rated based on performance metrics such as test scores, attendance and graduation rates. Each school then receives a star rating from a low of one star to a high of five stars.
Project Baltimore analyzed this year’s data and found 65 percent of Baltimore City’s 148 rated schools earned one or two stars, the lowest possible ratings.
Baltimore City has, by far, the highest percentage of one and two-star schools in the state and more than double the next highest district in our region, Baltimore County, at 27.6 percent. In Anne Arundel County, 11.2 percent of schools earned one or two stars. It’s 4 percent in Howard County and just 2.7 percent in Carroll County.
Baltimore City Schools, this year, has a $1.7 billion budget to educate 75,811 students. This means the school system is now spending $22,424 per student, which is one of the highest amounts in America for large school systems. Yet, despite that amount of spending, nearly two-thirds of all City Schools earned the lowest ratings from the state.
Following the ribbon cutting at Cross Country, Project Baltimore spoke with City Schools CEO Dr. Sonja Santelises about the ratings. We asked her what she would say to the families who have children in one- and two-star schools.
“To those families, what I would say is, I am continuing to look at those schools, personally,” said Santelises. “We will be making additional shifts if necessary – and to know that we are not satisfied.”
Dr. Santelises told FOX45 News, one of the biggest obstacles to student success is chronic absenteeism, which is defined by the state as a student who misses more than 10 percent of school.
In 2016, when Dr. Santelises took over as CEO, 23 percent of Baltimore City students were chronically absent. In 2019, that number had nearly doubled to 42 percent. By 2022, 58 percent of Baltimore City students were chronically absent, which was the highest level in the state.
According to the Report Card, the six lowest-performing schools in Maryland are all in Baltimore City. Those schools are Stadium School, William S. Baer School, Sharp-Leadenhall Elementary/Middle, Yorkwood Elementary, James McHenry Elementary/Middle, and Excel Academy.
In total, 1,823 students attend these schools. At each one, more students are chronically absent than not. At Excel Academy, 98.7 percent are chronically absent. That means 1.3 percent of the students at Excel are not chronically absent.
“I think what we are seeing is disconnection between schools and youth and families that occurred during the pandemic,” Santelises told Project Baltimore
Dr. Santelises said the school district has invested in outreach, trying to find students and get them to school. She told Project Baltimore, the district reengaged about 2,400 students this past year, which is far more than before the pandemic.
“What that says to me is we have to work more closely with our community partners and, quite frankly, make school and learning compelling for young people,” said Santelises. “Yes, it’s an issue in Baltimore City, and it’s an issue across the state and country. But we are working on it.”