Maryland has been quietly cutting checks for students who are not actually in class, with roughly $318 million in state money flowing to public schools over the last two years for kids who showed up on a single September headcount and then stopped attending.
That one-day snapshot is the backbone of the state’s school funding formula, which is now at the center of a tense, bipartisan debate in Annapolis. Lawmakers from both parties say they want to tighten the system so dollars follow students who are actually in classrooms, without blowing a hole in local school budgets.
A Fox45 News investigation found Maryland public schools received about $318 million over the past two school years to educate students who stopped attending class; the station reported that the state counted 891,553 students on Sept. 30, 2024, and that thousands were later coded as not accessing services. Fox45 reports that 7,440 students in grades 7 and 6 who were counted on that date later unenrolled, and using the state's reported 2024 625 per-student figure of $20,284, the station estimated roughly $150 million tied to that cohort. Added to about $168 million Fox45 flagged from the prior year, that math yields the roughly $318 million total, according to Fox45.
State enrollment records back up the Sept. 30 headcount: the Maryland State Department of Education's enrollment report lists 891,553 students as of the September 30, 2024, count. That one-day snapshot is the baseline most systems use to budget for the coming year, which is why any later withdrawals can lock in dollars a district will not actually spend on current students, according to data from the Maryland State Department of Education.
What lawmakers propose
Delegate April Rose has reintroduced legislation 6 the Education Funding Accuracy Act, filed as HB0976 6 that would change the state's full-time-equivalent enrollment definition to use the average of two counts: Sept. 30 and May 31 of the prior school year. Rose, who represents Carroll and Frederick counties, told Project Baltimore, "I don't care what you call it. The kids are still missing," a line first reported by Fox45. The bill's text and hearing schedule are posted on the Maryland General Assembly site; HB0976 is set for a House committee hearing next Wednesday at 1:00 p.m., per the General Assembly.
State records and the coding debate
State attendance files use a withdrawal code now labeled "Not Accessing Educational Services" (the category once described in some coverage as "Whereabouts Unknown"), and MSDE's published attendance tables show more than 10,000 withdrawals under that label for grades 7 612 in the 2024 625 school year. The department's attendance summary lays out withdrawal categories and counts by district, which officials say reflect a mix of transfers, prolonged absences, and other circumstances. That difference between MSDE's raw withdrawal totals and the specific Sept. 30 subset Fox45 used to calculate the $150 million is part of why auditors, advocates, and lawmakers are disputing both labels and the fiscal math; the attendance tables are available from MSDE.
How this could change school budgets
If HB0976 or a similar fix becomes law, funding would be based on a two-count average rather than a single fall headcount 6 a change supporters say would reduce the orphaned dollars that follow students who disappear midyear. Sponsors say the measure would apply to future fiscal calculations, so local budgets would have time to adjust, and that MSDE would be required to publish additional reports showing the impact. Opponents worry that averaging could cut predictable revenue for fast-growing districts; advocates counter that the change would make state aid more closely tied to who is actually in classrooms.
