Student enrollment in Baltimore City is steadily declining, but the school system is hiring more administrators who earn six-figure salaries.
“There’s two huge problems here,” said Sean Kennedy of the Maryland Public Policy Institute. “We are seeing kids get fewer services they need and more services they don’t from more bureaucrats while there’s fewer kids.”
Since 2022, City Schools enrollment is down nearly 2,000 students. In that same time, the number of teachers employed by City Schools has remained roughly the same — around 5,100.
According to Maryland State Department of Education data, since 2022, the number of administration-related positions in City Schools has increased 18%. Two years ago, there were 755 district administrators; now, there are 891.
“That means inherently it’s not going to the classrooms,” explained Kennedy. “More bureaucrats, more administrators, more non-instructional staff is not what Baltimore City Schools needs.”
The positions are mostly six-figure jobs. The number of director-level employees since 2022 increased from 95 to 126, with an average salary of $130,359. The number of Coordinator positions more than doubled, from 27 to 58, with an average salary of $121,131.
Other local school systems did not see this type of increase in administration-related jobs. Anne Arundel and Carroll Counties have fewer administrators since 2022. Howard County is up 1%, Harford County grew 5% and Baltimore County saw a 7% increase in the last two years.
“If you do the math and you add in the benefit to health care in the retirement costs, that means each one of these jobs cost the taxpayers $200,000 each,” said Kennedy.
According to the 2024 Public School Finance report by the U.S. Census, of the 100 largest school systems in America, Baltimore has the fifth-highest per-pupil administration costs — just behind school systems in Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, San Francisco and Denver.
City Schools declined an interview to explain why it’s hiring more administrators. In a statement, the district said that while it has “increased the number of administrators,” many administrator-related positions spend much of their time directly supporting schools and students daily.
A closer look at state employment data shows that while the number of administrators in City Schools is up, other positions that deal directly with students are down. The number of therapists and counselors in City Schools has fallen nearly 8% over the last two years. In a city like Baltimore, therapists and counselors are the types of services, according to Kennedy, that students need.
“They’re padding the payrolls at North Avenue while the kids are fleeing out of the city or out of the public schools,” said Kennedy. “There’s a math problem here, and it’s not just in the classrooms.”
