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The majority of Maryland鈥檚 24 public school systems met a July 1 deadline to boost their starting teachers鈥� pay to a minimum salary of $60,000, but for some smaller districts the higher salaries came at the cost of cuts elsewhere in their budgets.
The salary deadline is part of the state鈥檚 multiyear, multibillion-dollar education reform plan known as the Blueprint for Maryland鈥檚 Future. It鈥檚 also a mandate for which there is little wiggle room for local districts: At a legislative hearing in March, an official with the Accountability and Implementation Board, which oversees the Blueprint, said the July 1 date was firm and there was no waiver.
But some local school officials said it wasn鈥檛 easy to meet that July 1 deadline.
Denise Sopa, chief financial officer for Cecil County Public Schools, said in an email Tuesday that a first-year, 10-month teacher will receive a starting salary of $60,086 for the 2026-27 school year. But 鈥渋n order to meet the state requirement and balance the budget in general, we needed to reduce 104 positions,鈥� she said, including 60 teachers, 30 support staff and 14 administrators.
Jodi Colman, assistant superintendent for academics and student services in Dorchester County, said some restructuring had to be done to hit the salary mark and balance the system鈥檚 2026-27 budget. One of the results: an increase in classes sizes 鈥� possibly from 18 to 22 鈥� because the school system wasn鈥檛 able to fund as many teacher positions.
Colman said Dorchester schools, which have about 4,500 students, also had to resort to a reduction in force聽鈥渋n order to make sure we were funding the classroom positions because we wanted to have the least impact on the schools as possible.鈥�
Colman acknowledged the work on this year鈥檚 budget 鈥渨as difficult. We don鈥檛 have a lot of extras around here.鈥�
But legislators who support the Blueprint, such as Del. Jessica Feldmark (D-Howard), said Friday the salary increase is an investment that helps not only the education profession, but also the students.
鈥淲ithin the context of whatever budget challenges we鈥檙e facing, we have to remember that this is about investing in our children and in our future, investing in the future of our workforce, our economy, our democracy, and that investment is something we have to take seriously,鈥� said Feldmark, vice chair of the House Ways and Means Committee.
鈥淚f we want to have great schools, we need to be able to recruit and retain great educators, and recognizing their value and paying them a fair salary is a critical piece of that,鈥� she said.
When AIB Executive Director Rachel Hise told a聽聽in March that there would be no waivers on the minimum salary requirement, just half of the state鈥檚 24 school districts met the threshold: Allegany, Anne Arundel, Baltimore City, Baltimore County, Calvert, Carroll, Charles, Howard, Montgomery, Prince George鈥檚, St. Mary鈥檚 and Washington counties. Starting salaries for those systems ranged from $60,000 even in Allegany and Carroll counties to $64,591 in Montgomery.
Since then, officials with Cecil, Dorchester, Frederick, Garrett, Harford, Queen Anne鈥檚 and Talbot counties said they have met the minimum salary requirement. The remaining counties either did not respond or said they are still working on it.
One of the penalties for failing to hit the deadline is that the AIB can withhold a certain amount of funding from a district until the $60,000 salary gets approved.
At least one school district continues to work on it: Somerset County, which had the state鈥檚 highest percentage of people living in poverty, at 20.3% in 2025, according to the聽.
Somerset schools remain in negotiations with their bargaining units, Superintendent W. David Bromwell said in an email Thursday. Bromwell said the district is aware of the $60,000 minimum salary requirement.
鈥淎ny budgetary item/mandate, can be difficult to complete for any MD Public School system, especially the smaller districts,鈥� he wrote in his email.
Somerset officials have time on their side because they鈥檒l have until Sept. 1 to send an attestation to the AIB to confirm the $60,000 minimum teacher salary has been met. That must also be done by all other school districts.
While some school systems struggled, or continue to struggle, officials in Frederick County said it was simply a matter of doing what had to be done.
鈥淚t was a requirement under the law. We did it. I hope everybody else did the same,鈥� said Sarah Sirgo, chief of staff for Frederick County Public Schools.
Other school districts may have focused on the challenge to work on their budgets this year due to the salary mandate, but聽 Sirgo said she and her colleagues in Frederick don鈥檛 view it that way.
鈥淲e鈥檙e not like, 鈥極h well, if we鈥檙e going to pay teachers more, we can鈥檛 do X, Y, or Z,鈥欌�� said Sirgo, who also serves as the district鈥檚 Blueprint coordinator. 鈥淲hen we build our budget, we have our strategic plan. We make sure that our budget is advancing the goals that we鈥檙e after.鈥�
