Tell the board to vote no on the charter school.
The Board of Education votes Wednesday, September 2 on the Queen Anne's Classical Charter School application. Send your board members a personal note before they vote.
Why this vote is being opposed
QACPS is already running structural budget deficits, about $3.7 million in fiscal year 2023 and $2.76 million in fiscal year 2024, with a shrinking fund balance and four changes in financial leadership since 2016, according to an independent audit.
Maryland law moves per-pupil funding to whatever public school a student attends, including a charter. Because this charter draws countywide by lottery, the students who leave would be scattered across all 14 QACPS schools rather than concentrated in one, so the district cannot cleanly close a school or cut a matching number of teachers and bus routes. Salaries, buildings, and transportation costs stay the same while the funding that supported them leaves with each student.
The letter below asks the board to weigh that reality before adding a new draw on a budget that is already strained.