← Back to Investing in Children

Investing in Anne Arundel’s future: quality public education

Quality public schools are a primary reason families live in and move to Anne Arundel County, and they need constant support and nurturing. Quality doesn’t happen by accident. 

The Anne Arundel County public school system is financed by a combination of state and local dollars, and public education rightly consumes a One of these things majority of the Anne Arundel County budget. Because the Board of Education does not have independent taxing authority, coordination with the County Executive and county government—including alignment of objectives and policies—is critical. 

Day-to-day management of the education system comes from the superintendent and the elected Board of Education; decisions by and guidance and resources from the Office of the County Executive are vital to educational success. Parents, students, and educators look to the County Executive for leadership on education support.

Our challenge

Over the last ten years, academic performance in Anne Arundel County has declined, a drop worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic and its aftermath. In the 2023-24 school year, only 34.7% of elementary school students were able to do math at grade level. For middle and high school kids, the proportions were only 25.8% and 29.7%, respectively. Results in English/Language Arts were somewhat better (52.7%/52.8%/61.1%), but there is still room for improvement. 

With our economy changing rapidly and AI and social media disrupting education and learning, our schools are under increasing pressure to ensure students are ready for the workforce and civic life.

Additionally, the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future schools reform and funding plan continues to be implemented, posing a variety of challenges, from finding certified teachers to identifying private partners to support pre-K enrollment. Part of Anne Arundel County’s education challenge includes securing the necessary flexibility from Annapolis to meet our own needs. 

Pete Smith’s commitment to education

Pete believes in the potential of each child, no matter where they live or what their upbringing and background entail. As a child from a struggling family who was homeless during his senior year of high school, schoolteachers identified Pete’s potential, gave him life skills, and set him on a path for success. That is why he is committed to ensuring that all the county’s children have access to the same life-changing opportunities he had. Pete has fought and will continue to fight for full funding for education and will reject any cuts to education spending. 

Pete Smith’s Education Plan

Pete Smith’s plan for education is built around four pillars: Academic excellence for all students; Support for educators, paraprofessionals, and staff; Support for students and parents; and Integration and cooperation among partners and stakeholders.

Pillar 1: Academic excellence

Strategy: Recruitment of great teachers 

The Anne Arundel County administration must fully support the recruitment and retention of certified teachers. The finest certified educators will be attracted to safe schools, competitive salary scales, excellent health benefits, opportunities for advancement, and housing opportunities. 

Strategy: County support for after-school reading and math programs

After-school reading and math programs play a vital role in boosting academic achievement by providing students with extra time to strengthen core skills in a supportive environment, and Anne Arundel County must support them. These programs reinforce classroom learning through targeted practice, helping students build confidence and close learning gaps. By offering a safe, structured space, after-school programs also keep students engaged and motivated, setting them on a path toward long-term success in school and beyond.

Tactics: The Pete Smith administration will:

  • Provide space in public facilities such as community centers, where appropriate, for after-school programs

  • Leverage mentoring partnerships

  • Look to scale or duplicate successful existing programs, such as the after-school enrichment program at the USNA Naval Academy Primary and Secondary School

Strategy: Ensuring equity and erasing achievement gaps

Anne Arundel County must do all it can to reduce achievement gaps in our school systems. Proficiency gaps (for example, between African American students and all students) have narrowed: the gap decreased by ~1.2 percentage points at the elementary level, ~2.1 at the middle school level, and ~2.3 at the high school level in one recent period. We must review and implement the recommendations of the Joint Commission on the Opportunity Gap and ensure we meet County Executive Pittman’s goal of 76 percent of county youth being ready for kindergarten. 

Tactics to ensure equity include: 

  • continuing to hire certified teachers who have experience with teaching students of diverse populations; 

  • prioritizing rigorous professional development opportunities to enhance mastery of instructional strategies to match the needs of their student learners; 

  • focused monitoring of progress of all demographic groups, including attention to our advanced learners, special education students, and vocational education students.

  • ensuring that ESOL students and other new populations have the resources they need to rapidly integrate into the Anne Arundel County public school system

Pillar 2: Support for educators, paraprofessionals, and support staff

Strategy: Robust salaries and benefits

Providing excellent salary and benefits for education staff is a critical component. Because invariably, education funding is placed in competition with public safety, environmental protection, and other county government needs, the true answer lies in growing the pie, not recutting slices. To support strong salaries, Anne Arundel County’s tax base must grow and deliver the resources that ensure educational professionals earn what they deserve.

Strategy: Workforce housing for educators

Housing costs are the largest household expense and an impediment to attracting and retaining teachers and other staff who want to live near their work. Facilitating workforce housing in Anne Arundel County requires aligning zoning, incentives, and partnerships to meet the needs of teachers, first responders, nurses, and service workers. Inclusionary zoning and density bonuses encourage developers to build affordable units geared toward Board of Education employees, and the County Administration will work with the school board to identify potential housing solutions that are accessible, sustainable, and connected to community services.

A study group should be created to evaluate the creation of a property tax discount for educators working in Anne Arundel County.

Pillar 3: Support for students and parents

Strategy: Behavioral Health Supports 

The behavioral health needs of students are a rapidly evolving challenge, and the County Administration needs to facilitate and support partnerships with Anne Arundel providers and public schools to bring more services into schools and expand the availability of treatment slots. Additionally, we must grow crisis intervention and conflict resolution training.

Strategy: Anti-bullying strategies

Strong anti-bullying policies should be clearly communicated and consistently enforced. Staff must be trained to recognize warning signs and intervene quickly. Peer mentoring programs and student-led initiatives encourage accountability and empathy. Anne Arundel schools must improve safe reporting systems and ensure support for victims. A proactive, whole-school approach ensures every child feels protected and valued.

Strategy: Safety in school buildings

Anne Arundel County must improve its investments in school building safety. Surveillance cameras and adequate lighting deter unsafe behavior. Highly trained and carefully recruited School Resource Officers or safety teams help monitor and respond quickly. Clear communication systems—like intercoms, alerts, and digital notifications—ensure rapid information sharing. Routine maintenance of doors, locks, and alarms is essential.

While Artificial Intelligence is increasingly used to monitor for weapons and suspicious behavior, it is critical to have proper protocols in place to minimize false positives and false negatives.

Pillar 4: Integration and Cooperation

Strategy: Dialogue and shared goals among stakeholders

The next County Administration must create quarterly working groups between the school system and administration officials, including finance and programmatic staff. Real dialogue with the school superintendent and the Board of Education is needed to create shared expectations of resources and needs as implementation of the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future continues.