Executive Summary

Wicomico County Public Schools (WCPS) is rated Meets in four of the five Blueprint pillars and Approaching in Pillar 1 (Early Childhood Education). The AIB approved all seven 2024 plan components on November 21, 2024, and all FY26 release-of-funds components in December 2025, and all eight Minimum School Funding programs were budgeted for FY26.^[1][2] Academic and attendance indicators have moved in the right direction: Grade 3 ELA proficiency rose from 30.6% to 42.3% since 2021-2022, Grades 3-8 math proficiency rose from 19.2% to 27.6%, and chronic absenteeism across all schools fell from 37.3% to 22.4%.^[1]

Teacher pipeline work is a clear strength. National Board Certification achievers grew from 0 in 2021-2022 to 48 in 2025-2026, teacher vacancies fell from 11 to 5, and the AIB approved the Career Ladder on November 20, 2025 with no further revisions required.^[1][3] Community schools grew from 9 to 23, covering 92% of WCPS schools in SY24-25, and community school math proficiency (Grades 3-8) rose from 11.4% to 26.6%.^[1] Dual enrollment grew 48%, from 264 to 390 students, and seven career coaches now cover all middle and high schools.^[1][4]

Key challenges remain. Pre-K enrollment is flat-to-declining (827 in 2025-2026 vs. 842 in 2022-2023) and space is the primary constraint; kindergarten readiness is 37% overall vs. 45% for public Pre-K students.^[1] The minimum teacher salary of $57,000 is $3,000 below the $60,000 statutory target, teacher retention of 75.3% is below the 77.3% district target, and Grade 5 math proficiency fell to 23.6%.^[1] Multi-year projections show deficits of about $34.9M in FY26 and $48.0M in FY27, making long-term funding alignment with the county a priority.^[5]