Here's The Best School District In Maryland: Report

COLUMBIA, MD — A new report has ranked the best school district in Maryland, and the answer may not not come as a surprise. The website 24/7 Wall St., a Delaware corporation that publishes financial news and commentary, sifted through various school data to determine the best school district in every state.

In Maryland, the Howard County Public Schools topped the list. The district has 53,685 students and spends $15,714 per student, the analysis found. The high school graduation rate is 92.5 percent and 61 percent of adults have a bachelor's degree.

The company evaluated the districts by creating an index based on data in the following categories:

• Child poverty
• Spending per student
• Graduation rate
• Teachers per student
• Percentage of adults with a bachelor's degree
• Preschool enrollment
• Advanced Placement enrollment

Several school districts in the U.S. spend more than $50,000 per student on education each year, 24/7 Wall St. said, but others spend less than $2,000 per student.

"That difference in spending contributes to major disparities in student outcomes throughout the country," the authors wrote. "The majority of a school's budget is spent on staff and teacher salaries. A school that is able to attract the best teachers can give their students a major advantage."

Indeed, wealthier areas often reap those rewards. (For more news like this, find your local Patch here. If you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app; download the free Patch Android app here.)

Local sources, including property taxes, account for about 44 percent of all school funding in the U.S. This means most of the best school districts are located in affluent counties where the majority of households earn more than double that of a typical American household.

But in Howard County, the median household income from 2012-2016 was $113,800, roughly double the national average of $55,322. Furthermore, the poverty rate in the county was 5.2 percent, much lower than the national average of 12.7 percent.

The nationwide rankings report published on Monday follows a January report from the same site that found Maryland overall ranked sixth in the country for best schools.

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Here's a breakdown of Maryland schools, according to 24/7 Wall St.:

• High school graduation rate: 87.6% (12th highest)
• Public school spending: $13,075 per pupil (19th highest)
• 8th grade NAEP proficiency: 34.7% (math) 37.4% (reading)
• Adults with at least a bachelor’s degree: 39.3% (3rd highest)
• Adults 25-64 with incomes at or above national median: 61.6% (2nd highest)

Maryland’s education system ranks as sixth best in the country and the best among southern states. The typical Maryland household earns $78,945 a year, the highest median income of any state. With a strong tax base, Maryland’s education spending is relatively high. The state allocates about 3.7% of its taxable resources to education, more than the 3.3% average among states. Monetarily, the state spends $13,075 per pupil per year, about $500 more than is typical.

By several measures, Maryland public schools are high achieving. The state boasts the best ratio of high scoring AP tests per 100 11th and 12th graders in the country. Additionally, some 87.6% of high school students in the state graduate with a diploma, compared to only 84.1% of high schoolers nationwide.

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