Students enrolled in the Howard County Public School system are eligible for interim Home and Hospital instructional sessions when it is determined by an appropriate medical provider per COMAR (13A.03.05.04) that a student’s medical diagnosis is serious enough to preclude school attendance (20 schools days - 60 calendar days) or a chronic health impairment that causes the student to be absent at least 20% of the time.
For the 2025-26 school year, bus registration is not required. All bus-eligible students (per Board of Education Policy 5200 - Student Transportation) will be routed.
Synergy is the Student Management System (SIS) used by HCPSS. Synergy is the primary system for recording quarterly and/or final grades. Grades will appear in Synergy as they appear on quarterly report cards at the end of each marking period.
Yes, if the student has not enrolled/transferred to the approved school within 30 calendar days from the date of approval, the reassignment approval will be considered declined and will be rescinded by HCPSS.
Letters from school staff should not be requested by the parent/guardian or submitted with the reassignment request form. If appropriate, the Office of Pupil Personnel Services will reach out to your child’s school to receive feedback about your child. The school will be asked if they are aware of the issues you've presented on the request form. In addition, the school will be asked to provide information, if any, about the supports in place to help your child be successful as well as whether there are disciplinary or attendance concerns.
Under the HARDSHIP category, documentation and information that supports a family’s claim of unique hardship must be submitted with the request form. Please scan and email all documentation to residency@hcpss.org. Examples of supporting documentation include, but are not limited to:
To build the scenarios, staff worked with principals and other school-based and non-school-based leaders to consider many programs and services. These are the same considerations the Superintendent began socializing publicly at the Board budget work session on April 29th. These considerations are very impactful and not decisions we want to make. Any decision in these areas will result in an impact on valued positions, services, and programs. It is our hope that any eliminated positions will be able to be absorbed through annual attrition.
Following the County Executive’s amendment and County Council’s approval, the net budget gap has been reduced but not eliminated. Earlier this month, County Executive, Calvin Ball, committed $14.5 million additional dollars to our budget using a provision in the County Charter that will allow PAYGO funds to be used for recurring expenses and be included in next year’s Maintenance of Effort calculation. This amendment was approved by the County Council.
Staff presented two scenarios with several options at the May 27 budget work session for Board consideration.
The first scenario would result in a class size increase of one at the secondary level only and be adjusted to not impact middle and high schools with higher rates of students qualifying for free and reduced meals. This scenario totals $7.5 million dollars of school-based cuts impacting 94.8 positions, and $1.4 million dollars of non-school-based cuts impacting 7.0 positions, including:
School-Based
