Maryland requires direct building payments to eligible public charter schools

The Interagency Commission on School Construction must pay eligible public charter schools directly for building improvements, debt payments, and rent or lease payments. Covered facilities are premises a charter school owns, leases, or uses to teach elementary or secondary students. The operator’s latest required certified financial audit must be unqualified, meaning the auditor gives a clean opinion. A school in a building owned by its local school system cannot receive these payments during fiscal years when the building has a project receiving state Capital Improvement Program funding. Payments must shrink proportionately if the state’s Capital Improvement Program budget falls from the previous fiscal year. The commission cannot use these payments to justify cutting a local school system’s Capital Improvement Program funding. The law took effect July 1, 2026. Required rules must address midyear construction funding requests and payments when withdrawn requests restore a school’s eligibility.

The governor must include funding for these charter school building costs in the annual budget. This is a statewide budget formula, rather than a stated payment amount for each school. The required budget amount equals total Maryland public charter school enrollment from the previous fiscal year multiplied by $200. Payments remain subject to the school eligibility rules and proportional cuts when the state’s Capital Improvement Program budget falls. The annual budget requirement applies to fiscal year 2028 and every fiscal year afterward.

Charter schools receiving the money must report project status to the Interagency Commission on School Construction. Reports cover projects involving building improvements, debt payments, and rent or lease payments. A school must report before it can receive payments for the following fiscal year. The reporting requirement took effect July 1, 2026.