Children counted for state funding purposes but whose actual status is “whereabouts unknown” another mounting failure of the state educational system.
Late on Friday, September 26, 2025, the Maryland Freedom Caucus sent a letter to the Office of Inspector General for Education, IG Rick Henry, as well as a follow-up to Congressman Andy Harris, MD, calling for an investigation into an explosion of “ghost students” in the last year.
The term “ghost students” was coined by Fox45 Baltimore’s Project Baltimore in 2021 after an explosive investigation into the number of students classified on Maryland Public School’s annual attendance summary report as actually being “whereabouts unknown”. These are students who were counted by the schools for the purposes of receiving state funding, but who have completely fallen off the radar for their schools and the school system.
While the investigation in 2021 led to real consequences in 2022 when the OIG for Education confirmed the report and Baltimore City was made to repay what they collected for these absent students, the data now released in the 2023-2024 attendance summary report reveals a shocking fact: the problem has not been resolved and is getting worse.
The Maryland Freedom Caucus urges Inspector General for Education Rick Henry to promptly investigate this troubling trend. See our letter below.
