The Howard County Public School System (HCPSS) is the school district that manages and runs the public schools of Howard County, Maryland. It operates under the supervision of an elected, eight-member Board of Education. Jennifer Mallo is the chair of the board. William J. Barnes has served as the superintendent since July 1, 2024.
The district operates 78 schools: 42 elementary schools, 20 middle schools, 13 high schools, and 3 special education schools/education centers. As of September 2024, a total of 57,565 students were enrolled. It is headquartered in the Columbia, Maryland census-designated place; the facility has an Ellicott City mailing address."Contact Us."Howard County Public School System. Retrieved on November 30, 2012. "10910 Clarksville Pike (Route 108) Ellicott City, MD 21042" – Driving Directions – The Census Bureau Map shows that the location of the district headquarters is in the Columbia, Maryland Census-designated place; even though the postal address states "Ellicott City, Maryland the headquarters are not physically in the U.S. government-defined Elicott City census-designated place"2010 CENSUS – CENSUS BLOCK MAP: Columbia CDP, MD #2." (Archive) U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved on November 30, 2012. The Census Bureau Map shows that the location of the district headquarters is in the Columbia, Maryland Census-designated place
Howard County consistently earns high marks in school performance metrics such as test scores and graduation rates. It gets high percentages at all levels of the Maryland School Assessments. In 2007, Forbes magazine rated Howard County as one of the ten most cost-efficient school systems in the United States.
Overview
The district includes the entire county limits. – Text list
Howard County Board of Education members As of October 2025: Jennifer Mallo, chair, District 4 (2018–present) Meg Ricks, vice chair, District 1 (2024–present) Jacky McCoy, at-large (2022–present) Dr. Linfeng Chen, at-large (2022–present) Antonia Watts, District 2 (2020–present) Jolene Mosley, District 3 (2020–present) Andrea Chamblee, District 5 (2024–present) Gavin Falcon, student member (2026–present)
Enrollment For SY 2025-26 Official enrollment reports are generated each September Elementary (PreK–5) – 25,283 Middle (6–8) – 13,163 High (9–12) – 18,342 Special Schools – 243
+ Student race/ethnicity (2024–2025 school year) Race/ethnicity Percentage White 30.3% African American / Black 24.8% Asian 23.7% Hispanic / Latino 13.9% Two or more races 6.8% Other ≤ 5%
Attendance rate (2021–2022 school year) All grades = greater than or equal to 93.5%
Graduation rate 94.59% for class of 2022. 4-year adjusted cohort.
Howard County education history Early education
In 1723, Maryland enacted a bill requiring a school in each county. Rev Joeseph Colebatch, Col Samuel Young, William Locke, Charles Hammond, Capt Daniel Maraitiee, Richard Warfield, and John Beale were commissioned to buy land and build schools in what was then Anne Arundel County. Ellicott City opened its first boys' school in the Weir building in 1820. In 1835, the state declared Ellicott's Mills a primary school district. In 1839, the Howard District of Anne Arundel County was formed.
Early schools were funded and managed independently through towns, investors, the state and churches. Some early examples were St. Charles College, incorporated in 1830 near Doughoregan Manor, Patapsco Female Institute (1833) in Ellicott City, and Mount St. Clement (1867) at Illchester. By 1847, the Howard District operated 20 single-room school houses.
By 1853, the law required each school to have three trustees and one clerk appointed in one year terms by vote. In 1864, Maryland created the state board of education for public education, leaving counties to control their own school boards. Teachers' pay was increased to $100 per quarter.
In 1885, former Maryland Governor John Lee Carroll joined the school board along with J. T. Williams and John W. Dorsey.
In 1894, Chairman Robert A. Dobbin and the remainder of the county school board were indicted for receiving money in excess of per diem.
In 1905, corporal punishment was tested in the courts after Highland School teacher Cora Burgess was fined for whipping a student, an act that would be banned by the state 88 years later.
1920s In 1922, the State of Maryland authorized $600,000 in bond sales for Howard County expenses. A cap of $60,000 was placed on school improvement expenses, and $540,000 was required to be allocated to road construction.
By the mid-1920s some children rode to school on private produce trucks. In 1928, the first county school bus service started.
During the period, 156 Rosenwald Schools were built in Maryland for teaching African-American children. In Howard County, the five-teacher school in Cooksville, the two-teacher Guilford school was constructed, and the one-room Elkridge school. Superintendent W.C. Phillips commissioned a more robust stone high school for Ellicott City with a cornerstone laid in November 1924.
Depression era Former Justice of the Peace and Coroner Stanley E. Grantham served as board president until World War II.
In 1937, the school system dropped the practice of charging students for bus fare to its schools, as well as transporting parochial students. It also dedicated its first classroom in Savage for "backward" special needs students, and implemented its first modular classroom to hold students until repairs could be made to an unsafe school. Future commissioner and board member Charles E. Miller started his own bus service and vehicle sales to the county.
In 1938, many single-room school houses were sold to private bidders, and multiple elementary and high school projects were started, using 45% Federal Emergency Agency grants to reduce unemployment and set fair wages. In 1939, the county issued its first school bonds, borrowing $107,000 for construction of Ellicott City Elementary, Clarksville Middle, Clarksville High, and Highland Colored School. From this date to present, the county has maintained public debt interest expenses for school expansion. It also consolidated all insurance under one broker, W. Emil Thompson, a candidate for state senator.
WWII era In 1941, hospital owner and land developer Issac Taylor became board president. As early as November 1940, the board expressed concerns about selective service pulling away most of the male teachers for military service.
African-American school teacher Effie Liggans Scott was released for working while pregnant.
When conscientious objector Richard McCleary refused to salute the flag in class, the board made a policy to dismiss the student from school.
By late 1944, school construction was at a standstill and there was a shortage of qualified teachers. The board focused on teacher bonuses and bus contracts.
After the war At the war's end, Eleanor M. Cissel became the president of the board. Her family was active as school bus operators in the county, and Charlie Cissel taught at the Lisbon agriculture school.
The state board of education mandated classroom sizes be reduced to 35 from 40 and the addition of a 12th grade.
In 1946, future County Executive Omar Jones started as an Agriculture teacher.
In 1948, a single centralized county high school with busing was proposed, but the $1,000,000 cost was considered prohibitive.
The only major program funded in the decade since the PWA money grants was the agriculture shop at Lisbon, which ballooned from $8,000 to over $18,000 in construction costs by 1949.
1950s In 1949, John H. Brown became the board president. After 10 years without school construction, the county awaited legislation for bonds that could be paid off in the 20-year design life of the buildings, leaving the county without debt by 1969. A single central high school design was modified to one that would serve three districts, and plans for additions to Clarksville, Libson, and West Friendship were made at an estimated cost of $875,000.
1949 was also the first year that the school board met with representatives regarding the combined impact of schools with water, sewer, and roads. Four colored and one white schools without water were funded for new wells. School buses and drivers were inspected for the first time.
The board expanded to four members in May 1949 with the addition of Norman H. Warfield, and a new position of County Superintendent was created and given with Warfield's vote to John E. Yingling.
In 1949, future land developer and County Executive Norman E. Moxley was hired in a new position as chairman of the school building commission.
By 1952, the first major subdivisions were started in Ellicott City, prompting the League of Women Voters to express concern. The school board noted that there was plenty of land in the county for schools, just little funding for new buildings. The planning board provided the first listings of building permits to the school board showing growth rates nearly doubling in three months. School salaries were raised to a base of $3,000 a year, and the student-to-teacher ratio was lowered to 33.
In 1953, Maryland expanded the loans for new schools to $514,000, and driver's education classes began.
In 1955, Charles E. Miller was elected president of the board.
Maryland governor J. Millard Tawes appointed Gertrude Crist to the school board in 1959.
1960s In 1962, Senator Frank E. Shipley bypassed the state school board nominating commission recommendation of Fred Schoenbrodt, and installed Clifford Y. Stephens.
The school board proposed an ambitious $3 million expansion of Howard High, and administration buildings funded by a 6% increase in property taxes for anticipated growth.
In October 1963, Stephens was indicted for price fixing milk and died soon after in an automobile crash. His death reduced the school board to two people, and there was a lengthy board process to recommend a replacement candidate to the governor. Senator James A. Clark Jr. recommended a change. The school board expanded to five members in 1964, all chosen by the governor (J. Millard Tawes): James Moxley Jr, Fred Schoenbrodt, Gertrude Crist, Austin Zimmer, and Edward Cochran.
In 1965, the county implemented a .25% transfer tax to fund new schools and parks, netting $70,000 in its first nine months. The school board estimated 39,600 pupils by 1980, missing the mark by 15,000.
In May 1966, the Howard County Citizens Association confronted Howard Research and Development for using 700 acres of school property bought by the county at market rate to count as part of the 3200 acres of open space promised for the Columbia development plan. Rouse comprised slightly by not including school buildings as open space in calculations, and donating land for schools not already purchased with a "maintenance fee" for the transfer.
In 1966 the Elementary and Secondary Education Act was passed. Howard County shared $75,000 in title III planning grants with Caroll County, and $110,000 in Title I grants for 466 students who qualified for low income family education. Councilman Norman E. Moxley's Normandy Insurance was awarded an insurance contract for BOE vehicles. The Central Maryland News and Times requested that the county stop its closed door policy on school board meetings. Meetings remained closed, but controlled press releases were resumed. A foundation recommended the school system start using a centralized computer based education system, and another recommended outdoor classrooms.