Maryland fell to 48th in the nation for school safety in ConsumerAffairs' 2026 public education report, a drop from 24th in 2025.

The ranking, published by the MoCo Show on Saturday, Sept. 12, also showed Maryland falling three spots overall to 12th nationally, with a total score of 53.14. The state ranked eighth in school funding and 10th in higher education. But the school safety category saw the sharpest decline of any metric.

The drop lands at a difficult moment for Montgomery County Public Schools. Two on-campus shootings hit the district in 2026. A 16-year-old student was shot inside a hallway at Thomas S. Wootton High School in Rockville on Feb. 9, according to Rockville city police. The victim was hospitalized in stable condition, and a 16-year-old suspect, also a Wootton student, was taken into custody.

A second shooting occurred at Blake High School in the Cloverly area in April, MyMCMedia reported.

MCPS has since added door sensors and cameras across the district. Superintendent Thomas Taylor said on Aug. 27, the first day of the school year, that "we've installed door sensors in our schools. We've installed additional cameras."

Board President Grace Rivera-Oven said that same day that every elementary school now has cameras at the front and back entrances. She added that the district hopes to secure full funding for safety and security staff positions that went unfunded this school year.

MCPS cut more than 400 jobs over the summer to close a $36 million budget shortfall, WUSA9 reported. The cuts included social workers and the district's Chief of Security and Compliance position, which had been held by Marcus Jones, a former Montgomery County police chief. The district also has fewer mental health professionals in schools this year.

ConsumerAffairs compared all 50 states across four categories: K-12 academic outcomes, school funding, higher education and school safety. The organization cautioned that methodology changes between years mean ranking shifts should not be read as direct measurements of how much conditions improved or worsened.

Virginia ranked ninth and Pennsylvania placed 11th, one spot ahead of Maryland.

No MCPS response to the ConsumerAffairs ranking was available as of publication.