by Linda L. Esterson
As their children approached school age, Hassan and Esther Moasser started to consider educational choices for them.
They could enroll Owen, 6, and later Sloane, 4, in private school, following in their mother’s academic footsteps. Or, like their father, they could attend their zoned public school, Piney Run Elementary School, near their Hawk Ridge Farm home. Alternatively, they could consider a new charter school, the first in Carroll County, which is projected to open in the fall of 2026.
After the Moassers heard about the charter school effort more than a year ago, they attended an informational session and conducted their own research. They decided to join as a founding family to help strengthen the Carroll County Public Schools system and provide another educational option for families and teachers in the county.
“One of the things that we’ve always wanted to do is help kids, so we saw this as a way to get involved with something where we can help both our kids and then potentially other kids in the county and the community,” says Hassan, a former Anne Arundel County police officer who now works as a technology solutions government contractor. “The class sizes right now in public schools just keep growing and growing, and our fear was that our kids [and other kids] would get left behind.”
Leading The Charge
The Moassers are one of eight founding families working to educate community members about the new school alongside the Carroll Learning Alliance. The nonprofit was formed last summer by a group of parents with the mission of bringing additional educational options to the county.
The alliance — led by its president, Kim Zentz — filed a formal application for the Carroll Classical Charter School with the Carroll County Board of Education on March 31 and received unanimous approval at the July 16 board meeting.
Zentz, the mother of a 12-year-old daughter and 4-year-old twin boys, retired from a sales and marketing position several years ago to stay home with her children.
Her time now is filled with caring for her children and being actively involved in their education. She heard about the Frederick Classical School, and not knowing anything about charter schools, began her research. “It’s so obvious to me that all three of my kids learn incredibly differently,” she says. “They’re just such different people with such different needs.”
A Classical Education
Classical education schools operate based on the trivium, a group of three studies — grammar, logic and rhetoric — dating back to medieval universities. The Latin word trivium means “the place where three roads meet.” It’s a model guided by three phases of natural development, Zentz explains.
The grammar stage, which applies to kindergarten through fourth grade, focuses on observation, memory, facts and building foundational skills.
The logic stage is presented to fifth through eighth-grade students and starts middle school a year earlier than the public-school model. This stage teaches critical reasoning.
The third stage, rhetoric, focuses on questioning and expression and is for grades nine through 12. Carroll Classical Charter School will not offer high school instruction initially, but instead open its doors to kindergarten through sixth-grade students.
“Classical education schools operate based on the trivium, a group of three studies — grammar, logic and rhetoric — dating back to medieval universities. The Latin word trivium means “the place where three roads meet.” It’s a model guided by three phases of natural development.” – Kim Zentz, President, Carroll Learning Alliance
Charter School Governance
In 2003, the Maryland General Assembly passed legislation allowing for the opening of charter schools, defined as public schools that are nonsectarian in all their programs, policies and operations. The Maryland State Department of Education’s Maryland Charter School Directory lists 50 charter schools in the state, including 32 in Baltimore City.
Maryland, however, is one of a few states that govern the operation of charter schools uniquely, according to attorney Ed O’Meally. As chair of the Labor, Employment and Education Department at PK Law, O’Meally represents several school boards across the state, including the Carroll County Board of Education.
Charter schools are governed by the regulations that public school systems follow. As such, their teachers and administrative staff are hired and employed by the public school system, and they must meet the same certification criteria and evaluation requirements.
“The charter organizer can’t fire an employee at a charter school. They can’t hire separately from the process the Board of Education uses, even though they will have a role,” O’Meally says.
“They are public school employees paid on the same scale depending on classification — teacher, assistant, custodian — eligible for being members of collective bargaining units. That is unique. In most states, employees are employed by the charter organization rather than the local school board.”
The principal and other administrative staff will guide the school under the direction of the Board of Education. However, it will operate under the Carroll Learning Alliance board of directors.
Leadership of the Carroll Learning Alliance and Carroll County Public Schools are collaborating to create a charter agreement that will serve as a legally binding operational guide for the school. That’s the next step in the process before work can begin toward opening for the 2026-2027 school year.
Consistent Curriculum
A charter school’s curriculum must follow the guidelines prescribed by the Maryland State Board of Education, and it may also include local curriculum recommendations provided by the local public school system. Additionally, it may seek permission to make variations to the curriculum, particularly in areas that distinguish it as unique from the traditional school program. At Carroll Classical Charter School, the focus will be on agriculture and the natural world.
According to Zentz, the plan is to focus on classical education, with paper and pencil and instructor-led learning. Devices will be available when appropriate, but the school will limit the use of technology.
The Student Population and Funding
The Carroll Classical Charter School will be open to all students in Carroll County. Students will apply for entry, regardless of the geographic attendance boundary that dictates their home school. If the number of interested individuals exceeds the number of available seats, a lottery process will be conducted, as required by state law. Students will attend the school tuition-free, as they would any other public school.
The Carroll County Board of Education will fund the school on a per-pupil basis commensurate with the other schools in the county, according to state law, says Jonathan O’Neal, assistant superintendent of operations for Carroll County Public Schools. The per pupil spending amount last year was approximately $17,684.
However, the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future complicates the per-pupil funding calculations as it varies based on services provided at the school, such as special education, English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL), and free and reduced meals, for example.
“Another part of it is there’s a bit of a cart before the horse aspect to the law in that they have to try to plan a budget and how they would operate based on a prospective enrollment that they hope to achieve,” O’Neal says.
While all of these areas could impact funding for the charter school, there are other sources of income. The Maryland Alliance of Public Charter Schools awarded a $1.62 million grant for the three-year period of July 1, 2025, to June 30, 2028.
It includes a $125,000 escalator recognizing the school’s service to rural families. Unlike traditional public schools, charter schools are permitted to conduct their own fundraising. Additionally, Zentz plans to partner with local businesses and encourage their participation in educational lessons.
While much needs to happen before a building can be secured, the Alliance is exploring a property off Johnsville Road that is listed at $4.5 million. According to Zentz, the Alliance will be responsible for securing financing for the building and they cannot speak with a financial institution until a charter agreement is final.
Charter schools also must meet or exceed state learning outcomes, similar to other schools, to maintain compliance, O’Neal says. With all of the legal requirements and those instituted by the school system, the significance of the effort has not gone unnoticed. Carroll Classical Charter School is the first charter school application to the board since the Carroll Montessori Public Charter School’s attempts 10 years ago.
“It’s a fairly significant lift for a school system when the school system itself opens a new school based on growth,” O’Neal says. “For a group of folks who are lay persons, who have formed a nonprofit to try to open a school, we appreciate the monumental task they’ve taken on here.”
