The Chair of the Senate’s Education Committee told colleagues today “by the end of the week, you’ll be receiving the printed copy of the Kirwan bill.”
Senator Paul Pinsky, member of the Kirwan Commission and Chair of the Senate Committee on Education, Health, and Environmental Affairs announced on the Senate floor that the bill text would be available by the end of this week.
He then announced that the bill would have its public hearing at 1pm on Monday, February 17.
The Kirwan Commission finished nearly three years of work this fall, with far-reaching recommendations for school funding and outcomes. The implementing legislation has been much-awaited by many stakeholders, including county governments who are to be asked for substantially increased funding above both current state law and even above current county funding trends.
The Senator continued:
Essentially it is what was in the policy proposal…there are no changes from what was recommended by the Commission. It will turn the language of the recommendations… I think there were 30 or 40…into legislative language along with the funding formulas.
The audio of the February 4 floor session is available online, and Senator Pinsky’s comments start around the 49 minute mark.
Baltimore Sun reporter Luke Broadwater noted the announcement, and offered his own bottom-line insight on the complex legislation:
