Yesterday, the Maryland House Ways and Means and Appropriations Committees jointly met for a briefing on education issues relating to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The briefing consisted of presentations from the Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE), the Public School Superintendents’ Association of Maryland (PSSAM), the Maryland Association of Boards of Education (MABE), the Maryland State Education Association (MSEA), and the Baltimore Teachers Union. MSDE State Superintendent Karen Salmon discussed Maryland Together, the state’s education recovery plan, which explains that each local school district is responsible for establishing their own recovery plans under a set of state guidelines.
Superintendent Salmon said that some things, such as transportation, will require extra funding if physical distancing protocols are still in place as there will need to be more buses and drivers to keep students safely distanced. In a letter addressed to Speaker Jones and House of Delegates Education Leaders, PSSAM and MABE discussed the anticipation of “increased personnel costs” and “funds to backfill food service deficits,” as well as the need for increased funding.
