Applications for the newly formed Blueprint Accountability and Implementation Board, built to oversee facets of the state’s recently-adopted ambitious education plan.
The first virtual meeting of the Nominating Committee, charged with selecting the eventual Blueprint Accountability and Implementation Board, was held on July 8. Video of the meeting is available online.
The Nominating Committee has opened nominations for the Board, and decided it will target September to make its eventual appointments.
Interested parties may submit comments on the nominating process to AIBNominatingCommittee@mlis.state.md.us.
As described in the Maryland Manual:
In February 2021, the Accountability and Implementation Board was created by the General Assembly as an independent unit of State government (Chapter 36, Acts of 2021).
First, the Accountability and Implementation Board is charged with developing a Comprehensive Implementation Plan for the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future. That blueprint consists of those policies and accountability requirements recommended by the Commission on Innovation and Excellence in Education. Further, every unit of government responsible for implementing any part of the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future, including each local school board, is required to submit its own implementation plan to the Accountability and Implementation Board for approval. The Board may withhold funding to any agency without an approved implementation plan.
The Board is to evaluate the data submitted to it, and assess how well the many components of the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future are working to achieve its desired outcome of equal access to a high-quality education. By January 1 of each year through 2031, the Board is to review the use of school-level expenditures, including poverty grants and special education funding, and monitor school system compliance with the requirements of the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future.
From additional coverage on Maryland Matters:
For the next decade, the AIB will evaluate the results of the Blueprint against its intended outcomes.
By Feb. 15, 2022 the AIB must develop a comprehensive implementation plan. And local school systems must submit their local implementation plans to the AIB by June 15, 2022.
The AIB is an independent unit of state government, which means that it has authority, under the Blueprint and HB 1372, over various state agencies including the Maryland State Department of Education and the State Board of Education, if they come into conflict.
The AIB also has the power to withhold state funds from any school district if the school district does not comply with the Blueprint.