The Senate Education, Energy, and Environment Committee was briefed on July 26 on the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future and school governance.
The Senate Education, Energy, and the Environment (EEE) Committee received a briefing on the progress of the Maryland State Department of Education’s (MSDE) implementation of the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future (“the Blueprint”). Senator Mary Washington, Chair of EEE’s Education Subcommittee, organized the briefing and called it “governance 101” to review the state’s education structure and laws passed in the last few years.
The two-hour briefing covered k-12 public school governance and various aspects of the Blueprint law. Most of the briefing was given by the Department of Legislative Service’s Stacy Goodman, who also serves as counsel to the EEE Committee.
According to Maryland Matters, highlights included:
- consideration “if there’s a policy for the state board and state superintendent to communicate with local school officials, especially when dealing with the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future education reform plan”;
- “Whether the AIB has ‘plenary authority,’ or nearly complete power, with the state’s education system in regard to the Blueprint plan”; and
- discussion of “… some of the AIB’s responsibilities, including its ability to withhold 25% of state funding from local school systems that don’t achieve the goals of the Blueprint.”
School funding and Blueprint budget assessments weren’t discussed in depth at the July 26 briefing, but EEE Chair Brian Feldman expressed a desire to hold a joint meeting on funding with the Senate Budget and Taxation Committee.
