On February 19, Legislative Director Kevin Kinnally testified before the Budget and Taxation Committee, Education, Energy, and the Environment Committee, Appropriations Committee, and Ways and Means Committee to support SB 429 – Excellence in Maryland Public Schools Act with amendments.
This bill adjusts Maryland’s visionary but optimistic education plan, the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future (Blueprint). The proposed legislation’s primary goals focus on bolstering recruitment and retention efforts for certified teachers and pausing and scaling back certain elements to adjust strategies.
County governments have been funding partners, making record-setting financial commitments over three years of the roll-out, with the vast majority of jurisdictions funding well over their local share of Blueprint costs. Even with these historic investments, education experts from across the state have highlighted operational and fiscal challenges that could compromise the shared outcomes of the plan.
School leaders across local school systems have respectfully requested, and counties echo that request here, to give more flexibility on allocating and reporting funding in certain instances.
While counties appreciate the governor’s willingness to align the Blueprint with fiscal and implementation realities, taxpayers still incur significant expenses. The investments in education must continue to comply with the strictest transparency and accountability standards, especially as progress relates to the new investments outlined in the bill. To that end, counties respectfully request an amendment to require the Maryland State Department of Education to report annually on recruitment and retention progress specific to the proposed adjustments.
SB 429, with the reasonable changes outlined above, can ensure accountability for taxpayer dollars but also provide local school systems with the flexibility necessary to ensure the reform plan can, and will, actually work for all students
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