State Entities Aim To Clarify Oversight Authority for Education Reforms

A long-awaited memorandum of understanding is in the works to make education reform smoother in Maryland. The changes were called for and applauded by local education agencies who have been faced with inconsistencies, redundancies and confusion. 

A forthcoming agreement between the Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE) and the Blueprint Accountability and Implementation Board (AIB) aims to clarify the roles and responsibilities of state officials and agencies to better align with the expertise and capacity of the respective entities. The MSDE and AIB are tasked with monitoring the rollout of the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future (Blueprint) – the State’s visionary education reform plan. After three years of implementation, and at the request of the statewide superintendents association – Public School Superintendents Association of Maryland (PSSAM) – the State intends to have a better system in place shortly.

A recent 30-point letter offered by PSSAM in December, highlighted the need for this clarification. Two recommendations from the document included:

  • undertaking a comprehensive review of the Blueprint statute to clearly delineate responsibilities for the MSDE and AIB
  • restructuring and clarifying the relationship of the MSDE and AIB, with the goal of reestablishing the
    MSDE and the State Board as the education policy-making entities

The Executive Director of PSSAM shared optimism and appreciation for this long-awaited action that is the subject of the biggest challenges local school systems have discussed. From a recent Maryland Matters article:

“Somebody’s got to be the point. Somebody’s got to be the team captain on certain things. Otherwise, it’s just completely frustrating. We are happy they are doing this. This is all going to help in implementation when these guys are 100% clear with us,” Fannon said.

State officials confirmed that while a memorandum of understanding (MOU) is currently being negotiated by the legal counsel of both entities, a timeline for the completion of the agreement was not made available by either MSDE or AIB officials.