Moore’s changes to education spending could hurt students in poverty the most

 In the Baltimore Banner, by reporter Liz Bowie, Jan. 28, 2025. Full story here.

Gov. Wes Moore is proposing to rewrite major portions of Maryland’s landmark education law, cutting nearly one-fifth of the new funding the state promised schools by 2029.

While Moore has portrayed his bill as “pausing” pieces of the 10-year plan, the effect will be felt most by students living in poverty and immigrant students learning English. The Blueprint for Maryland’s Future was designed to boost achievement for all students, but it particularly concentrated money at schools with the largest numbers of poor children and the lowest achievement.

Neither the governor’s office nor the Maryland State Department of Education have released figures on how much less each school district would receive than was promised under the Blueprint. But according to rough calculations by the state’s largest teachers union, Baltimore City and Baltimore and Anne Arundel counties — all districts with significant numbers of poor students — stand to lose hundreds of millions of dollars each over four years in both state and local money.

At the same time, Moore would redirect $110 million a year toward new education initiatives to grow and train the teacher workforce, ensure children read proficiently by third grade and improve math instruction, all of which are priorities for Maryland State Superintendent of Schools Carey Wright. Those initiatives aren’t specifically targeted toward poor children.

New Blueprint funding requirements are coming for Maryland school systems

 By reporter William Ford in Maryland Matters. Full story here.

Local school systems have less than four months to begin meeting new financial reporting requirements to ensure public school students receive the resources for a quality education, under the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future education reform plan.

The Blueprint’s Accountability and Implementation Board (AIB), which oversees the 10-year $3.8 billion plan, approved a policy Thursday that would require officials from all 24 school systems to ensure at least 75% of per pupil funding follows that person to the school attended.

That percentage must also be shown in specific categories for students who, for example, are English language learners, enrolled in special education and college and career readiness programs.

The policy, called the minimum school funding requirement, will go into effect for school systems, also known as local education agencies, or LEAs, on July 1, when fiscal year 2025 begins.

Why Maryland school budgets are in turmoil — and what that means in classrooms

 From the Baltimore Banner, reporter Liz Bowie. Read the full story here.

For the past several years, Maryland schools have been anticipating a tsunami of new state and local money to wash over them, allowing them to add prekindergarten, raise teacher salaries and create support for high-poverty schools.

The reality is now here, and instead of euphoria, there’s shock, even from some educators who are deep in the weeds of the landmark education reform legislation.

Local school budgets are in turmoil, class sizes are rising or lowering, and superintendents are under pressure to figure it out fast. The general reaction: Wait, this is what the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future means?

The Blueprint requirements that have been most contentious this year force school systems to redirect money to specific schools with high-needs students — for instance, those with disabilities or who live in poverty. School systems were used to getting state money and generally spreading it out equally among the schools.

The re-prioritizing has been painful. Cecil County school Superintendent Jeffrey Lawson examined what that would mean for two schools in his county if he had to carry out the Blueprint requirements next school year. One is Bay View Elementary, where 66% of students are considered poor and 22% have special needs. The school would have seen a $1.3 million increase in its budget, but the second school, Rising Sun Middle School, which has significantly fewer students with special needs and poor students, would see its budget fall by $1.1 million.

In stark terms, that would mean adding 14 teachers to Bay View and taking 12 teachers from Rising Sun. Lawson said Bay View would likely have two teachers in a number of classrooms, since there aren’t 14 additional classrooms in the school. The student-to-teacher ratio at Bay View would fall to concentrate attention on students who need it the most. At Rising Sun, student class sizes might rise to 35 to 40 students per teacher, he said.

A Blueprint for Reform

Blueprint