MARYLAND – The Maryland State Board of Education and the Blueprint Accountability and Implementation Committee held a public meeting Tuesday to highlight increased data and reporting efforts in school districts and education organizations across the state.
During the meeting, the State Board and AIB will consider various priorities related to implementing the Blueprint for Maryland's Future.
Priorities include aligning student achievement goals, providing updates on the statewide Literacy Specialist Instructional Support Team, in addition to next steps to implement recently established College and Career Readiness (CCR) standards. , which included the establishment of an Evaluation and Accountability Task Force.
Maryland Family Network, which spoke at the hearing, touted new resources to track needs by county and bring that information to parents and schools.
“The same data that enters child care location information can be used to input child care location information by neighborhood, county, and legislative district, as well as by type of child care, Head Start, private child care, and, soon, a series of dynamic child care maps that can be searched. It feeds in. It’s pre-K,” coach Laura Wierdryer said.
Cheryl Borst, president of the Maryland Teachers Association, praised Gov. Wes Moore for fully funding this year's blueprint accommodations, but the current situation does not allow for $60,000 in starting salaries for teachers across the state and are concerned that there is not enough accommodation.
“We want to ensure funding beyond 2032 and that will require all of us to work together. Some of the local authorities who fund our schools , it's sad to see that maintenance of effort is treated as an upper limit rather than a lower limit,'' he boasted.
That local jurisdiction is Worcester County, where commissioners voted to keep school budgets flat with no additional spending.
The Worcester County Teachers Association says teachers are among the lowest paid in the state, receive the least state aid, and a starting salary of 60,000 is a burden on the district.
WCTA President Beth Shockley Lynch said she wants the board to recognize the failure of its funding formula to meet WCTA's needs.
“The financing system is older than I am and doesn't fairly assess our needs. There's a lot of wealth in Ocean City, but there's a lot of poverty in the center and middle, and financing “The way it works doesn't take that into consideration,” she said.
She says there are only two options to sustain her efforts. Increasing class sizes or reducing headcount can contribute to an already difficult hiring process.
Shockley-Lynch said if the district doesn't meet the 60,000 number, it will lose even more money due to penalties.
“We generate about $297 in revenue per student, which is currently the third highest cost per student, and this is a significant reduction. That's 90 fewer teachers, support staff and bus drivers.” That means kids are doing more with less, and that's unfair,” Shcockley-Lynch said.
