One part of the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future, the state’s sweeping education reform plan. would boost “collaborative time,” the time teachers spent outside the classroom planning, training, working individually with students and more. But its implementation could be delayed. (Photo by Klaus Vedfelt/Getty Images)
Faced with cuts that could defer parts of the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future, the Moore administration Tuesday proposed legislation that it hopes can ease some of the impact of those cuts.
The Excellence in Maryland Public Schools Act would create a competitive grant program for school districts to propose innovative ways to implement “collaborative time” for their teachers, and to fund efforts to fill teacher vacancies — a key reason the collaborative time proposal had to be delayed.
It comes as lawmakers and the administration grapple with an estimated $3 billion gap in the fiscal 2026 budget. Even though leaders have insisted that the Blueprint, the state’s sweeping education reform plan, is funded for the next two years, it has been targeted for cuts as part of the budget belt-tightening.
Gov. Wes Moore (D) said the new measure is an attempt to soften the blow of those Blueprint cuts.
“If we are to provide excellence in education throughout Maryland, we must work towards the Blueprint’s primary goals and strategies while making it fit our current needs and realities in a post-pandemic environment,” Moore said in a statement Tuesday.
“Through the Excellence in Maryland Public Schools Act, we propose strategic investments designed to lay out the foundation for effective implementation of key components of the Blueprint, including recruiting and supporting educators and building partnerships between schools and communities,” his statement said.
As of Tuesday evening, the measure labeled SB 429 had not been posted on the Maryland General Assembly website. But those familiar with the bill outlined its main points: $48 million spread over four years for the collaborative time grants, another $134 million over four years to fund the state’s Grow Your Own teacher initiative and a nationwide teacher recruitment program.
It comes less than two weeks after the Accountability and Implementation Board (AIB), which oversees the 10-year Blueprint plan, voted unanimously to recommend a pause in the timeline to expand collaborative time. That is the time outside of class that teachers use for training, analyzing student data, identifying students who may need help and spending time, one on one or in groups, to get students back on track.
Teachers currently spend about 80% of their time in the classroom and 20% in collaborative time. The Blueprint calls for that ratio to change to 60% classroom and 40% collaborative time within the next eight years.
In order to do that on the current timeline, however, the state would need to add as many as 15,000 teachers by next school year. That does not account for about 6,000 conditionally approved teachers, those who have at least a bachelor’s degree but have not completed the requirements for a professional certification.
“The department is 100% on the implementation of Blueprint,” State Superintendent Carey Wright said in an interview Monday. “I think something like pausing of collaborative time makes sense.”
The bill that was read across the Senate desk Tuesday would allow officials from all 24 school districts to apply for collaborative-time innovation grants “to pilot new structures for a teacher’s time and opportunities for collaboration.”
State Board of Education President Joshua Michael said the grant pool would be about $48 million over a four-year period. Local school officials would apply to the state Department of Education.
“I think one of the core tenets we believe we share with the governor [is] a joint commitment to the Blueprint for Maryland’s future,” Michael said. “We fundamentally believe that effective implementation of the Blueprint is critical, and that when we invest new funding, we want to make sure that money is well spent, and we want to see results.”
Amid teacher shortage, Blueprint board recommends revising ‘collaborative time’ timeline
He said another part of the governor’s bill would help the teacher profession by investing $134 million over four years toward the Grow Your Own initiative, which seeks to expand teacher and staff pipelines, boost diversity in the profession and establish apprenticeship programs.
Wright said part of the proposal would also let the state begin a national recruitment campaign to attract out-of-state teachers to Maryland. An added financial incentive: $2,000 in relocation costs, she said.
“We’ve raised the starting pay to $60,000. We’ve been trying to make sure that teachers have a career ladder … and even get more pay and more recognition,” she said. “Maryland’s poised to do some amazing things, so we want to tout Maryland as a place to come and teach.”
‘Bankrupt Maryland’s future’
One of the Blueprint’s main goals is to increase funding over the next 10 years to “enrich student experiences, accelerate student outcomes, as well as improve the quality of education.” The Blueprint is in its third year of implementation.
Del. Ben Barnes (D-Prince George’s and Anne Arundel), chair of the House Appropriations Committee, said in a briefing with reporters last week the Blueprint is separately funded and has no effect on this year’s budget gap.
“The Blueprint is [a] distinctive and separate conversation from this budget. The Blueprint is funded this year. The Blueprint is funded next year,” he said. “We are at the inception of the Blueprint.”
Republican lawmakers have criticized the Blueprint plan as too expensive, saying that if future money is needed from the general fund to pay for the program, it could create a structural deficit in the budget.
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In an online Carroll County delegation meeting Friday, Del. Joshua Stonko (R-Carroll) called the plan “the blueprint to bankrupt Maryland’s future.”
Wright said she “would politely disagree to stay that it is going to bankrupt us.”
“I think that this investment in public education, there’s nothing like it in the nation,” she said. “Being a public education product myself, I think that we have got to invest in the future for our little ones. There’s a lot of promise where the Blueprint is concerned.”
One potential cut to the Blueprint that is not addressed in the governor’s bill is a freeze on funding for community schools. Those familiar with the proposal said that move is proposed to save about $473 million over the next two years, but that plan may run into opposition from the Legislative Black Caucus of Maryland.
Community schools receive concentration in poverty grants, based on the number of students who receive free and reduced meals. Del. Jheanelle Wilkins (D-Montgomery), who chairs the caucus, said last week about 585 community schools could be impacted, many of which are in caucus member’s districts.
During a briefing with reporters Tuesday, Sen. President Bill Ferguson (D-Baltimore City) said there could be agreement to adjust a timeline for expansion of community schools. However, not for those already qualified to be designated as a community school that receives a variety of wraparound services.
“Slowing down the investments for schools with concentrated poverty is something that we’re gonna have a hard time moving forward,” he said.