Moore’s bill to rein in Blueprint school reform plan draws fire at hearing

House Appropriations Committee Chair Ben Barnes (D-Prince George’s and Anne Arundel) thanked McComas for her service as a superintendent, then politely made a point.

“Just to be clear. This is not the legislature’s bill. I just want to be clear about that,” Barnes said, drawing a few chuckles and smiles from others at the hearing on the Moore administration bills.

Senate Bill 429 and its companion, House Bill 504, were proposed by the Moore administration and were the subjects of a four-hour joint hearing that brought together four legislative committees. In addition to Appropriations, members of the House Ways and Means Committee and the Senate Budget and Taxation and Education, Energy and the Environment committees were on hand to hold a joint hearing on the bills.

Scores of teachers, students and advocates turned out for the hearing and dozens testified against the bills, which would defer some elements of the multibillion-dollar, 10-year Blueprint plan in the face of a $3 billion budget shortfall next year — which is expected to grow worse as a result of budget cuts expected from the Trump White House.

One person who was not on hand to testify was Gov. Wes Moore (D) who sent aides instead, to the disappointment of some at the hearing.

Fagan Harris, Gov. Wes Moore’s chief of staff, said the governor is “committed to seeing the Blueprint through.” (Photo by Bryan P. Sears/Maryland Matters)

“I am frustrated,” Ways and Means Chair Vanessa Atterbeary (D-Howard) said in a text message after Wednesday’s hearing. “It is a significant bill proposing significant changes to the BP [Blueprint]. I think his in-person support of his legislation would have been good to see.”

Mary Pat Fannon, executive director of the Public School Superintendents’ Association of Maryland, said she was surprised the governor didn’t take the opportunity to testify before the four House and Senate committees.

“It is very rare to have four committees have a joint hearing. I thought they were trying to accommodate him,” said Fannon, who does not support the bills. “You don’t want to read too much into it, but you have to look a little bit into it.”

Instead, Moore Chief of Staff Fagan Harris spent about an hour summarizing the administration’s bills and stressing the governor’s overall support for the Blueprint.

“I want to be put crystal clear: This governor is committed to seeing the Blueprint through. That’s why we’re proposing this legislation,” Harris said.

“We think it maps to the realities we’re seeing at the federal level,” he said. “It maps the realities of the historic fiscal crisis we’re currently navigating together and services implementation imperatives of the law, and yes, also makes the law more succinct.”

Harris said the Blueprint is currently funded through next year, which could open the door to deficits thereafter. The changes proposed in the governor’s bill would help put the Blueprint on more sustainable footing, he said.

Harris said the administration bill calls for “a pause” in funding for “collaborative time,” a goal of the Blueprint that would eventually reduce teachers’ time in the classroom from 80% of the day to 60% to allow for more planning, training, individual work with students and more.

The Blueprint calls for implementation of collaborative time to begin next year, but Harris said that would require the hiring of another 12,000 to 15,000 teachers at a time when the state is already grappling with a teacher shortage.

“Because of this shortage, it is not currently feasible to implement collaborative time in a way that would yield the intended benefits for student achievement,” Harris said. The bills would delay collaborative time for four yars, which would allow school districts more time to recruit and retain teachers.

In the interim, the administration bills include funding for several alternate teacher and administrator programs, such as a Grow Your Own initiative to expand teacher and staff pipelines, boost diversity in the profession and establish apprenticeship programs.

The administration bills would also keep funding for community schools — those in areas of concentrated poverty — at its current level for two years. Harris defended the level funding for community schools, noting that the administration has pushed to increase the number of such schools from 447 to 715, and has more than doubled funding, from $227 million to $490 million this year.

One of the few voices in support of the governor’s bill was State Schools Superintendent Carey Wright.

State Superintendent of Schools Carey M. Wright testified Wednesday. (Photo by Bryan P. Sears/Maryland Matters)

“We must ensure that the collaborative time policy does not unintentionally decrease the instructional time for students or negatively impact academic performance,” Wright said in a “letter of information” to the committees that was co-signed by State Board of Education President Joshua Michael.

Sen. Mary Beth Carozza (R-Lower Shore), a member of the Senate “Triple-E” committee, said she supports the pause in collaborative time — but thinks the state could face unintended consequences if it rushes into creating collaborative time.

Carozza is sponsoring a bill  – Senate Bill 791 – that would keep the current 80% classroom time for teachers. A hearing on that measure is scheduled for Friday.

But Moore’s proposal to freeze funding for community schools — which get a high concentration of poverty-based grants such as the number of students who receive free and reduced-price meals — did not sit well with several lawmakers.

Atterbeary called the proposal “a cut” — despite Harris’ characterization of it as a pause — and said the legislature just approved community schools legislation last year.

Sen. Cory McCray (D-Baltimore City), who serves on the Budget and Taxation Committee, said when he visits community schools he sees “young scholars that looked like me.” McCray, who is Black, asked Harris if the administration has conducted research on student demographics in those community schools.

“This is not about cutting programs already in motion that are already in motion making a huge difference in the lives of kids,” Harris said. “We see this as a chance to better leverage the program and the dollars going into it and letting effective implementation keep up with our pace of investment.”

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