EQUITABLE EDUCATION FUNDING
In 2020, the BEE Organizing Alliance will push the Baltimore city Mayoral candidates to develop sustainable, accountable, and equitable plans to fund the Kirwan policy recommendations.
BEE members have consistently been at the forefront of the fight for adequate and equitable funding for every student in every neighborhood. This has looked like ----
Securing a $30 million re-allocation of funds from Baltimore city government to city schools over three years;
Turning voters out to successfully pass the Lockbox Fund which resulted in an amendment to the state constitution to dedicate casino revenue as supplemental funding rather than a replacement to state funds for public schools.
If we want to effect systemic change for kids, we need to demonstrate our power over and over, win after win.
This year we are calling on our membership to raise your voices in support of equitable funding for the Kirwan commission’s policy goals.
Funding these priorities means increasing standards and pay in the teaching profession, improving early childhood learning and reorienting high school to better prepare graduates for college and career.
A world-class education is worth funding.
THE TIMELINE FOR BLUEPRINT FOR MARYLAND’S FUTURE
The Kirwan Commission’s Focus
In 2016 the Maryland Legislature established the Commission on Innovation and Excellence in Education to make Maryland’s school system amongst the best in the world. This Commission is often referred to by the name of its Chairman, Dr. Brit Kirwan.
The Kirwan Commission was given two tasks:
To make policy recommendations to enable Maryland’s schools to perform at the level of the best-preforming school systems in the world;
To propose changes to the current funding formulas for schools.
WHERE WE ARE TODAY
In February 2020 the final legislation that transitions the Kirwan Commission recommendations from a Blueprint to the law (HB1300/SB1000) was passed by General Assembly and currently sits on Governor Hogan’s desk.
This new school funding formula will phase in billions of dollars of new funding over the next decade to support the policy recommendations of the Kirwan Commission. There have been over 10 bills introduced which identify funding sources for the new formula and ensure that it is sustainable, adequate, and equitable.
2019: THE ROAD MAP TO IMPLEMENT THE BLUEPRINT FOR MARYLAND’S FUTURE
The Kirwan Commission released it’s interim report. This report was based on the NCEE framework, and building on the Adequacy Study through the continuing assistance of APA.
Blueprint for Maryland’s Future (SB 1030) is the legislation enacted in 2019 to launch three-years of increased funding for PreK, special education, teachers’ pay, and other programs. ($255 million in 2019-2020, $355 million in 2020-2021, and at least $370 million in 2021-2022).
The Kirwan Commission Funding Formula Work Group proposed an updated public school funding formula and phase-in plan that fully funds all of the Kirwan recommendations and significantly increases the amount of money every school district receives under current law.
The Kirwan Commission passed the policy recommendations and funding formula on November 2019 effectively sending the comprehensive package to the Maryland General Assembly and Governor Hogan to sign.
On December 3rd the Baltimore City Council held a hearing on Baltimore’s Fiscal Readiness for Kirwan. This meeting was called by the city council to be briefed on the City’s fiscal readiness for the recommendations that the Kirwan Commission put forward to alter public school funding formulas for Baltimore City by the Director of the Baltimore City Department of Finance.
The city council also requested the CEO of the Baltimore City Public School System discuss the implications to City schools if the Kirwan Commission’s recommendations are not passed or, if passed, are inadequate to ensure that Baltimore City public schools receive the State funding they deserve.