BEE’S WORK

2015- 2016

The BEE Organizing Alliance (OA) advocated for increased central office transparency in the Baltimore City Schools’ budgeting process.

BEE members lead the advocacy which resulted in the shift of $1.5 million dollars from school police to student-facing dollars.

Finally, the BEE Organizing Alliance developed a mayoral election voter guide to inform the community where candidates stood on education issues

2016- 2017

In December 2016, Baltimore City Public Schools announced an anticipated $129 million budget shortfall. The BEE Organizing Alliance (OA) advocated for and successfully secured $30 million over three years from the Baltimore City government.

Members of the Organizing Alliance accomplished this through a number of actions calling Mayor Pugh to “BEE a Hero”. These actions held Mayor Pugh accountable for her campaign promises to address the school budget deficit.

BEE members co-organized a rally at City Hall calling for the mayor to secure a $50 million commitment to City Schools. This rally was attended by 500 educators, families members, students, principals, and community members.

2017- 2018

The BEE Organizing Alliance focused on voter turn out in the elections. As part of this work the BEE OA held a successful gubernatorial forum to educate Baltimore City voters regarding education issues leading into the primary election.

Members of the BEE OA canvassed Baltimore's neighborhoods and talked to voters about the "Maryland Gambling Revenue Dedicated to Education Lockbox Amendment," more commonly referred to as the Lockbox Fund. This amendment supported amending the state constitution to dedicate revenue from casinos to the public school system as supplemental funding rather than a replacement to state funds.

2018- 2019

BEE continued its advocacy for the Lockbox fund. The OA worked in coalition with The Intersection and turned out voters on this amendment. Voters backed the Lockbox amendment and the gaming revenues will go to effect in FYE2020 to supplement public education funding.

This advocacy also included the development of a voter guide to share the education stance of each candidate in the gubernatorial election.

BEE continued advocating for fair and equitable funding. This included engagement with the Kirwan Commission’s work as it assessed the education funding formula and to make recommendations for the policy initiatives which would increase adequacy and equity of state funding in education.

2019- 2020

The Baltimore city Mayor has the power to prioritize substantial and meaningful revisions to Baltimore city's budget.

In spring 2020, before the onset of the pandemic, BEE called for mayoral candidates to complete a questionnaire regarding their commitment to funding education.  

We graded candidates on their responses, 8 successfully passed our rubric and were awarded BEE’s education badge and invited to the only Mayoral Education Forum for Baltimore mayoral candidates.

The ground shifted beneath our feet, and as such, during the forum we sought to understand how candidates viewed the future of education in our city in this new context. 

Now, the BEE Organizing Alliance continues to work with Baltimore city Mayor-Elect Brandon Scott to develop sustainable, accountable, and equitable plans that fund the Kirwan policy recommendations without detriment to other youth-facing agencies.

When school facilities closed in March of 2020 BEE came together with students, educators, and advocacy to ensure that Baltimore students had the devices and internet to learn virtually.

Due to these efforts Baltimore City dedicated an emergency financial investment to City Schools of $3 million from the Youth Fund to address the digital divide.

The BEE issue action team began conducting research to determine prospective state and federal policy solutions that would close the divide - specifically by establishing better baselines for upload/download speeds.

At the state level BEE mobilized 60 organizations in support of the Digital Connectivity Act and pushed for the General Assembly to pass the legislation.

Given the poor mapping of urban communities there arose a clear need for additional quantitative and qualitative data was needed to effectively advocate for that change.

BEE led a nationwide call to submit complaints/comments to the FCC citing inequitable access to education due to inadequate internet access. Together they effectively mobilized over 60% of the public comment on the FCC docket associated with minimum upload/download speeds.

This national level action resulted in the formation of Communities Closing the Urban Digital Divide.