2026 General Assembly Wrap Up
School Funding, The Compass Act, Guidelines for Smart Phones
MSEA counted wins in every category of its 2026 legislative priorities: protecting public education investments, developing a fairer school rating system, establishing guardrails around technology in the classroom, standing firm against vouchers, reducing the educator shortage, strengthening worker rights, and defending Maryland’s most vulnerable people. Those gains will have real, positive impacts on classrooms, schools, and students and their families across the state.
The 2026 General Assembly session began—and continued throughout—with special concern for how federal chaos is affecting schools, students, educators, and everyday life. MSEA tracked more than 400 bills during session to protect educators’ interests, equity for students, and worker and civil rights for Marylanders in a challenging environment.
“This year’s Maryland General Assembly session highlighted the vital role MSEA plays in prioritizing progress for public education and worker rights during the state’s legislative session,” said MSEA Vice President Nikki Woodward.
Protecting Public School Funding Lawmakers agreed on a $71 billion budget that maintained strong funding for public pre-K-12 education. They resolved a $1.5 billion budget deficit with fund swaps and delays—including measures that won’t be available next year, when a budget deficit is again predicted, driven by federal chaos and its impact on the state economy. “We’re well aware of the challenging funding landscape before us. Our job as always is to maintain our momentum and flex union strength through member organizing and advocacy. We know that’s what protects investments made and promised in the Blueprint,” said MSEA President Paul Lemle.
The fiscal year 2027 budget includes $10.2 billion for public education, which continues strong state investment in public schools. That support is especially important as federal cuts are being made to programs that support the most vulnerable students and aspiring educators. In the budget there is:
- •$572 million (16% increase) for community schools
- •$19.4 million for Grow Your Own educator program continuation
- •$228 million correction in lapse of compensatory education eligibility
- •$480.5 million capital budget for school construction
The continued investment in our schools through the Blueprint underpins increases in student achievement, nation-leading expansion of community schools, the dramatic narrowing of the educator shortage and increases in educator salaries, exciting new career technical education programs, and rapid, substantial increases in Nationally Board Certified teachers, among other strong signs of progress. The return on investment—and need to sustain those investments—despite federal budgetary headwinds is readily apparent.
Beyond the budget, the Trump Administration created an opt-in voucher scheme that would siphon more public money away from public schools. MSEA successfully opposed legislative efforts forcing Maryland to opt in to that program, which would have sent tax-deductible dollars to private and religious schools without accountability.
Standing Union Strong Among this year’s priorities were several goals of the ESP Bill of Rights (see below) along with broader support for worker rights and fellow union members. After more than 10 years, graduate assistants and non-tenure track faculty at higher education institutions won collective bargaining rights. MSEA President Paul Lemle testified in support of the latter bill “to ensure that the specific needs and concerns of nontenure track faculty are addressed and that they have a strong voice in the decision-making process.” MSEA also supported a successful bill to extend binding arbitration to state employees, which creates a constitutional amendment that will be on the ballot in November.
Educators got a little closer to the right to strike (as educators in many other states and private employees have) without sanctions against their licenses or their unions this year. The right to strike bill had a strong hearing in the Government, Labor, and Elections Committee, bolstered by MSEA and Baltimore Teachers Union testimony, though it did not advance out of committee
Creating Smart Guidelines for Technology in Schools This year, a law passed that requires boards of education to establish cell phone use policies for the 2027-2028 school year. As artificial intelligence (AI) finds its way into classrooms and professional development, MSEA supported a successful bill to require professional development and guidelines in schools concerning AI.
Progress Continues to Reduce Educator Shortage The General Assembly passed an interstate compact to ease the hiring of school psychologists, a critical need across the state. Separate legislation passed both chambers to extend licensure timelines and update licensure requirements for sign language interpreters. House Bill 478/Senate Bill 262 gives tax relief to prekindergarten educators who pay out of pocket for school supplies, extending to them the relief offered to K-12 educators currently. House Bill 168 gives educators access to certain affordable housing programs.
MSEA will continue to fight to correct the eligibility status of some Nationally Board Certified educators who, because of a technicality in the Blueprint, have been omitted from bonuses due to longer maintenance of certification windows. This year, bills in support of this effort successfully passed the Senate, but did not get a final vote in the House.
Revised School Report Card to Measure More of School’s Strengths One of MSEA’s priorities this session was to reform the star rating accountability system that produces the school report card that too often has been confusing and misleading. “MSEA partnered with the Mary-land Department of Education on a bill to allow for fairer measures, like student growth and access to licensed educators,” said MSEA President Paul Lemle. “It is my sincere belief that we will create a fairer system that identifies ways to support our students and families instead of stigmatizing communities affected by poverty.”
House Bill 1582, the Comprehensive Out-comes and Measures of Progress for Supporting Schools, or COMPASS Act, makes a number of tweaks to the star rating system, which will include these important guardrails:
- At least 30% of the rating will come from SQSS indicators
- No more than 70% of the rating will be based on standardized test scores
- No academic indicator will be weighted more than 20% of the composite score
- No indicator may be weighted less than 10% of the composite score
- No indicator will include or rely on teacher evaluations
The State Board of Education will now start developing the new report card. MSEA is advocating to make the MSDE dashboard a more descriptive model. This revised rating framework would make it easier to under-stand school performance, measure meaningful school characteristics, and better measure student growth.
One Job Should Be Enough–Progress on ESP Issues Moving our ESP Bill of Rights forward, MSEA advocacy helped to deliver a win in ending the prohibition against having an active ESP sit on the State Board. The law will now allow the governor to appoint an active ESP, although it does not mandate it. “This is a crucial step toward advancing the professionalism and expertise of our support staff. The voices of ESP need and deserve to be at the table when decisions are being made that impact ESP and all of our students,” said MSEA Vice President Woodward.
MSEA’s continued efforts toward a $25 per hour minimum salary for ESP were unsuccessful. Senate Bill 764 would have mandated paying all ESPs a minimum $25 per hour. The bill was amended to conduct a study of the financial impact of that plan, but didn’t move.
Given the ESP wage gap, MSEA supported the successful passage of bills that will benefit ESPs in public pre-kindergarten positions with help paying for childcare. The bills will change the Child Care Scholarship program administered by the Maryland State Department of Education to include a partial scholarship for families making above a certain amount of income that will help to fund additional childcare slots in the program, as well as changes to the prioritization of families seeking care.
Two bills addressing out-sourcing and an allowance for ESP professional development made some progress in both the Senate and House, but not enough to make it to the governor’s desk to become law. Passing separate legislation against outsourcing and for real, job-embedded professional development will continue to be an MSEA legislative priority.
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Meet Samantha Zwerling (left), MSEA’s chief lobbyist. Every week during the General Assembly Session, MSEA’s Down the Street offers a weekly video diary of session activity. Don’t miss the Sine Die edition for a session summary from Sam!