Newsroom

School Funding

Actionline

Where’s All That Casino Money?

In 2011, casinos contributed $50 million to the Education Trust Fund; in 2013, $284 million; in 2015, $350 million. Projections for last year are $500 million — in total, $2 billion since 2011. If you’ve been wondering about the influx of casino cash lawmakers promised when casino gambling passed in Maryland, you’re not alone. Talk about school […]
Professional Practice

Actionline

10 Ways Public Education in Finland and Singapore Is Different Than in the U.S.

Photo: The Atlantic, October 1, 2015. 1. In Finland, law mandates that for every 45 minutes of instruction, students get 15 minutes of play. U.S. kids get less than 30 minutes per day. 2. College is free in Finland — even master’s and doctoral programs. 3. Teachers are highly respected and are paid better in Finland and Singapore. […]
School Funding

Actionline

OPPORTUNITY • EQUITY • PAY

Dramatic salary increases leading to parity between teachers and professionals with similar educational backgrounds. Living wages for ESP. Increased time for planning and collaboration. A locally-negotiated career ladder that gives educators an opportunity to make administrator-level pay without leaving classrooms. Expanded pre-kindergarten, career-technical education, and community schools. We could see these transformational changes in our […]
School Funding

Actionline

The Tipping Point: Solving the Staffing and Salary Crisis in Maryland Schools

What does $2.9 billion in annual underfunding in our schools look like? A slow-building — but now impossible to ignore — crisis of inadequate staffing levels and educator pay that has direct consequences on the quality of teaching and learning, especially in high-poverty schools. After major progress on both staffing and pay following the state’s last revision of the […]
School Funding

Actionline

Betty Weller: Kirwan Gives Us a Unique Opportunity to Face Pervasive Inequities

James Baldwin said that “not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it’s faced.” We know that there are massive inequities in our schools — by socioeconomic status, by neighborhood, and by race. We see these gaps in opportunities result in gaps in achievement. In its review of Maryland school funding, […]
School Funding

Newsroom

Another Year, Another Hogan Budget with Education Cuts

Fiscal Year 2019 Maryland Budget (photo credit: Erin Cox, Baltimore Sun) THIS WEEK IN ANNAPOLIS More Hogan Education Cuts Education and trees: that’s what Gov. Hogan cuts. This Wednesday, the governor released the fourth and final budget proposal of his term and continued his record of slashing funding for important education programs. Using his power […]
School Funding

Newsroom

The Kirwan Commission Delivers a Preliminary Report

The sun rises over the State House on opening day of the General Assembly Session OPENING DAY IN ANNAPOLIS The 438th Maryland General Assembly session convened at noon on Wednesday, January 10, 2018. This is the final year of a four-year term for all delegates and senators and an election year for the 188 members of […]
School Funding

Latest Updates

What Gov. Hogan’s Education Announcement Is Trying to Distract You From

  Photo from Governor’s Office. On Monday morning, Gov. Hogan held a positively Trumpian press conference, attacking school systems in jurisdictions that didn’t vote for him (Baltimore City and Prince George’s County in particular), bizarrely attempting to relitigate old fights (introducing a bill called the Protect Our Students Act, an attempt to cozy up further […]
School Funding

Actionline

Student Poverty? Class Size? We’re On It.

This is our moment — if we are to be successful in our work influencing the recommendations of the commission to right the $3 billion annual funding deficit that our schools face, we need to educate each other, our communities, and our representatives in Annapolis. Meet Liz, Ronnie, Dwayne, Betty, Jeff, and Vernon — six MSEA activists who are […]
Join An Event
Member Awards & Grants