Educator and Student Safety Key in Policy Proposals
And other legislative updates in this week’s Up the Street
THIS WEEK IN ANNAPOLIS
Public Employee Safety and Health Act Addresses Educators’ Workplace Concerns
MSEA President Paul Lemle advocated for greater workplace safety for educators on Wednesday in the Senate Finance Committee, testifying in support of the Davis Martinez Public Employee Safety and Health Act, Senate Bill 26. It would establish a unit in the Division of Labor and Industry to address violence and threats in all public workplaces, including schools.
Educators should feel safe in their own classrooms, cafeterias, and school buses, and there are commonsense steps that we can take to prevent threats and injuries to school staff. Doing so not only improves educator safety, but also improves safety for students and our ability to retain educators.
The Public Employee Safety and Health Act would establish urgently needed protections for the safety of public employees, including Maryland’s educators by creating workplace violence prevention programs, requiring accurate injury records, and requiring transparency with staff about safety incidents.
This legislation would hold public employers accountable for their workers’ safety as private employers are and as is the case in 25 other states, including Virginia. Senate Bill 26, sponsored by Senator Ben Kramer (D-Montgomery), is crossfiled with House Bill 176, sponsored by Delegate Jared Solomon (D- Montgomery).
Protecting Sensitive Locations Act Would Protect Threatened Immigrant Populations
MSEA President Paul Lemle stood with CASA of Maryland and allied legislators and advocates, including Prince George’s County Educators’ Association President Donna Christy, on Thursday for a rally to support the Protecting Sensitive Locations Act, legislation in response to the Trump Administration’s decision to remove protections against the ability of federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to conduct raids on schools, medical facilities, houses of worship, and other sensitive locations. The bill, sponsored by Delegate Jheanelle Wilkins (D-Montgomery) and Judicial Proceedings Committee Chair Senator Will Smith (D-Montgomery), would safeguard access to essential services and spaces by limiting ICE activities at these sensitive locations. This legislation affirms Maryland’s commitment to dignity, safety, and community by ensuring that all people, regardless of immigration status, can access healthcare, education, and critical resources without fear or intimidation.
“We need to do all we can to address and calm the fears and anxieties of students and their families,” Lemle said. “All students must feel protected in their schools and all families must feel safe engaging in their children’s education.…No matter where we come from, what language we speak, we all share the same hopes—to work hard, care for our families, and build a better future for our children.”
Pressure Mounts to Restore Cuts to Expected School Funding Increases
On Tuesday in a joint meeting of the State Board of Education (SBOE) and the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future Accountability and Implementation Board (AIB), MSEA President Paul Lemle and Executive Director Sean Johnson emphasized the necessity to restore cuts to expected Blueprint funding increases, particularly for funding that supports community schools and at-promise students—those who come from backgrounds of poverty, multilingual backgrounds, or who use special education services.
Lemle noted that the Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE), the Public School Superintendents Association of Maryland (PSSAM), and the Maryland Association of Boards of Education (MABE) and other stakeholders “identified the state’s commitment to community schools as one of the Blueprint’s biggest successes.…So it defies both logic and best practices to delay community school supports for one second, much less for two years, as proposed in this year’s Blueprint legislation. Community schools are essential for addressing academic, health, and social-emotional needs, making their support non-negotiable. Delays would compound the harm to students in concentrated poverty, especially alongside cuts to collaborative time, moving us further away from a stated goal to end childhood poverty.”
Johnson underscored how the budget’s proposed delay in collaborative time implementation has an outsized detrimental impact on the student groups who should be receiving more support. “The conversation about potentially delaying collaborative time is about more than policy—it is also about budgets….A policy decision to delay collaborative time has a budget impact of reducing the per pupil foundation funding amount. Per pupil funding for students receiving special education services, receiving free or reduced price meals, and multilingual learners is linked back to the foundation amount. Thereby, when the foundation amount is reduced, the funding for those students is reduced too…a double cut for our most vulnerable at-promise students.”
The Excellence in Maryland Public Schools Act, where the formula changes are made that would create these cuts to expected funding increases, will have a hearing February 12, in the Senate Budget and Taxation Committee jointly with the Senate Education, Energy, and the Environment Committee. While there are some important steps in the bill to improve educator shortages, it also requires advocacy to improve it. It only takes a minute to email your legislators and Gov. Moore; tell them to work to prevent deep cuts to our schools and to support the governor’s fair tax reform plan, which will raise much-needed revenue. You can also join MSEA for our Fund Maryland’s Future Day of Action in Annapolis on Monday, February 24. Click here for more details and to RSVP.
NEWS AND NOTES
NEA Sounds Alarm: Trump Threatens Marginalized Populations, Public Education
National Education Association (NEA) President Becky Pringle warned that President Trump’s executive orders promoting vouchers at the expense of public school funding, punishing the use of honest and accurate curriculum, restricting gender-affirming care, and prohibiting diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives will set public education back and further marginalize vulnerable populations.
“Donald Trump and extreme politicians want to shut the door to equal educational opportunities for all children by attacking diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs on public college and university campuses and beyond,” Pringle said in a statement. “This is just the latest example of how these politicians seek to turn back the clock and ensure that students who speak a different language, who are first-generation Americans, or who go by a different pronoun are no longer welcome and supported.”
The dehumanizing prohibition against gender-affirming care for people under the age of 19 interferes with the medical decisions of parents and doctors and implies that some individuals are less valued than others. “Together with parents and allies, we will continue to organize, advocate, and mobilize so that all students have well-resourced schools that provide an honest, accurate, and inclusive curriculum that prepares them for the future,” Pringle said.
Ordering the Department of Education to use grant money to expand voucher programs, Trump’s latest executive orders follow the Project 2025 playbook to funnel federal dollars to private schools and strip public school students of vital federal funding. “Instead of stealing taxpayer money to fund private schools, we should focus on public schools—where 90% of children, and 95% of children with disabilities, in America, attend—not take desperately needed funds away from them,” Pringle said. “If we are serious about doing what is best for students, let’s reduce class sizes to give our students more one-on-one attention and increase salaries to address the teacher and staff shortages.”
MSEA will continue to organize, advocate, and mobilize for the public schools our students deserve—no matter their race, place, or background. NEA offers resources here that educators can share to support justice for targeted populations.
U.S. Department of Education Stops Defending Freedom to Read
Under the Trump Administration, the Office of Civil Rights in the Department of Education has pulled back from preventing book bans. Under former President Biden the department established a position to oversee the application of civil rights in instances when book bans were attempted. The department has eliminated the position and explicitly withdrawn from involvement in protecting the freedom to read in the states.
Freedom to Read, Public School Funding at Risk in Supreme Court Cases to Be Heard in Spring
Books and curriculum that include LGBTQ experiences are at the heart of a Supreme Court case to be heard since individuals in Montgomery County, Maryland, sued to be able to keep their children from encountering materials and instruction that contradict their religious beliefs. The court will determine whether parents’ rights are violated when they cannot opt their children out.
The Supreme Court will also hear a case that could affect private school access to public funding. The Oklahoma case being heard explores whether a state violates the First Amendment if it excludes privately run religious schools from public funds available to charter schools, and whether the state funding would cause the religious curriculum to be deemed a state action.