House Votes against Deep Cuts to Schools; Senate to Take up Bill

And other legislative updates in this week’s Up the Street

THIS WEEK IN ANNAPOLIS

House Appropriations Chair Delegate Ben Barnes (D-Anne Arundel and Prince George’s) advocates for restoring school funding cuts before the House vote Tuesday that passed the Excellence in Maryland Public Schools Act.

House Passes Amended Excellence in Maryland Public Schools Act, Rejects Deep Cuts to K-12 Funding

On Tuesday the House voted 100-39 along party lines in favor of an amended House Bill 504 that rejects cuts to school funding proposed in the governor’s Excellence in Maryland Public Schools Act. Now HB504 will go to the Senate.

The amended House version rejects a two-year freeze to Maryland’s successful expansion of community schools and restores the foundation amount cut associated with the proposed delay in educators’ collaborative time implementation. The restoration of that foundation cut also eliminates the double cut to expected funding levels for students in poverty and multilingual learners. The amended bill includes helpful expansions to Maryland’s Grow Your Own programs among efforts to strengthen the educator pipeline that the governor’s initial proposal contained.

Advocacy that was so effective before the House votes will be important now that the Senate is considering the bill. Click here to urge your senators to invest in our students, and to thank your delegates for protecting funding for our schools.

If the Senate passes a different version of the bill, it will likely go to a conference committee of the two chambers, where legislators will negotiate a compromise version. House Appropriations Committee Chair Ben Barnes (D-Anne Arundel and Prince George’s) expressed optimism that the Senate shares the House’s priorities, and they will come to a satisfactory agreement.

“We want to certainly protect these kids and make sure the funding is there and the policies are there,” said Barnes. “We’ll get to a compromise in the end.” Especially given Trump Administration cuts to education, he said the Blueprint investment is right for the times. “It is working,” said Barnes. “Especially now in a time when the President of the United States is drafting executive orders to eliminate the Department of Education, Marylanders are saying, ‘No, we are going to invest in school children here in Maryland.’”

Destructive Federal Actions Underscore Need to Sustain Social Safety Net and Services

Senate President Bill Ferguson (D-Baltimore City) declared the need for a strong safety net and adequate revenue sources to meet the needs of people who stand to lose the most in an economic downturn predicted as a result of Trump Administration actions negatively impacting the state and national economy.

According to a report from investment analyst Moody’s Analytics, “Maryland ranks at or near the top for risk from changing federal priorities and policies, by metrics as diverse as share of federal government employment, scientific research grant funding and federal contract awards.”

Proposals to raise much needed revenue while reducing the tax burden on regular Marylanders and further modernize our tax code are being considered in a number of proposals, including Gov. Moore’s fair tax reform plan and the Fair Share for Maryland Act of 2025 (House Bill 1014/Senate Bill 859). Email your legislators and Gov. Moore here to ask them to prevent deep cuts to our schools and support fair tax reform.

“We’re trying to deal with [federal action] at the state level in this federalism system of trying to protect our people, and that does require that we have to, in times, put in more to help others,” Ferguson said. “We are cutting over two-and-a-half billion dollars of the state budget, and we’re at a point now where, in order to protect core functions of the social safety net in the face of what the Trump administration is doing, we have to find a way to fairly levy revenues that will sustain our economy.” The Baltimore Banner recently outlined the wide range of revenue proposals under consideration in Annapolis.

House, Senate Support Legislation to Get School Boards to Undergo Antibias Training

Both the Senate and House have passed their versions of Senate Bill 293/House Bill 324, which would require school board members to undergo antibias training, similar to educators. The bill that will help ensure that those making critical education policy decisions are well informed of their role in preventing bias, prejudice, and hate. MSEA supports preparing these decision-makers to address alarming incidents motivated by prejudice. Students and their families will benefit when everyone leading our schools, from educators to elected officials, has a deep understanding of bias and how to prevent it.

Monday Is Crossover Deadline

March 17 will be the 69th day of the session, known as Crossover Day. At the end of day, legislation that has not passed out of one chamber to the other will require an additional procedural step to be considered by the opposite chamber. Bills not clearing their chamber of origin by March 17 will be assigned to the Rules Committee in the opposite chamber to be considered for assignment to the committee that would have jurisdiction over the legislation. Failure to meet the crossover deadline frequently spells the end of a bill’s progress in a session.

NEWS AND NOTES

Mass Firings at USDE Endanger Billions of Dollars for Maryland Students

The Trump Administration carried out long-standing threats against the U.S. Department of Education on Tuesday, cutting approximately 1,400 staff, effective March 21. Combined with previous dismissals and retirement buyouts, the department will lose 2,200 employees, nearly half of the roughly 4,500 it had when Trump took office. The move prompted a lawsuit from a wide range of states, including Maryland, to prevent the damaging action.

While Trump does not have the authority to close the department, the impacts of so drastically shrinking the staff could impact a wide range of the $1.4 billion that comes from the department to support Maryland students, including:

MSEA has created a clearinghouse for information that educators may find useful to navigate the implications of major federal policy changes here. The National Education Association’s website and Education Justice pages contain the latest information.

The department’s demise would be felt across the country, in larger class sizes, lack of support for vulnerable students, and perpetuating historic inequities, among other losses, said NEA President Becky Pringle in reaction to the administration’s latest chaos-inducing move.

“Firing—without cause—nearly half of the Department of Education staff means they are getting rid of the dedicated public servants who help ensure our nation’s students have access to the programs and resources to keep class sizes down and expand learning opportunities for students so they can grow into their full brilliance,” Pringle said in a statement.

In protest, this coming Wednesday, the NEA and tens of thousands of educators, students, parents and community allies are planning to mobilize across the country to protect our public schools. The nationwide protest, Walk-In to Protect Our Students and Families, is to protect students and families from the Trump Administration’s ongoing cutbacks to services needed by schools and communities. You can find more information here about planned events and how to host one.