The Blueprint’s Accountability and Implementation Board: What is It?
The Blueprint for Maryland’s Future brings with it not just transformative new levels of funding, but new accountability structures to make sure that funding goes where it should through the new Accountability and Implementation Board (AIB).
MSEA is proud to have President Cheryl Bost recently appointed by House Speaker Adrienne Jones to serve on the six-member Accountability and Implementation Board Nominating Committee, the first step in appointing the AIB.
Who Does What?
The process is complicated but as outlined in the Blueprint, both the Nominating Committee and AIB members are to have expertise in education policy, teaching strategies, systemic change in complex organizations, and/or finance.
Strong advocacy gave more Marylanders a voice in the nominations process for the AIB. The Blueprint requires that the six-member AIB Nominating Committee, with two appointees each by the Senate president, House speaker, and governor, submit nine names to the governor, who, with Senate approval, appoints seven from the list of nine to the AIB to oversee the Blueprint’s 13-year implementation. The AIB has an official start date of July 1, pending approval of the nominees by the governor, but actual oversight begins next year after school systems submit their district plans for implementing the Blueprint.
In May, the first appointees to the six-member Nominating Committee were announced when House Speaker Adrienne Jones named Bost and Franchesca Brown, a Baltimore County elementary school principal. Senate President Bill Ferguson appointed Sen. Paul Pinsky, chair of the Senate’s Education, Health, and Environmental Affairs Committee, and Dr. Shanaysha Sauls, CEO of the Baltimore Community Foundation. In June, Governor Hogan named Dr. Edward Root, former State Board of Education president, and Dr. Rose Li, a current member of the State Board of Education.
How It Works
Once established, the AIB will approve all state and local implementation plans, release or withhold new funds to districts for Blueprint implementation, and receive reports on state and local execution of all Blueprint programs. If there’s a conflict between the Maryland State Department of Education and the AIB, the AIB will have authority. Each school system must submit their district plans, with community input, to the AIB for approval on or before June 15, 2022. For fiscal years* (FY) 2022 through 2026, local systems must select an implementation coordinator responsible for the implementation of the Blueprint in the county.
When Does It Start?
While several program features, such as some community school funding, prekindergarten expansion, and funding for educator raises, applied in FY 2019 through 2021, the bulk of Blueprint programs and new funding formulas begin in FY 2022.
In the fall, schools must have a system in place to track the progress of 9th graders in reaching college and career readiness standards by the end of their 10th-grade year. By October 1, the AIB will receive reports of eligible prekindergarten students, and by December 1, they will receive a report on summer school and tutoring programs. By February 15, 2022 the AIB must present a comprehensive implementation plan that will set the standards for all local district Blueprint implementation plans; district implementation plans must then be approved by the AIB by June 15, 2022.
It’s critical that we have a strong AIB to keep the promise of the Blueprint during local implementation—and that educator voices are heard as local districts develop their implementation plans.