The start of the school year brings with it hopes and dreams across Maryland – for 880,000 public school students and their families, for 62,000 teachers, and for anyone who is invested in our public education system.
The new school year also means we’re a year further into the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future, the $4 billion-a-year decade-long reform plan that has dominated the public discourse about education in this state for the better part of a decade.
In the latest Maryland Now podcast episode, we take a close look at the recent history of education in this state, and probe some of the factors, personalities and political imperatives driving the debates over the Blueprint.
Like so much in Maryland politics these days, the discussion is dominated by money: Whether the state and local governments can afford such expensive mandates – and what the long-term cost might be if they don’t meet the moment.
The Blueprint stemmed from legislation that the General Assembly passed in 2021 – after years of debate. It was meant to restore Maryland to its former glory, when it had one of the highest-rated school systems in the country.
The Blueprint for Maryland’s Future is clearly the most consequential legislation to emerge from Annapolis in recent memory, and the very name has become shorthand for all the good and ills of Maryland’s public education system.
But it’s often misunderstood. And to date there have been no definitive evaluations of how the reform plan is working.
That will change later this year, when the state Accountability and Implementation Board – a new state agency that was created by the legislation to oversee the initiative – issues a midway report card sometime in the late fall or early winter. That could have a big impact on how policymakers proceed in the years ahead.
Broadly speaking, the bill was a 10-year plan that would expand pre-kindergarten programs and increase funding for schools with high concentrations of poverty. It would increase pay and career opportunities for teachers and provide them with more planning time during the school day. It would encourage high school students to take college courses, and it created new career pathways for high schoolers who don’t plan to attend college. It also prioritized so-called community schools, largely in poorer neighborhoods, that offer students and their families a variety of services beyond the school day – all in the name of boosting academic achievement.
The Blueprint legislation created five “pillars” that school leaders are obligated to meet.
Can we afford it? What do our leaders need to do to ensure its ultimate success?
It’s an education story. It’s a story about equity and opportunity. A story about Maryland’s economic future and its ability to compete in an ever more complicated world. And at its root, it’s a political story.
Listen to Maryland Now to get caught up on the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future. Discover what’s driving the education debate in Maryland these days and what is keeping our political and school leaders up at night.
Interviews in this episode:
Dr. Joshua Michael, president of the Maryland State Board of Education; Julie Hummer, former leader of Maryland Association of Boards of Education; Riya Gupta, executive director of Strong Schools Maryland; Sean Johnson, executive director of the Maryland State Education Association; Ike Leggett, former Montgomery County Executive and chair of the Accountability and Implementation Board; Kalman “Buzzy” Hettleman, former member of the Baltimore City Board of Education; Dr. Annette Wallace, Worcester County Public Schools superintendent; State, Sen. Cory McCray of Baltimore.
Topics in this episode:
- How Maryland’s decline in national education ratings alarmed policymakers and educators and prompted bold but complicated action
- The five “pillars” of the Blueprint, and why the law also created an unusual new oversight agency, the Accountability and Implementation Board
- All 24 Maryland school districts have now hit $60,000 starting teacher salaries — but neighboring states are catching up fast, and some districts had to sacrifice other priorities to get there
- Why a court ruling striking down Maryland’s digital advertising tax has frozen over $535 million earmarked for the Blueprint
- The push from advocacy groups and the teachers’ union for progressive revenue measures — and the pushback from counties already stretched thin
- A candid, skeptical take from a former Baltimore City school board member on whether the Blueprint tried to do too much, too fast
- A powerful official’s case for staying the course, told through two sports metaphors — a college athletic program still waiting to win games, and a swimmer who covers 26 miles without ever completing the crossing
Episode archive:
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Maryland Now is brought to you by Blended Public Affairs and produced by Carper Cre8tive.
