Summary of Key Legislation in the 2007
Maryland General Assembly
Funding
Maryland made education funding history this year! The legislative session of 2007 marked the full phase-in of the state's six-year increase in education funding, $1.3 billion, as promised under the Thornton plan. No other state has seen such an enormous increase in money going to education, and it was accomplished through legislative initiative, not through court action. State aid for education peaked at an all-time record single-year increase of $687 million, including a $567 million increase going directly to local school systems, and $120 million increase for school employees' retirement and pension plans.
In addition, over the last five years, the General Assembly has made significant progress toward meeting the recommendations of the Kopp Commission on public school construction . Governor O'Malley's budgeted amount of $400 million for school construction tops off a total $1.218 billion investment in school construction over the last four years passed by the General Assembly.
Because the state is facing a $1.3 billion deficit next year, the legislature failed to pass a Geographic Cost of Education Index (GCEI) bill this year. The provisions of the GCEI could be in the calculations that will drive the search for new revenue to fund the deficit.
Master plans
On March 20, MSTA testified in support, with amendments, of a bill calling for periodic updates of the master plans and the extension of the master planning process for local school systems. The original bill called for the state superintendent to review and approve the plans and, if the state superintendent determined that the plans were incomplete or insufficient, she or he could withhold state funds pending compliance with the superintendent's recommendations.
MSTA worked successfully with the superintendents and the Maryland Association of Boards of Education to amend the bill in the House committee. Just before 8:00 p.m. on the final night of the session, the Ways and Means Committee brought to the floor a bill that amended out the superintendent's ability to withhold a county board's funds. The amended version passed the House 104 to 32. Once the Senate concurred with the House amendments, that body approved the final version of the bill by a 47 to 0 vote.
HSA task force
House Bill 994, which created a task force to study the implications of the Maryland High School Assessments (HSAs), was voted down in the House committee. The Senate version of the bill, SB 475, passed the Senate 45-3, but also died in the Ways and Means Committee. However, the Budget Conference Committee added language requiring MSDE to hold five regional meetings, including one in the Washington suburbs and one in the Baltimore area, and report back to the General Assembly in December 2007.
Retired rehired
HB 962 was amended to include the provisions of several bills introduced this session, providing school systems with greater flexibility in how they employ teachers and principals under this program . This amended bill expands the criteria for utilizing retired rehired teachers from reemployment in Title I schools to all schools with 50% free and reduced-price meal students. It also increases school systems' flexibility to add between 5 and 15 retired rehired teachers in non-Title I schools to teach in critical shortage areas.
BOAST
MSTA opposed the Building Opportunities for All Students and Teachers (BOAST) Maryland Tax Credit, which would have effectively subsidized tuition at private and religious schools with public tax dollars through a tax credit. As with vouchers , these tax credits permit nonpublic schools to continue their ability to deny admission to any student, especially students with costly special needs, such as a learning or physical disability, or limited-English proficiency. MSTA argued that these programs are not a strategy for improving public schools, do little for public school students, and reduce revenue that otherwise could be available to invest in public schools. Both House and Senate versions of the bill died in committee.
Living wage
Originally, the living wage bill appeared to be headed for a silent death, but it was resuscitated with the Governor's intervention and brought to the House floor for a vote, where it passed 88 to 50. It then went to the Senate, where it was amended and approved by a vote of 31 to 16. The House concurred with the Senate amendments, so the bill was sent to the Governor's desk for his signature.
Charter schools
Two years ago, charter schools filed a petition with the State Board of Education to grant charter schools the full per-pupil foundation and not allow the local school systems to deduct for administrative expenses, transportation, etc. Ultimately, the State Board of Education ruled in favor of the charter schools' position. The local school systems then appealed the decision to the courts, but, to date, the court has not ruled. To avoid an adverse court decision, legislators filed a bill that clarified the language in the law. The bill would have allowed local school systems to deduct for administration, transportation, etc., as they do for other public schools, so that in the end charters would have received approximately 86% of the foundation amount instead of 96 percent.
MSTA worked through the interim with legislators and the Maryland Association of Boards of Education to craft a bill that made the appropriate corrections, but unfortunately the bill failed. To ensure that the funding problem was corrected, at least in their county, the Prince George 's County delegation introduced a second bill that applied only to their county. That bill passed the House of Delegates but failed in the Senate committee.
Class size
Neither the House nor Senate versions of the legislation that would have required the Maryland State Department of Education to collect accurate and consistent class size data from local boards of education and report this information to the General Assembly made it out of committee this year. Currently, the Maryland State Department of Education publishes a pupil-teacher ratio (PTR) that compares the total number of teachers to the total number of students in a county and provides no information about the range of class sizes. This legislation would have required data collected to show the actual class size, which is the number of students who regularly appear in a teacher's classroom and for whom that teacher is primarily responsible and accountable.
Student suspension bills
Del. Geron Levi's bill was amended to require a student to bring an attendance record to DMV when applying for a learner's permit and, if the student has 10 days or more of unexcused absences, his ability to get his learner's permit is delayed.
Howard County agency fee
HB 881, which allows Howard County Education Association to negotiate a fair share representation fee, passed the House and Senate and was sent to the Governor's desk.
Frederick Co. spousal exclusion
The Frederick House delegation passed a bill to remove the provision in law that excludes spouses of the Fredrick County BOE members from serving on the local school board. FCTA supported the bill, but the provision lost in the Senate committee.
School board changes
The proposal for partially elected, partially appointed school boards in Baltimore County and in Harford County both failed. As a result of a legislative initiative this session, the members of the Anne Arundel County Board of Education will be appointed by the Governor from a list submitted by a School Board Nominating Commission. Prince George 's County will continue its all-elected school board , but, under the new law, there will be one representative from each of the nine school districts in the county. In the future, school board candidates will run by district, with none running countywide.
