Is Maryland’s ‘Blueprint’ the path to better schools? We asked school board candidates

By Marwa Barakat and Colin McNamara

A 10-year, $30 billion plan out of Annapolis, the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future aims to dramatically improve the state’s public schools by boosting teacher salaries, expanding pre-kindergarten and rewriting the curriculum — and school board candidates say the state’s schools need that improvement.

“The Blueprint is Maryland’s surest path to creating beyond great schools,” said Phelton Moss, a school board candidate from Prince George’s County.

But to hear other Maryland school board candidates tell it, the Blueprint is a budget-buster.

“The Blueprint sounds great on paper; however, funding it is a great challenge for every county in Maryland,” St. Mary’s County school board candidate Elena Brewer said.

That debate echoes across Maryland as voters in 20 of the state’s 24 school districts prepare to go to the polls. With early voting set to begin on Thursday, Oct. 24, the Local News Network at the University of Maryland sent a questionnaire to all 109 candidates, asking them, among other things, to name the state’s top education issue.

Academics came out on top. Twenty-seven of the 74 candidates who responded cited issues such as poor test scores and pandemic-related learning loss as the top issue. And 55 candidates offered at least some measure of praise for the Blueprint as a way to make Maryland’s schools better.

But at the same time, 42 of the candidates who responded to the questionnaire expressed concerns about the costs and the mandates stemming from the Blueprint. In a school board election where there are no races in Baltimore City or County, a Prince George’s County candidate, Zakyia Goins-McCants, summed up the views of a number of candidates from suburban and rural districts.

“The Blueprint for Maryland’s Future is transformative legislation that reflects our state's commitment to equitable education,” she said. “However, it was passed without a full funding plan, and the financial implications are significant.”

'A transformational investment'

Passed by the General Assembly in 2021 over the veto of then-Gov. Larry Hogan, a Republican, the Blueprint is built on five pillars. Under the Blueprint, school districts are mandated to:

• Combat the teacher shortage by increasing the minimum teacher salary to $60,000 by July 2026 and build new “career ladders” for educators.

• Expand pre-kindergarten so that it’s available free to low- and moderate-income families and available to all.

• Adjust the curriculum to ensure students are college- and career-ready by the end of 10th grade.

• Implement a “ninth-grade tracker” system to assess how the Blueprint is working for each student as part of a statewide accountability plan.

• Boost funding to match the state’s lofty new goals.

Hearing all of that, many of the state’s school board candidates said the Blueprint is a great but complex and pricey plan.

Tierney Davis, a board candidate from Cecil County, called the Blueprint “a transformational idea” but noted there are serious issues in implementing the plan. Veronica Lowe from Frederick County called it “a transformative investment in our education system” but expressed concerns about funding the effort.

Michael Shisler from Calvert County said the plan is a chance to “improve our common good.”

“If we continue to see education as a cost, rather than as an investment, then folks will just wait for this latest reform to fade away,” Shisler said. “The Blueprint is an opportunity to level the playing field for all kids in Maryland.”

Several candidates said that the playing field needs leveling.

“The most important issue facing Anne Arundel County Public Schools is the existence of persistent gaps in opportunity and achievement between different subgroups of students,” said Joanna Bache Tobin of Anne Arundel County.

Meanwhile, Julie Kaplan of Howard County said schools must improve to make sure every student leaves school prepared for college or a career.

“We must address the learning gaps created by the COVID-19 pandemic,” she said.

A number of candidates cited stagnant or declining test scores in their school districts and beyond.

“Statewide, our student proficiency rates in math and English are suffering,” said Laura McKenzie of Kent County.

But schools will improve if the Blueprint is implemented properly, its supporters said.

“The Blueprint offers us an opportunity to invest in our schools and ensure an excellent education for every student," said Meg Ricks, a candidate for the school board in Howard County.

‘Unfunded’

Support for the Blueprint was by no means uniform among the state’s school board candidates, however. Many echoed the thoughts of Andre Gao, another Howard County school board candidate.

“The Blueprint for Maryland's Future sounds promising on paper with its goals, but the funding presents a significant problem,” Gao said. “Without adequate financial support, implementing the Blueprint will be challenging.”

The Blueprint lacks financial support at both the state and the district level.

The General Assembly approved the Blueprint without determining how it would be paid for, and as a result, the state is projected to run long-term deficits that largely track its increased education costs. A state Department of Legislative Services fiscal briefing released in January said that the deficit will appear in fiscal 2025 and hit nearly $2.93 billion in fiscal 2029 – a year when the Blueprint is set to cost the state $4 billion.

Rachel Hise, the executive director of the Blueprint’s Accountability and Implementation Board, said she is hopeful the Maryland General Assembly will fully fund the Blueprint and is willing to make changes if necessary.

When asked whether state taxes will be raised to support the Blueprint, Hise said, “That is a decision for the governor and General Assembly.”

Against that backdrop, Gov. Wes Moore – a longtime proponent of the Blueprint – has acknowledged that the plan may have to be altered.

“While I believe in making sure that we have a world class education system, we've got to be able to work together to create an actual plan to be able to implement it because right now there are real challenges in being able to get that done and get it done in a way that the locals, and the state and every other partner who's involved sees that taking place,” Moore told Fox45 News in Baltimore in July. “So, there have to be adjustments.”

Meanwhile, school district candidates said the Blueprint is already putting pressure on local school budgets, given that school costs in Maryland are shared by the state and its 24 districts.

“While the Blueprint was touted as significantly increasing education funding, the reality is that the funding is not distributed equitably, and rural counties have been left out, by and large,” said Cathy Allen, a school board candidate in St. Mary’s County. “We did not receive increased funding from the state to cover mandates within the Blueprint.”

Some candidates from larger Maryland counties expressed similar concerns.

“The Blueprint is unfunded and full of mandates that will strain local school systems and their taxpayers,” said Joseph Marchio of Calvert County, who noted that Hogan vetoed the plan. “The Blueprint, while well intended, is focused around the belief that if you just throw enough money at a problem, it will go away or improve.”

'So many requirements'

School board candidates said they worry not only about the Blueprint’s costs, but also about the expensive edicts the plan imposes on local school districts. In some cases, they said, those mandates are already leading to unintended consequences.

Jon M. Andes, a candidate in Worcester County on the Eastern Shore, said he fully supports the Blueprint’s five pillars.

“However, without additional state funding, we will not be able to implement the Blueprint plan without making significant budget cuts to reallocate funds,” Andes said. “As an example, to reach the $60,000 minimum (teacher) salary, we will need to significantly increase class size and reduce materials of instruction.”

Such things are already happening in Howard County, Gao said.

“In our school district, we have not received sufficient funding from the state and county to fully implement the Blueprint,” he said. “This has contributed to budget shortfalls, leading to staff cuts, program reductions and increased class sizes. Many teachers have already expressed concerns about the negative impact of staff shortages and increased class sizes.”

Such issues stem from the fact that the Blueprint mandates that funding be redirected in a number of ways. For one thing, by mandating higher teacher salaries and a host of other changes, some school districts may be forced to cut other popular programs.

“The Blueprint for Maryland’s Future mandates so many requirements that it's difficult for our local school system to continue programs it feels are successful,” said Kerry Gunshenan, a school board candidate in Talbot County.

In addition, the Blueprint mandates that districts direct more funding to schools with larger numbers of high-need students, such as those that are performing poorly or where students are learning to speak English.

Mike Lukas, a board member who is running for re-election in Charles County, praised that change.

“Your ZIP code or household income should not define the quality of your education,” he said.

But Jaime Brennan, a school board candidate in Frederick County, said shifting money toward low-performing schools won’t necessarily make them better.

“There is nothing in the Blueprint that will actually improve student performance, and it is designed to take money from districts and schools that are doing well and transfer it to schools that are not, when the issues at those schools cannot be solved by just spending more money on them,” Brennan said.

Meanwhile, Tom Woods, who is running for re-election to the board in Garrett County, neatly summed up the thoughts of many of the school board members across the state.

“The ideas and solutions presented by the Blueprint come with an awful lot of obstacles,” Woods said.

Local News Network director Jerry Zremski contributed to this report.