Latest news with #AccountabilityandImplementationBoard
Yahoo
21-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Blueprint board staff will soon have an office to call home
The Blueprint for Maryland's Future Accountability and Implementation Board meets online Thursdayt. (Screenshot) For more than three years, they've had a high-profile and an outsized impact on the Blueprint for Maryland's Future, but there's one thing the Accountability and Implementation Board has not had in all the time: a home. That changes this fall when the board's 10 employees are scheduled to move into an office space on West Street in Annapolis, after largely working virtually since the board first met in November 2021. The board on Thursday approved a 10-year lease with Annapolis West Limited Partnership for a 3,012-square-foot office on West Street in Annapolis. The action follows Board of Public Works approval on Feb. 26 of an initial annual lease agreement of $119,124 for the space, increasing every year until it reaches $155,430 by the final year of the lease. In this fiscal year's budget, the board has $140,000 for office space, supplies and equipment. While the lease includes services such as electricity, water and sewer, cleaning supplies and snow removal, it says the AIB will be responsible for about 6% of any increase in those expenses during the first year of the lease. Board employees will also be able to rent up to eight parking spaces attached to the building, at additional cost. In addition the 10 current employees, the office advertised for an additional four workers, said AIB Executive Director Rachel Hise — three education policy analysts and a financial data analyst. Hise said the board could take occupancy of the space sometime in the fall. She also said a 'limited number' of people could be able to attend meetings are held in person in the new space. Except for the occasional joint meeting with the state Board of Education, the majority of AIB meetings have been held online. The lease was the biggest bit of business in a busy, four-hour — virtual — meeting Thursday. In other business, the board extended the time for local school officials to submit a comprehensive math plan to the state Department of Education. The plans, which had been due by June 30, 2025, will now be due on Sept. 30. The extension is designed to let the department draft new guidance and technical support to school systems as they develop their plans. It comes as state performance on the math portion of the latest National Assessment of Educational Progress improved slightly for fourth- and eighth-grade students from 2022, when the state ranked 42nd for both grades. The state moved up to 39th place for fourth graders in 2024, and 38th for eighth graders that year. The average math score for fourth graders rose from 229 to 234, while the average for the state's eighth graders slipped from 269 to 268 in 2024. The board also heard a presentation from representatives with NORC at the University of Chicago, which was approved in January to perform an interim evaluation on the overall Blueprint plan. Jenna Scott, co-principal investigator and vice president at NORC, called the state's Blueprint plan 'bold and critical.' 'We've worked with states that I think are forward-thinking in approaches, but this is different,' she said. 'I think the systems-change aspect makes it particularly unique.' The nonprofit research organization plans to speak with various school officials and other stakeholders and review documents to assess the implementation progress for an initial report due in June. That will be followed by a year of surveys to assess the successes and challenges of the Blueprint plan and assess administrative data through the Maryland Longitudinal Data System Center. The center produced a report last year that included trends on new teachers trained in and out of the state, longevity of teachers and graduates of early childhood programs. An interim evaluation report is due by Dec. 1, 2026, which will be the basis for an AIB report to the governor and General Assembly by Jan. 15, 2027. Once a report is completed next year, Margaret 'Meg' Hargreaves, principal investigator and senior fellow at NORC, said seven presentations on the Blueprint assessment will be conducted through May 2027.
Yahoo
20-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Blueprint board opposes Gov. Moore's proposed education funding cuts for students in need
The board that oversees Maryland's signature education law is at odds with Gov. Wes Moore's proposed funding cuts for needy students. Members of the Blueprint for Maryland's Future Accountability and Implementation Board unanimously agreed Thursday that they do not support Moore's plans to reduce funding for students most at risk of not succeeding academically. The board passed a motion declaring that it 'will not recommend and does not support any reduction to Blueprint funding for at-promise students in any legislation before the General Assembly' and proposed retaining funding at the levels set under the original Blueprint bill passed in 2020. Compensatory education, concentration of poverty, multilingual and special education students are those considered 'at-promise.' At a joint bill hearing Wednesday, Moore's Chief of Staff Fagan Harris presented the governor's proposed rollbacks to the Blueprint, including a pause on funding for teacher collaborative time until fiscal year 2030 and a two-year cut on annual funding increases for community schools. Moore, who testified in favor of the original Blueprint for Maryland's Future bill in 2020, did not appear at Wednesday's joint hearing. Democratic lawmakers were critical of the governor's legislation — particularly the measure surrounding community school funding. Harris said that the Moore administration is 'open to any dialogue' regarding community schools and that the legislation was intended to be a starting point for moving forward. Ike Leggett, the Accountability and Implementation Board chair, also testified Wednesday. He read a portion of his comments to board members Thursday afternoon. 'Yes, we have made encouraging progress, but there are still challenges facing our students with the greatest needs,' he read. 'We cannot — we cannot — afford at this juncture to make adjustments that will have collateral and unintended consequences that result in funding less than what is called for in the Blueprint for community schools and our at-promise students.' Before Thursday's motion was adopted, Jennifer Lynch said that, as members of the program's Accountability and Implementation Board, they have a responsibility to ensure that funding remains at the set level originally called for in the Blueprint so that schools can function as the law intends. 'At the same time,' she said, board members are responsible for evaluating outcomes to ensure the original funding levels are 'providing the student success and movement and results that we would expect with this level of investment.' Leggett said that until further results are captured and analyzed, the board will not know if the original funding under the bill is sufficient. He did say, however, that recent data showed special education, compensatory education, and multilingual students are falling 'further and further behind.' 'We do know that, at the minimum, we run a very strong risk that the funding will be reduced, and if we are going to err, we should not err on the side that will potentially negatively impact those students at risk,' he said. Legget said the board differs on the governor's approach to cut funding, but members agree 'in part' on the pause on collaborative time. Moore's legislation puts a four-year pause on the implementation of teacher collaborative time, which would provide a 60-40 split between the time teachers spend in front of students in the classroom and the time allotted for them to prepare lessons. Liz Zogby of the Maryland Down Syndrome Advocacy Coalition said during the public comment of Thursday's board meeting that collaborative time is 'the programmatic piece' of the Blueprint that is most likely to positively impact students with disabilities because it increases teacher capacity and improves their work conditions. She said advocates are worried that the four-year 'pause' will become a 'permanent disinvestment' in schools and students. ________
