Latest news with #R-Allegany
Yahoo
08-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
‘Blueprint' gets a trim after session that threatened major cuts
Del. Ben Barnes (D-Prince George's and Anne Arundel), right, responds to a question from House Minority Leader Jason Buckel (R-Allegany) Monday on the Excellence in Maryland Public Schools Act. (Photo by William J. Ford/Maryland Matters) It was one of the first issues to surface this year, and one of the last to be resolved, but lawmakers Monday approved compromise legislation to trim the Blueprint for Maryland's Future while keeping much of the multiyear plan intact. The Excellence in Maryland Public Schools Act passed Monday evening on largely party-line votes in the House and Senate. It delays implementation of 'collaborative time,' preserves funding for community schools and protects students in poverty, those in special education and those in classes for non-English speakers from any potential per pupil funding cuts. 'These are the students who really need help with the Blueprint. There is no pause, cut in funding whatsoever,' said Del. Ben Barnes (D-Prince George's and Anne Arundel), chair of the Appropriations Committee who helped navigate the agreement through a conference committee between chambers last week. The House voted 101-38 for House Bill 504 on Monday afternoon, and the Senate give the bill final approval a few hours later, on a 34-13 vote. The final product struck a balance between the plan put forth by Gov. Wes Moore (D) in January, when the state was in the first throes of its fight to close a $3 billion budget gap for fiscal 2026, and a less-severe package proposed by House. One major part of the agreement Monday deals with the implementation of 'collaborative time,' which provides teachers more out-of-classroom time to plan and work with each other on various subjects and also assess student achievement. School systems are supposed to start implementing collaborative time next year. House, Senate ratify budget compromise on final day The Moore administration had proposed a four-year delay in the start of collaborative time, both for the savings and for practical reasons. State school leaders have said that to fully implement collaborative time, the state would need at least 12,000 teachers at a time when the state faces a teacher shortage. The House wanted to keep next year's implementation date. The House and Senate ultimately agreed to pause the policy requirement for collaborative time for three years, but keep the funding amount at $163 per student for next fiscal year. It would stay at that level until fiscal 2029, when it would jump to $334 per student. Barnes said Monday evening that keeping the collaborative time funding for next fiscal year but deferring implementation should help local school leaders as they work on budgets for next school year. Local school officials have continuously sought more flexibility in the implementation of the Blueprint, now in its third year. Another compromise deals with the Consortium on Coordinated Community Supports, a part of the Blueprint plan that deals with mental health, behavioral and other wraparound services for students. The governor proposed $130 million for fiscal 2026, but the House proposed cutting it to $40 million a year. The Senate held out for $70 million next year and $100 million a year thereafter, which was approved in the final bill. Another provision dealt with community schools, which are buildings that receive concentration-of-poverty grants based on students who receive free and reduced-price meals. One key priority the House was able to secure deals with any funds retained at a school system's central office, money 'must be used solely to support implementation at the school level.' Paul Lemle, president of the state Maryland State Education Association, released a statement after the passage of the bill that gave it a mixed review. 'While there is a delay to increased funding dedicated for collaborative time implementation, the final bill is a significant improvement over where this conversation began in January,' Lemle said 'We were able to avoid the near-immediate, outsized cuts to expected funding for students in poverty and multilingual learners, in particular, and we protected the critical expansion of community schools and supports for students in concentrated poverty,' his statement said. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
12-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
House approves Blueprint education bill that rejects most cuts proposed by governor
House Minority Leader Jason Buckel (R-Allegany) spoke against a revised Blueprint for Maryland's Future education measure to no avail Tuesday. The bill passed on a 100-39 party-line vote. (Photo by William J. Ford/Maryland Matters) As expected, the House of Delegates approved an amended, comprehensive education plan Tuesday night that rejected cuts proposed by Gov. Wes Moore (D). The 100-39 party-line vote sets up a potential showdown with the Senate over the Excellence in Maryland Public Schools Act. Senate leaders have indicated that, in the face of a projected $3 billion deficit for fiscal 2026, they may be more sympathetic to the governor's version of the bill to amend the state's multiyear, costly Blueprint for Maryland's Future. House Democratic leaders have consistently pushed back against the governor's plan, saying that any cuts would negatively affect the Blueprint, now in its third year of implementation. But House Ways and Means Committee Chair Vanessa Atterbeary (D-Howard) said after Tuesday night's floor vote that the House and the governor agree on the goals of the plan, but disagree on how to get there. 'He [Moore] was looking at the Blueprint also as a means to solve budgetary issues, and we did not,' Atterbeary said. 'I think in large part we disagreed when it comes to funding. But I think policy wise, we agreed primarily with the governor.' The debate put House Republicans in the unusual position of defending the governor's bill against Democratic amendments. 'Didn't agree with everything in it, but it was a compromise that suggests we can, in future years, account for the realities that we will not have to spend as much we'll amend, in particular, the collaborative time,' said House Minority Leader Jason Buckel (R-Allegany), before voting against the amended House version of the bill. 'I think that we would have been best served to support Gov. Moore's bill, rather than the bill as amended currently before the House,' he said. Three Republicans – Dels. Kevin Hornberger (R-Cecil), Susan K. McComas (R-Harford) and Chris Tomlinson (R-Frederick and Carroll) – who signed on as co-sponsors of the previous version from the governor, asked to have their names removed from the amended bill, which opposed. Some of the proposals in the original bill included a four-year pause in the phase-in of collaborative time for teachers, a freeze in funding for community schools located in low-income neighborhoods and a lower increase in per pupil funding. Atterbeary's committee and the Appropriations Committee amended the governor's bill to restore funding to community schools and to reduce the four-year delay in collaborative time to a one-year pause to give the state's 24 school systems time to prepare for a fiscal 2027. The House did keep language from the governor's version that would allow for the state Department of Education to establish a national teacher recruitment campaign to start in July and end by July 1, 2029. It also kept a $2,000 relocation grant that would be provided to 'incentivize an out-of-state licensed teacher to move to the state,' in an effort to reduce the teacher shortage and the number of conditionally licensed teachers. Administration officials defended their position during a joint hearing last month, saying it would be impractical to institute the increase in collaborative time next school year because it would require the hiring of at least 12,000 teachers at a time when the state and nation face a teacher shortage. The administration's proposal sought to hold community school at current levels for the next two years, instead of allowing it to increase as the Blueprint calls for. On the House floor Tuesday, a few Republicans said the Blueprint plan is a vehicle the state can't afford right now. 'If this is the Mercedes of education C class, it feels a little bit more like a Pinto that we're selling for a Mercedes price,' said Del. Lauren Arikan (R-Harford), who voted against the bill. Meanwhile, the Senate's Budget and Taxation Committee — which took part in a joint hearing on the bill last month with the Senate Education, Energy, and the Environment Committee and the two House panels — could vote on the Senate version of the bill this week. Senate Majority Leader Nancy King (D-Montgomery), a member of the Budget and Taxation Committee, has said she supports a pause in collaborative time, especially with the teacher shortage in the state. And Sen. Mary Beth Carozza (R-Lower Shore), a member of the 'Triple-E' Committee, has said the Blueprint needs some restructuring that provides more autonomy to local school systems. Del. Ben Barnes (D-Prince George's and Anne Arundel), who chairs the Appropriations Committee, told reporters Tuesday night he's confident the two chambers will find a solution. 'I think it's because we all share the same values. We want to certainly protect these kids and make sure the funding is there and the policies are there,' he said. 'We'll get to a compromise in the end.' SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
06-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Bill to provide care for laid-off federal workers devolves into partisan feud
House Majority Whip Jazz Lewis (D-Prince George's), left, talks Wednesday about emergency legislation he's sponsoring on behalf of recently laid-off federal workers in Maryland. House Minority Jason Buckel (R-Allegany), right, challenged one part of the measure. (Photo by William J. Ford/Maryland Matters) House debate over a bill that would provide care for laid-off federal workers devolved Wednesday into a partisan squabble over who cares more. The spat came during a debate on House Bill 1424, which would expand the use of two current employee-assistance funds so they could be used for federal workers laid off as the Trump administration rushes to slash the size of government. Republicans in the House were questioning one part of the bill, that would let the attorney general file suit on behalf of laid-off federal workers. The debate was tame to begin, but tensions began to bubble up when Del. Jazz Lewis (D-Prince George's) expressed skepticism of the Republican Party's interest in supporting laid-off workers. 'This bill, ultimately, is about us protecting Marylanders. And to be clear, I hear a lot of concern from the floor leaders – I don't know if this actually reflects the entire position of the minority party — but everything I'm standing up to say … our leadership is standing on, is about protecting our workers, our citizens all across the state,' Lewis said. 'I have not heard you all stand up once to talk about you're going to stand up for the workers in your districts — particularly the federal ones,' said Lewis, the House Majority Whip and lead sponsor of the bill.. His remarks elicited groans from the chamber, and a sharp response from Del. Matthew Morgan (R-St. Mary's). 'We're more than willing to stand up for our citizens here,' Morgan said. 'If the majority whip would like us to talk – let's go.' OPM, OMB memo sets off fresh round of concerns among Maryland Democrats Speaker Pro Tem Dana Stein (D-Baltimore County) reminded Morgan that he had not been recognized to speak, as required, before allowing Morgan to continue. 'Those were disparaging remarks for the minority party in this chamber. We've been talking ad nauseam for five years on the business environment that the majority party has created in this state,' Morgan said. 'We've been lied to consistently – we were told that crime reform, police reform, no cash bail bonds –' At that point, Appropriations Committee Chair Ben Barnes (D-Prince George's and Anne Arundel) interrupted to note that Morgan's comments were 'definitely not on the bill this point.' Morgan tried to argue that he was addressing Lewis' remarks, before Stein stepped back in and gave the floor to Minority Leader Jason Buckel (R-Allegany), who tried to calm things down. 'We're not here to impugn someone's motive,' said Buckel, before steering the debate back to the bill and his amendment that was on the floor at the time. It was an odd argument over a bill that appears to have general support in the House. HB1424 would expand the state's Catastrophic Event Account that is designed to let state agencies respond quickly to a natural disaster, a catastrophe, or a full or partial shutdown of the federal government. It would also effect the Federal Government Shutdown Employee Assistance Loan Fund, a state fund that makes no-interest loans to federal workers in the state who are not being paid because of a federal shutdown. The bill would strike 'shutdown' from the second fund's name and allow state officials to tap those funds to help former federal workers who are in a financial bind because of 'closure, relocation or mass layoff' of the government unit they worked at. It budgets $10 million for the new fund. Lewis' bill is largely in response to recent layoffs in the Trump administration as to works to slash the size of the government. But the bill was amended in committee to expand the authority of the Maryland Attorney General's Office so that it would sue on behalf of federal workers affected by a temporary shutdown or, in the current environment, a mass firing or agency closure. It adds $1.5 million to let the attorney general's office pursue such cases. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX 'We are fighting to protect your constituents and everyone's constituents in the state, regardless of whether they're Eastern Shore, in Southern Maryland, in the far reaches of Western Maryland,' Lewis said on the floor. 'We're fighting with our front foot.' But Buckel challenged the attorney general language on the floor Wednesday. 'We're giving the attorney general the ability to sue on behalf of those people, not on behalf of the state,' Buckel argued. 'The state doesn't have a right to enforce the employment and labor laws of the federal government on behalf of private individuals. 'I'm going to bet money,' he said, 'that if we do this and the attorney general brings a suit, then some court somewhere is going to say, 'No, you can't do that.'' Buckel said the state would be 'wasting $1.5 million to file lawsuits that probably won't go anywhere,' if it retained the attorney general language. Lewis insisted the bill gives the attorney general the 'ability to fight on behalf of our workers.' Once things calmed down after the partisan hubbub, Buckel's amendment failed 97-39. HB 1424 is not currently scheduled for a final floor vote until next week. Prior to Wednesday's floor debate, Lewis said the bill is a step to ease the burden of Maryland's federal workers in the face of mass layoffs being executed by the Trump administration. 'I just don't understand the cruelty in the mindset of these people,' Lewis said of the administration. 'But we have brought forward legislation to try to stand up for federal workers and show them that we appreciate their service, that we want them to stay in Maryland. 'While we can't respond to everything that the federal government does, we're going to do what we can to try to help these folks,' Lewis said. – Maryland Matters reporter Jack Bowman contributed to this report.
