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A world-class education for every student in Maryland. Co-created by you.
The Blueprint for Maryland's Future (House Bill 1300) became law in the 2021 state legislative session, overriding Governor Hogan's veto of the law after its initial historic passage in the final hours of the shortened 2020 state legislative session. Based largely on the recommendations of the Commission on Innovation on Innovation and Excellence in Education (the Kirwan Commission), the Blueprint offers us just that: a blueprint for a world-class system of public education for all students in Maryland.
It is now up to us to work with state and local partners to co-create our vision for what our schools and communities will look like by the end of the Blueprint's generation-long implementation period and hold them accountable to equitable, faithful implementation efforts to make that vision reality. Current and future generations of young people--our collective future--depend on the choices we make now.
Why does Maryland need the Blueprint?
There are a lot of valid answers to this question. The state was in need of systemically increased and equitably distributed funding for public schools. The disparities in funding adequacy gaps helped drive opportunity gaps and overall outcome declines for wide swaths of student groups across the state. Concentrated poverty in particular, when large numbers of students experiencing poverty are served in one school, made the need clear.
The Kirwan Commission was also charged with creating a series of policy recommendations that would bring the performance of the overall state school system on level ground with the top-performing systems in the world.
We know Maryland's public education system, like most others responding to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, will need restructuring and genuine alignment to successfully meet the unique and complex needs of students and staff.
You can share more of your own reasons why Maryland needs the Blueprint here.
