About Strong Schools Maryland
Our History
Since our inception in 2017, Strong Schools Maryland has built a sprawling network of tens of thousands of individual grassroots supporters focused on securing the 2020 passage and 2021 veto override of the Blueprint for Maryland's Future, a law dedicating financial resources and critical policies to create a world-class system of public education in the state.
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Now that the Blueprint is law, Strong Schools Maryland has shifted its mission to continue working with supporters across the state to monitor the implementation of the law; advocate for legislative and regulatory policy changes to further educational equity; and build the technical capacity of everyday Marylanders to hold state and local officials accountable to their responsibilities.
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Our Theory of Change
Strong Schools Maryland believes that by building power with and ensuring the technical capacity of Marylanders who share our values, we will create a statewide movement that outlives the organization, champions equitable investment in public schools, accountability for power structures that impact public education, and equips individual leaders with the networks and experiences necessary to successfully advocate for themselves, their students, and their school communities in the long-term.
Our Vision
We envision a Maryland that leads the nation in achieving equitable student outcomes, the equitable funding of public schools, and empowered stakeholder engagement.
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Our Mission
We advocate, build power, and share resources with invested Maryland residents to co-create strong public schools that produce graduates equipped to thrive.
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Our Core Values
Justice: We believe the systems impacting our state’s students must treat them justly so they can thrive. All energy spent preserving injustice within these systems is wasted, at a direct cost to students, their school communities, and society at large.
Lifelong Learning: We believe that curiosity drives growth, creates possibilities, and keeps us humbly accountable to our other core values as we gain new experiences and proficiencies. When presented with recurring obstacles, we don’t despair; we look for what we can learn.
Civic Engagement: We believe directly impacted communities contain the power necessary to check powerful, seemingly faceless systems and create positive change. We also know that goalposts shift, and work to ensure the power of people is felt at appropriate levels of influence.
Collective Impact: We believe in the power of connected people. When we are together, sharing values, goals, and knowledge, we have all we need.