The Worksheet • May 2023
Welcome to Strong Schools Maryland's monthly newsletter, The Worksheet.
Join us here, in your inbox, every month for news and updates about what's happening in the work of building World Class Schools in Maryland.
Strong Schools Maryland is proud to announce the release of our 2023 End of Session report.
This year, we had some big wins 🏆; Bills we supported like the FY24 budget, which secured almost one billion dollars in additional public school funding and the Serving Every Region Through Vocational Exploration (SERVE) Act of 2023 which will create new opportunities for career and technical education and fair-paying, in-demand work for thousands of Marylanders each year.
BREAKING NEWS
Last week, we joined hundreds of families, students, and teachers in Harford County who are rallying against the Harford County Executive's illegal budget that defunds public schools without meeting the state's maintenance of effort requirements.
Read more about that here, and take action by contacting the Harford County Executive and County Council here.
WELCOME JAMAL TURNER!
Jamal Turner has Joined Strong Schools Maryland as our new Teams of Ten Organizer. Jamal has been an education organizer in Baltimore for a number of years with The Nolita Project and Baltimoreans for Educational Equity (BEE).
Say "Hi" to Jamal when you see him, and reach out to him to get your Team of Ten up and running!
TEAM LEADER SPOTLIGHT
It is local budget season and one of our Worcester County Team Leaders, Joan Roche, shared how her team is using op-eds to advocate for a fully-funded local education budget. Joan’s team has signed up each week to be featured in their local newspapers and their efforts continue to ensure that education funding stays top-of-mind for Worcester County.
Thank you Joan and the Worcester County Team for your continued work to advocate for our future 🎉
🫱🏿🫲🏻 GET INVOLVED
Have you joined one of our Outcome Measures Workshops yet? We want to see you at our next event on Thursday May 18th. RSVP Here.
(And if you can't make it to the workshops please let us know more about your schedule here: https://forms.gle/R2SkWncJ4LNsRB1q7)
🥳 Upcoming Events
The AIB will have their regularly scheduled monthly meeting tomorrow, May 11 @ 3:00pm.
🪧 Start or Join a Team of 10
In 2020, people like you stood up, spoke out, and passed the Blueprint for Maryland's Future.
In 2023, we want you to help us make sure that Maryland lawmakers #KeepThePromise of World Class Schools: Sign up here to start or join a Team of 10 in your county – we're going to need all the help we can get.
As we wrap up this month, we wanted to let you know that we're gearing up for our 2023 Tour for Maryland's Future!
We want to see you and talk with you about our plans for 2024, and maybe share a burger and a frosty glass of iced tea 🍻, but we'll need your help to get there – please consider making a contribution today to fund the work we do and keep us out on the road this summer!
And please forward this to a friend, neighbor, or co-worker who wants to get the latest on the Blueprint in their inbox.
For the Future,
Strong Schools Maryland