ATTN: Local Newsletters/Local websites

SUBJECT: General Assembly 2016 Recap

General Assembly Recap 2016: MSEA’s Positive Agenda

This year, MSEA members made progress on the association’s positive agenda—an agenda that focused on improving public school funding, reducing over-testing and protecting instructional time, and closing opportunity gaps.

Funding

The General Assembly fully funded public education and:

  • Passed legislation to create a new statecommission on education funding which will be tasked with improvingthe state K-12 education funding formula to better support all students, especially those at schools with concentrated poverty. MSEA will have a seat at the table on this commission, ensuring that your voice is heard.
  • Approved more than $340 million for new school construction projects and passed legislation to increase mandatory funding for facilities in districts with expanding enrollment from $20 million a year to $40 million a year.
  • Included $19 million in the budget to help local boards of education cover pension costs.

Less Testing, More Learning

With little support at the start of the 2016 General Assembly session, MSEA members pushed hard with a Less Testing, More Learning agenda and far-reaching proposals that soon gained the bipartisan support of lawmakers. “We didn’t win everything,” said MSEA President Betty Weller, “butwe scored important victories and set the stage for next year by educating legislators and the public about how testing impacts instructional time and student learning.”

Here’s how it came down:

Limiting mandated testing at 2% of annual instructional time

With many students sitting through more than 50 hours of testing annually, there is a real need to set a limit on the appropriate amount of testing. The bill unanimously passed the House, but didn’t get a vote in the Senate. Critics want to see the testing commission recommendations due in June before considering a legislative solution.

Changing the Kindergarten Readiness Assessment to a sample test

A great win for our youngest students and their teachers who can now begin the school year by focusing on creating a positive and supportive learning environment rather than testing.

Annual public disclosure of testing schedules

In a win for transparency, now school districts must disclose all mandated tests and how much time they take away from instructional time each year.

PARCC in teacher and principal evaluations

With the end this school year of the state’s moratorium on using PARCC test scores in teacher evaluations, MSEA tried to halt the state’s ability to mandate district use of scores in evaluations. This legislation didn’t move, so MSEA is taking its fight to MSDE to keep them from usurping local control and applying the mandate across the state.

Closing Opportunity Gaps

The legislature included funding initiatives specifically directed at evidence-based solutions for helping low-income students overcome socioeconomic barriers to learning. While this year’s actions aren’t a silver bullet, they do show promise as Maryland addresses a growing child poverty problem.

Public Pre–K

The legislature took another step to a stronger pre–K program this session and expanded funding by $7 million to qualify for federal matching funds. Pre–K programs will reach an additional 1,500 children.

After–school programs and community school strategies

Educators worked with legislators to pass a bill to allocate $7.5 million a year for after-school programs and community school strategies in districts with majority low-income student populations.The promising model of community schools will continue to be a priority for MSEA.

Learn more in the June issue of ActionLine.