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Washington College President Michael Sosulski Steps Down

July 8, 2025 by Washington College News Service

Washington College announced Monday that President Michael J. Sosulski will step down later this summer to become president of Lake Forest College in Lake Forest, Illinois. Sosulski will continue to serve through July. Trustee emeritus and former Board Chair Steve Golding ’72 will assume the role of provisional Chief Operating Officer while the Board of Visitors and Governors finalizes interim leadership plans and prepares for a national search for Sosulski’s successor.

Sosulski was appointed as the College’s 31st president in the summer of 2021, arriving at a pivotal moment. Like many small liberal arts colleges, Washington faced a challenging financial landscape, including an $11 million deficit. Under Sosulski’s leadership, the College worked to stabilize its finances and revitalize enrollment through improved recruitment and marketing strategies. Since 2021, applications have risen by 120%, and the College’s endowment has reached an all-time high of more than $330 million.

Sosulski’s tenure leaves a considerable imprint on the institution. In 2022, the College invested $20 million in first-year residence hall renovations and campus-wide Wi-Fi upgrades. Other notable campus improvement projects include the redesign of the Owings Library Terrace and student-inspired renovations to the Western Shore residence halls. The College also began the process of removing three outdated residence halls—Dorchester, Cecil, and Talbot—to make way for the new home of the Warehime School of Global Business, Economics, and Social Impact. Funded by a $15 million gift from Beth Warehime Rizakos ’13—the largest single donation from an individual in the College’s history—the facility is scheduled to open in January 2028.

In 2023, Washington College received a $54.7 million gift from the Hodson Trust, significantly enhancing its ability to make a college education more accessible and affordable to students from diverse backgrounds.

Sosulski also oversaw the launch of the Innovation Plant, an entrepreneurship center that will be located at 800 High Street in one of the former Dixon Valve Company warehouse buildings. The project—currently in the design phase—has secured approximately $5 million in public and private support. Once completed, the Innovation Plant will support both Washington College students and local entrepreneurs in launching and growing businesses on the Eastern Shore.

Other key initiatives during Sosulski’s presidency include:

Launching the Washington College Principles of Free Expressionto foster open dialogue and debate;
Reinvigorating alumni relations with initiatives such as a fall homecoming and the relaunch of Washington College Magazine;
Introducing a sophomore-year experience to boost student retention;
Strengthening civic engagement through the creation of the Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. Director of Civic Engagementrole; and
Expanding athletics by adding men’s and women’s golf teams and reinstating cross country and track and field.

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7Sage and Talbot Mentors Team Up to Help Navigate the Journey to College

June 20, 2025 by Matt LaMotte

Jennifer Kott is a College Success Manager at Talbot Mentors and a consultant for 7Sage, an admissions consulting group specializing in college preparation and law school admissions. Jennifer’s focus is on advising applicants how to maximize their chances for admission to the college or university of their choice.

“These days, the college admissions process has completely changed from the way it was when we were applying,” stated Kott. “Technology platforms have become both good and bad. But, once you figure out who you are and what you want, when you find the right fit, you’ll know it. There’s a college out there for every student. It’s just a long, arduous process.”

In Kott’s experience, students from first-generation, low-income, and demographically diverse backgrounds, with the right planning, guidance, and support, can sometimes qualify for admission to a more competitive college than they think. In recent years, students enrolled in Talbot Scholars program have attended Dartmouth College, Washington College, Towson University, American University, and the University of Maryland-College Park.

Jennifer Kott,

One area where parents and advisors can help is in prioritizing what’s most important to the student. “The best advice I can give to families is, first and foremost, get your student to take ownership of the process,” said Kott. “The primary role of parents and college advisors is to be a sounding board, to provide support and encouragement. Students and parents are consumers. Are the colleges you’re interested in responsive to you?”

Factors such as location, culture and community, academic focus, class size, career opportunities and cost – including financial aid – are all important. Kott suggests that the process needs to begin as soon as the student enters high school. “GPA trends over all four years are important. SAT, ACT and AP scores, if required, are not as important as before, but an improving trend in scores, as well as grades, always helps,” she said.

Kott also recommends that “Every student needs to come up with a checklist of ‘What does my favorite college look like?’ “The National Association of College Admissions Counselors (NACAC) website is a very good starting place. Additionally, numerous college fairs are attended by many colleges and universities. Here’s where parents need to let the student take the lead and get to know the colleges they’re interested in attending,” she explained.

Critical to a successful college admissions process is the student’s individual essay. “A clean, clear, persuasive, big-hearted story reflecting the best version of oneself is vital to setting yourself apart from others in a crowded applicant pool. This is where having a good mentor, advisor or consultant is so helpful,” stated Kott.

She also thinks that is where lower-income, first-generation applicants can gain an advantage. “This is what we do at Talbot Scholars as well as 7Sage. Developing a student’s ‘soft skills’, such as writing, researching, and volunteering – both at school and in the community – is essential.”

While these elements are important, what really matters to many colleges and universities is that the applicant demonstrates engagement in their community and school. “Showcasing initiative, leadership, adaptability, and accountability are all important factors,” said Kott. “For example, having a part-time job demonstrates your work ethic.”

Kott believes there’s a college out there for every person who chooses to apply. Every student should have at least one reach (a college that is hard to get into) and one safe (a college that is easy to get into) college on their preferred list. “Education is a process, not an end in itself,” she noted. “There are numerous quality colleges that offer unique majors, internships, work-study programs, as well as learning centres that offer writing, math or other specialized assistance.”

Finally, college applicants should not rely merely on brochures and other promotional material provided by college admissions offices to attract applicants; campus visits are essential. “Parents should make sure their student takes the lead in contacting the Admissions Office and arranging a tour. Once you’ve done that, you’ll know if it’s the right fit!”

For more specific information, you can visit the the Talbot Mentors website here

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University Regents Approve Fiscal 2026 Budget that Cuts Spending, Raises Tuition and Fees

June 17, 2025 by Maryland Matters

The University System of Maryland’s Board of Regents voted Friday to approve a fiscal 2026 budget that is 7% smaller than last year’s allocation, as well as tuition increases of up to 5% and fee hikes up to 10%.

The almost $8 billion budget, already approved by Gov. Wes Moore and the General Assembly, will trim operating costs while aiming to increase revenue to make up for $155 million in reduced funding. These reductions follow an almost 4% cut to the University System last year.

“At this extraordinary time, our universities must make some difficult decisions as they close their budget gaps,” University System Chancellor Jay Perman said Friday.

On Thursday, Perman took the unusual step of sending a video message to more than 40,000 faculty and staff members across the system, apologizing for the coming budget cuts but telling staff to brace for them. He replayed that video for the board on Friday.

While university administrators will first seek to generate new revenue and will protect employees from cuts as much as possible, the “sheer size of the cut we’re absorbing means that, for some universities, personnel actions cannot be taken off the table,” Perman said in the video.

At their previous meeting in May, the regents approved a resolution that allows presidents of individual campuses to implement furloughs and temporary salary reductions as part of their budget plans.

Senior Vice Chancellor for Administration and Finance Ellen Herbst said 60% of the system’s operating costs are personnel-related. Two-thirds of the system’s employees are funded by state support, Herbst said, while about a quarter are funded by federal grants and contracts.

She said though universities are looking to low-impact actions to address personnel costs first, such as eliminating vacancies and allowing “natural attrition” to reduce payrolls, those actions alone may not be enough.

“We will take these actions with great care, but we will need to take some further actions,” Herbst said. “We cannot address the shortfall in state funding without addressing personnel costs.”

Patrick Moran, president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Maryland Council 3, which represents more than 6,000 University System employees, said the union and system need to work together to defend their shared values and protect employees as they face “very real and critical threats.” Moran said the system must evaluate its use of costly vendors, reduce reliance on contractual employees, and listen to feedback from staff on how things can be better run.

“All of these things can be done before deciding to make devastating cuts to your personnel, especially those on the front lines,” he said.

Katherine Wasdin, a representative of the University of Maryland, College Park’s American Association of University Professors chapter, expressed the importance of shared governance as the system makes its budget decisions.

“Faculty and university senates must be involved in making these difficult budgetary decisions, as well as in how to respond to changing federal policies on education and research,” Wasdin, an associate professor of classics, said. “It is thus imperative that all parts of the USM system promote the involvement of faculty in university management, rather than trying to thwart it.”

Under the budget plan, the University System will receive 29% of its funding from state appropriations, while 27% will come from tuition and fees. The next largest contribution comes from restricted funds, which consist mostly of federal contracts and grants, and will cover about 24% of the budget.

In addition to the reduction in state funding, the system estimates that the federal government’s significant cuts to research grants and contracts could cost up to $150 million across its campuses, Herbst said.

To increase revenue to offset the losses in funding, tuition will increase across the system by 2-4% for in-state residents. The University of Maryland, College Park will see the highest increase at 4%, while the rest will see increases of 3% or less.

Tuition for nonresident undergrads will increase by 5% at Towson and UMBC, and 2% at the system’s other institutions.

Student fees, such as housing, dining and parking, will see bigger increases. Housing will see increases from 2% at Towson to 10% at Bowie State University, while board fee increases range from 2.2% at Salisbury University to 10.5% at College Park.

Bowie State University and the College Park campus will also raise parking fees by 3.8% and 5%, respectively.

The regents also voted Friday to approve extending the University of Maryland Global Campus’s contract with UMGC Ventures, the university’s former in-house information technology services unit which it turned into an independent business.

The online university will spend $69 million on the 18-month contract extension while it works to reintegrate Ventures and AccelerEd, a subsidiary of Ventures, back into the university. The reintegration comes after an August 2024 audit from the state’s Office of Legislative Audits that found the spin-offs were too costly and appeared to bypass the school’s normal procedures.

Herbst said that staff across the University System are continuously drawing up contingency plans for budget scenarios they could face later in the year, such as lower-than-expected enrollment, further federal funding cuts or change to eligibility for federal financial aid.

Pell Grants, the system’s largest source of financial aid, covered more than $204 million in aid for about 45,000 students in fiscal 2024. More than 58,000 students in total received some form of federal student aid, Herbst added, and any significant eligibility changes could potentially impact enrollment numbers.

“All we know for sure about budgets is they’re simply a plan, and then the year starts and we have to actually manage,” she said. “This year will probably prove to be more challenging than many.”

by Sam Gauntt, Maryland Matters
June 13, 2025

Maryland Matters is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Maryland Matters maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Steve Crane for questions: [email protected].

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‘Blueprint’ Bill That Avoids Some of the Most Severe Education Cuts is Signed into Law

May 7, 2025 by Maryland Matters

Even as changes to the state’s education reform act were being signed into law Tuesday, state officials and advocates were already talking about changes they want to see next in the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future.

The debate over House Bill 504 – the Excellence in Maryland Public Schools Act – was among the sharpest in the 2025 General Assembly session, with the governor and lawmakers, particularly the House, split over changes to the expensive plan that were needed as the state grappled with a $3 billion budget deficit.

But Gov. Wes Moore (D) on Tuesday, standing next to Senate President Bill Ferguson (D-Baltimore City) and House Speaker Adrienne Jones (D-Baltimore County), thanked them, several lawmakers and education officials for their work on the bill, which passed on the last day of the 90-day session last month.

“While this legislation is an important step forward, it cannot be the last step that we take on education,” Moore said at Tuesday’s bill signing ceremony. “While we refine our strategy to ensure we aren’t just spending more, but that we’re spending smart, I will continue to use every option available to me as governor to improve our schools and deliver for our students.”

The final bill did not contain some of the deepest cuts that were offered to try rein in spending on the 10-year, multibillion-dollar Blueprint plan. But it also did not include some of the flexibility for local schools boards that some administrators had been pushing for.

State Board of Education President Joshua Michael, who attended the bill signing ceremony, said the governor and legislature helped to improve the Blueprint plan through their negotiations. But Michael said it would have helped if they had included funding for a teacher coaching program, a recommendation made by a nonprofit’s report last month on reading.

“We’re pleased that the legislature authorized the program, but we need resources,” Michael said. “We’re going to continue to press forward with the tools that we have around the literacy policy and the math policy, and we’re going to work with the legislature and the governor to see what we can do in the future.”

Moore in January proposed a Blueprint reform plan that called for a four-year pause in the expansion of teacher “collaborative time” – hours when teachers are not in the classroom but are planning for meeting. State education leaders have said at least 12,000 new teachers would have to be hired to fully implement collaborative time. The governor also proposed a decrease in funding for special education, low-income and English language learners, and keeping funding for community schools – those that receive concentration of poverty grants – at current levels for two years.

Lawmakers pushed back hard against reductions in funding that would affect those students in most need. Legislators were ultimately able to preserve most of the funding for students in need, and advocates praised lawmakers like Del. Vanessa Atterbeary (D-Howard) for not backing down over funding for underserved students.

Atterbeary, who chairs the House Ways and Means Committee that assesses education policy, said Tuesday the legislature may need to assess education funding in the near future, especially “with the climate” in the federal government led by President Donald Trump (R).

“Why should we say to our most underserved communities, to our minority communities that at the national level when our president is saying, ‘We don’t care about you,’ and WE’RE going to double down and cut their funding. No. Absolutely not,” said Atterbeary, who didn’t attend Tuesday’s ceremony.

“I couldn’t do that as a mother. I couldn’t do that as a woman. I couldn’t do that as an African American and I absolutely couldn’t do it as a legislator,” she said. “Ultimately, the legislation in terms of that aspect passed as we wanted.”

‘Give faith’

Advocates such as Riya Gupta remain pleased the Blueprint bill passed, but she said more money is needed for mental health, behavioral and other wraparound services for students in the upcoming 2025-26 school year.

Under the Consortium on Coordinated Supports, which is part of the Blueprint plan, the governor proposed to fund those services at $130 million for next fiscal year. The House proposed just $40 million, but ultimately Senate language was adopted that allocated $70 million next year and $100 million a year thereafter.

Gupta, interim director for the advocacy group Strong Schools Maryland, which focuses on protecting the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future, said Monday that the state cannot make a habit of analyzing Blueprint funding, as it did this year.

She also said parents, students, advocates and community leaders should be given ample opportunities to become involved in any policy discussions for next year’s legislative session.

“We have to bring them to the table,” she said. “We have to give the faith to listen to their ideas that are also in line with the vision of the Blueprint.”

Sen. Mary Beth Carozza (R-Lower Shore), who voted against the bill last month, agrees more local input is needed. Carozza said she will continue to push for recommendations offered in December by a superintendent’s association.

Several of the association’s proposals became legislation sponsored by Sen. Karen Lewis Young (D-Frederick), and later amendments offered by Carozza, but none of the proposals advanced beyond a Senate committee.

“There were too many missed opportunities to do more on Blueprint revisions and to give our local school systems the flexibility they need…” Carozza said Monday.

Carozza and other Republican lawmakers expressed concerns about future funding for the multibillion-dollar plan, now in its third year. Some have said future budgets will not only affect school systems, but also county governments, which may not be able to pay for increases in transportation, special education or other programs.

Although the Blueprint is funded in the next two years, the subsequent years are slated to shift to the state’s general fund with projected deficits up to $3 billion by fiscal 2030.

“Which translates to new and even bigger taxes,” Carozza said. “We cannot move forward with the Blueprint by doing major cost shifts to the counties.”

by William J. Ford, Maryland Matters
May 7, 2025

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Nonprofit’s report calls for broad-based approach to improving reading scores

April 16, 2025 by Maryland Matters

Alice Tickler tries to stay positive when it comes to educating young children, but the longtime teacher admits there are some things that can make it hard — and it’s not anything the students do.

Things like the legislature’s failure to fund a training program, specifically for reading and math teachers. As a teacher for 28 years, she’s seen the benefits of what educators call a “coaching program.”

“Seeing other teachers in action, having a mentor teacher that knows how to teach reading alongside of you or coaching you, that’s huge,” said Tickler, a first-grade teacher in Queen Anne’s County public schools. “That coaching model would really benefit teachers.”

Tickler’s comments echo recommendations in a report being released Tuesday morning by Maryland READS, a nonprofit focused on the improvement of reading instruction. Providing consistent funding for teachers is just one of the recommendations in “The State of Reading in Maryland 2025: It’s Time for a Comeback after a Decade of Decline.”

While the General Assembly approved the Excellence in Maryland Public Schools Act last week without funding for a training program, it did approve funding for a national teacher recruitment campaign and a $2,000 relocation grant to “incentivize an out-of-state licensed teacher to move to the state.”

The report’s not all about funding, however, and acknowledges the state’s financial difficulties. Similar to a report produced last year, Tuesday’s document outlines recommendations to improve literacy, such as businesses providing employees time to serve as local tutors, and state and local leaders organizing town halls on digital education for families.

Because of the state’s fiscal challenges, the report suggests philanthropists provide financial and other resources to help create “thriving, reading ecosystems.”

According to the report, per pupil spending increased by 37% since 2013 through last year. During that time, National Assessment of Educational Progress math scores have constantly declined.

“Everything the state has done to put a system of support in place … gives us hope,” Trish Brennan-Gac, executive director of Maryland READS, said in an interview. “But I think the legislature needs to get on board a little bit more and trust her [State Superintendent Carey Wright] leadership because she has a proven track record, and I don’t think they did that this time around.”

‘Make sure children can read’

Tuesday’s document notes a report last year from the National Council on Teacher Quality. It gave Maryland and 19 other states an overall “moderate” rating on teacher training programs based on five policy actions to strengthen implementation of the “science of reading,” which Wright utilized as public schools leader in Mississippi and pushed to incorporate in Maryland.

The council gave three ratings – strong, moderate and weak – not only for the total assessment of training programs, but also separate reviews of each policy action. On the policy statement, “Reviews teacher-preparation programs to ensure they teach the Science of Reading,” Maryland received a “weak” rating.

Maryland READS recommends the state Department of Education “should immediately exercise authority, including limiting grants and contracts, and hold Maryland teacher preparation programs accountable for aligning to Science of Reading by 2028.”

According to the report, what will help teachers with literacy instruction is an agreement the department made last year to implement a four-year, $6.8 million grant from the nonprofit Ibis Group of Washington, D.C.

About $5.3 million of that grant will be used for free online training in the science of reading for at least 30,000 paraprofessionals, teachers and other staff. The remaining $1.5 million would be for Johns Hopkins University and the department to research the impact of teacher efficacy, teacher background knowledge and literacy.

But Brennan-Gac said additional and consistent support is needed.

“Having a coach in the classroom actually helps the teacher change their practice,” Brennan-Gac said. “While it’s wonderful that we’ve brought these training programs into the state, [but] if they don’t get the coaching, we’re not really leveraging that wonderful resource we have and this whole movement that we’re doing.”

Some other recommendations from the report to improve literacy include:

Starting July 1, the department should collaborate with educators and organizations to begin work on drafting an adolescent literacy policy;The legislature should tie future funding to data related to proficiency rates at community schools, those that receive high concentration of poverty grants which provide a variety of wraparound and other services; andState, local and community leaders should educate parents and guardians on limiting the use of electronic devices for their children.

“We should do everything that we can to make sure that our children can read,” said Tickler, who serves on a statewide teacher advisory council created by the department this year. “We don’t want our children to enter that pipeline that takes them to jail or drugs. We want our kids to be successful and we want our kids to be literate.”

by William J. Ford, Maryland Matters
April 15, 2025

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Maryland faces $418 million ‘catastrophic’ loss in pandemic-era relief funds

April 1, 2025 by Maryland Matters

The U.S. Department of Education told states Friday that it was canceling previous approvals to spend down remaining COVID-19 recovery funds, a change that could mean $418 million to the Maryland Department of Education.

The change was announced in a letter from U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon that was dated Friday at 5 p.m., and said the decision to cancel the pandemic funding was effective — Friday at 5 p.m.

“Shock does not begin to describe our reaction when we received the notification late Friday evening,” Maryland State Superintendent Carey Wright said Monday. “This jeopardizes over $400 million in funding.”

Wright called the federal agency’s decision “catastrophic,” noting that the money has already been spent or at least committed to the state’s 24 school systems. She said the money is being used for tutoring, reading materials, after-school programming, even some construction projects such as repairs for heating and air conditioning units, among others.

State officials said about $305.2 million has already been spent but not reimbursed by the federal department. Another $112.8 million is in “encumbered” funds not paid out by the state, which means school systems must immediately stop any ongoing work on capital projects, or educational programs.

“It may be a tutoring program that’s going on right now in schools that was intended to go through this school year, or it might be an improvement to a health room in a school,” said state Board of Education President Joshua Michael. “There’s going to be significant disruption.”

Officials said it remains unclear if the state would need to cover costs for ongoing programs, or if the local school systems may have to return any money already spent.

“The federal government is breaking the trust that it has once held strong with states across America,” Michael said.

School officials said they are consulting with the Office of the Attorney General on the possibility of filing suit against the federal department.

“I think it’s fair to say that we are exploring all legal options at this time given the severity of this action,” Michael said.

He said the majority of the money comes from the American Rescue Plan’s Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief, or ARP ESSER, program.

The state last year requested and received approval for an extension on how it would draw down the ESSER funds it had left over. Wright said the state sought extensions because of supply chain issues and construction delays.

The approval was given before a Jan. 28 deadline set by former President Joe Biden (D) before he left office that month. But in her letter Friday, McMahon dismissed the approvals by the previous administration.

“The extension approval was issued recently, so any reliance interests developed are minimal,” McMahon wrote. “Moreover, an agency may reconsider its prior decision. So you could not rely on the Department adhering to its original decision. That is especially true because the extension was a matter of administrative grace.”

She said that extending deadlines to allocate “COVID-related grants … years after the COVID pandemic ended is not consistent with the Department’s priorities and thus not a worthwhile exercise of its discretion.”

But McMahon also wrote the department would reconsider funding for states if the could explain “how a particular project’s extension is necessary to mitigate the effects of COVID on American students’ education, and why the Department should exercise its discretion to grant your request.”

Wright said ending the program at 5 p.m. Friday and offering to consider appeals from states “seemed to be contradictory,” but she said her department plans to send a letter to justify why money for Maryland is necessary.

A U.S. department spokesperson said that specific projects would be assessed if funds are used directly to mitigate the effects of COVID-19.

“COVID is over. States and school districts can no longer claim they are spending their emergency pandemic funds on ‘COVID relief’ when there are numerous documented examples of misuse,” said Madi Biedermann in a statement Monday afternoon.

“The Biden Administration established an irresponsible precedent by extending the deadline for spending the COVID money far beyond the intended purpose of the funds, and it is past time for the money to be returned to the people’s bank account,” Biedermann’s statement said.

In part because of the Education Department’s decision, the Maryland Senate approved an amendment to a budget bill Monday that would require the governor’s budget team to track federal cuts and, if they hit $1 billion, recommend state spending cuts to the General Assembly’s Legislative Policy Committee.

“If we have a $1 billion problem from combined actions by the federal government, we would begin a process of review through our policy committee, and work with the governor to come up with solutions,” said Sen. Guy Guzzone (D-Howard), chair of the Budget and Taxation Committee. “We have to be wide-eyed open about what could be happening because it is happening.”

Sen. Chris West (R-Baltimore and Carroll) asked if any recommendations that may come from the policy committee would be for the legislature next year.

“Could very well be,” Guzzone said.

by William J. Ford, Maryland Matters
March 31, 2025

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MD Senate Panel’s vote on Blueprint bill straddles House, Administration Versions

March 22, 2025 by Maryland Matters

Senate Budget and Taxation Committee voted Friday for amendments to the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future that splits the difference between House and administration versions. (Photo by William J. Ford/Maryland Matters

A Senate committee advanced parts of Maryland’s sweeping education reform plan Friday, splitting the difference between versions of the bill advanced by the House and the Moore administration and setting up a showdown in the waning days of the legislature.

The Senate Budget and Taxation Committee approved a four-year pause in the start of funding for teacher “collaborative time” — something the administration supports — but also voted to keep funding for community schools — something the House insisted on.

Senate Bill 429 still needs to be taken up by a second Senate panel, the Education, Energy and the Environment Committee, which is scheduled for Monday. That gives lawmakers just two weeks to approve a Senate bill and hammer out differences with the House before the April 7 end of the General Assembly session.

The so-called “Excellence in Maryland Public Schools Act” was sparked by the state’s fiscal crisis and by the repeated call from local school officials for flexibility in the implementation of the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future, the sweeping 10-year, multibillion-dollar education reform plan.

Gov. Wes Moore introduced a bill that keeps the goals of the plan largely intact, but delays funding and implementation of some portions.

One portion is the proposal for an increase in teacher “collaborative time,” or time that teachers spend on planning, training and working with individual students, as opposed to time in front of a classroom. The Blueprint calls for teachers’ classroom time to be cut from 80% of their day to 60%; the administration bill would delay the start of that for four years, in part because it would require the hiring of at least 12,000 new teachers at a time when the state faces a teacher shortage.

The House rejected that plan, and set collaborative time to begin in 2026. But the Senate went with the governor’s version in what Budget and Taxation Committee Chair Guy Guzzone (D-Howard) called a “pacing” of the initiative.

“Whenever you don’t extend the full amount, if, in fact, you want to get to the full amount, by definition, it has to go out further,” Guzzone told reporters after the committee’s vote.

The committee did agree with the House version and rejected the administration’s call for a two-year freeze on funding for community schools, those located in low-income neighborhoods Sen. President Bill Ferguson (D-Baltimore City) has said such a delay would negatively affect students.

The Senate committee also agreed with the House to “hold harmless” funding for multilingual learners, students in poverty and those in special education — exempting those students from any per pupil funding reductions that might come down. The committee on Friday also added students at the Maryland School for the Blind, Maryland School for the Deaf and the SEED School of Maryland.

The committee was more generous than either the House or the administration when it comes to Consortium on Coordinated Community Supports, a part of the Blueprint plan that deals with mental health, behavioral and other wraparound services for students. The House agreed with the governor that it should be cut from $130 million this year to $40 million in fiscal 2026, but senators want to cut the fund to $70 million next year and raise it to $100 million in fiscal 2027 and each year after.

But senators sided with the administration on “foundation” funding, or per pupil spending. Under the Blueprint, it was slated to grow from $8,789 per pupil this year to $9,226 next year, but the administration proposed reducing the growth to $9,063 next year and slowing the pace of growth for several years after. The Senate committee agreed, but the House voted to keep the original Blueprint funding levels.

With an eye toward looming cuts to the federal government, another Senate amendment made Friday would freeze funding increases if federal funds or revenue projections by the state’s Board of Revenues in December decrease by 3.75%.

Senate Majority Leader Nancy King (D-Montgomery), a member of the Budget and Taxation Committee, earlier this week defended delays in Blueprint goals for the time being.

“There’s a lot of good that’s already come out of the Blueprint, and a lot more that is going to come as we go,” King said Tuesday. “I don’t think it would be a bad thing if we just slowed it [collaborative time] down a bit.”

The Senate Education, Energy and the Environment will review, and possibly vote on, the other parts of the bill Monday that deal with teacher programs, initiatives and other incentives before sending it to the full Senate for consideration and then back to the House.

Del. Vanessa Atterbeary (D-Howard), chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, said during a press conference Thursday to announce a framework for the overall fiscal 2026 budget, that negotiations on the Blueprint are ongoing. But Atterbeary said she and Del. Ben Barnes (D-Prince George’s and Anne Arundel), chair of the Appropriations Committee, have made their positions “pretty clear.”

“Where we stand and where the House stands in … protecting those that are most vulnerable, particularly those in community schools,” she said. “So we’ll see what the Senate does, and we’ll link up with them and negotiate that in the days to come.”

By William J. Ford

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House approves Blueprint education bill that rejects most cuts proposed by governor

March 13, 2025 by 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.”

by William J. Ford, Maryland Matters
March 11, 2025

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Wood Foundation awards $100K grant to Radcliffe Creek School

January 24, 2025 by Spy Desk

: RCS student, Hazel Joiner, learning to spell through hands-on, multisensory instruction

Radcliffe Creek School (RCS) was recently awarded a generous grant from the Kathy and Jerry Wood Foundation to support needs-based scholarships for deserving students. The $100k grant award will remove significant financial barriers for area families who struggle to access the school’s individualized educational services, ensuring area children—who have learning differences such as dyslexia, dysgraphia and ADHD—can receive the academic interventions they rely upon to be successful in the classroom.

Each year, more than half of Radcliffe Creek’s student body receives some form of financial aid to attend the School. This year alone, over $526,000 in assistance has been committed to help families in need whose children learn differently. Head of School, Peter Thayer, explained, “Many of our students haven’t succeeded in traditional learning environments and need the small class sizes, daily interventions and customized instruction we provide here at RCS every day. However, accessing our services can be an enormous challenge for area families, who never expected to send their children to a private school. The generosity of the Kathy and Jerry Wood Foundation to provide this substantial support for scholarships will be a life-changing gift for many families. We are profoundly grateful to the Wood Foundation for making a Radcliffe education possible for these children.”

The Kathy and Jerry Wood Foundation, established in 2006, supports youth in attending nonprofit and educational institutions that aid in the intellectual, physical and moral development of American students. Through scholarship support, the foundation works to advance learning throughout the United States.

The foundation, based in Annapolis, Maryland, was also the area Kathy and Jerry Wood called “home.” Before their deaths, Jerry founded the Annapolis Sailing School and together, the couple transformed the school into the largest commercial sailing school in the United States. Later, the Woods established the sailboat show and the powerboat show, revolutionizing the boat show industry. For this work, the couple was credited with helping to shape the modern recreational boating industry and build broad recognition for the City of Annapolis as the “Sailing Capital of America.”

As the only K-8 school on Maryland’s Eastern Shore specialized in educating children with learning differences, Radcliffe Creek School (RCS) continues to stand out as a critical resource for area families. RCS students hail from eight counties, from Prince George’s County in Maryland to Sussex County in Delaware. To learn more about the immersive, individualized education program offered at Radcliffe Creek School, visit www.radcliffecreekschool.org or call 410-778-8150.

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Governor’s education bill slows growth of per pupil funding, worrying advocates

January 23, 2025 by Maryland Matters

A comprehensive education bill unveiled Wednesday by the Moore administration would slow the growth of per pupil spending beginning next year and continuing for the next eight years, raising concerns among advocates and lawmakers.

The reductions begin in fiscal 2026, when the per pupil “foundation” funding was scheduled to grow from $8,789 per student to $9,226; the administration’s bill calls for it to grow next year to $9,063 instead, a reduction in growth of $163 per student.

Instead of growing between 4% and 5% a year for the next eight years, the Excellence in Maryland Public Schools Act calls for growth from 2% to 3% in the same period.

From fiscal years 2034 through 2037, the per pupil amount would increase by 3.5% each year, ultimately reaching $13,259 per pupil.

Still, the slow-down in growth represents an estimated $234 million less for state schools than was originally forecast, said Mary Pat Fannon, executive director of the Public School Superintendents’ Association of Maryland. The revised level of funding “is not a historic investment,” she said.

“Funding matters for student achievement,” Fannon said. “We need to advocate and explain that you do need funding in order to get the outcomes that you’re expecting.”

Del. Ben Barnes (D-Prince George’s and Anne Arundel), chair of the Appropriations Committee, said lawmakers are aware of the change in per pupil spending, which he said will likely cause problems in the House.

“That’s something we’re very aware of. I don’t think you’ll see that coming out of the House. Just put it that way,” Barnes said.

When asked to comment on the revised number, a spokesperson for Gov. Wes Moore (D) pointed to a prepared statement released Tuesday, in which the governor was quoted as saying that the state will still work toward the goals of the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future, the state’s 10-year education reform plan, but that it must do so “while making it fit our current needs and realities in a post-pandemic environment.”

“Through the Excellence in Maryland Public Schools Act, we propose strategic investments designed to lay out the foundation for effective implementation of key components of the Blueprint, including recruiting and supporting educators and building partnerships between schools and communities,” the Tuesday statement said.

The bill, House Bill 504, was just part of the discussion at Wednesday’s briefing on the status of the Blueprint for the House Appropriations and House Ways and Means committees, at a time when the state is struggling with a budget deficit that is projected to be close to $3 billion in fiscal 2026.

Moore has proposed closing that gap with a combination of increased revenues and budget reductions next year, but he and legislative leaders have said the education reform plan is fully funded for the next two years.

One goal of the Blueprint is to increase the teacher pipeline, which is also an element touched on in the administration’s bill.

With more than half of the state’s teachers coming from other states, according to the state Department of Education, one part of the bill calls for an interstate teacher mobility compact, to let Maryland enter into agreements with other states that have comparable licensing standards and accept teaching credentials from those states. The bill also proposes supporting relocation of eligible military spouses.

The state teachers’ union agrees with that part of the plan. Maryland State Education Association Vice President Nikki Woodward said a few states with student populations and curriculums similar to Maryland include Massachusetts, New York and Pennsylvania.

“We unfortunately do not graduate enough students from our education programs across the state,” Woodward said in an interview after the briefing. “This allows for an easier transition for educators to come into the state and immediately begin to receive their licensure, to begin working.”

The bill would allow the department to start a national teacher recruitment campaign “to bring licensed and prospective teachers to the state” that includes up to $2,000 in relocation costs. If approved, that campaign would start July 1 and run through July 2029.

Other provisions

The governor’s proposal is slated to go before the Senate Budget and Taxation and Education, Energy, and the Environment committees. No bill hearing has been scheduled. A joint hearing on the House version before Appropriations and Ways and Means could be held next month.

Some of the other items in the bill include allowing school officials to apply for grants, beginning next year, to fund expanded “collaborative time” for teachers. That is time outside of class that teachers use for training, analyzing student data, identifying students who may need help and spending time, one on one or in groups, to get students back on track.

The Blueprint plan calls for collaborative time to be expanded from the current 20% of a teacher’s workday to 40% within the next eight years. But that proposal has run up against the state’s current teacher shortage: In order to start expanding collaborative time next school year, the state would need up to 15,000 more teachers. The number doesn’t account for the 6,000 current teachers who are conditionally approved.

“The purpose of the grant is to provide funds to establish innovative models that can be replicated for teacher collaboration at the school or local school system level that improve teacher retention and student learning,” according to the bill’s language. Initial awards for the $48 million program would start to be distributed March 1, 2026.

The bill also proposes a school system training program and school leadership academy.

The 12-month training program would be for high-ranking school officials, such as the state and local superintendents and school board chairs and vice chairs.

Some of the work would include reviewing data and other education information from top-performing school systems in this country and others, researching the benefits of high-quality and diverse teachers and implementing career ladders for teachers.

A leadership academy would target those who seek to remain or become school principals or other school-based leaders. This academy would also last 12 months and include work on data-informed instruction, utilize teachers on the career ladder and strategies for peer mentorship.

State Board of Education President Joshua Michael said this week the governor’s proposal would provide a $134 million investment to boost the state’s Grow Your Own teacher initiative. He said Wednesday that initiative will help with the Blueprint plan “to deepen and strengthen our teacher pipeline.”

“We stand deeply committed to the promise and vision of the Blueprint,” Michael said to the House committees. “The Blueprint is truly a once-in-a-generation opportunity and represents our nation’s biggest bet on public education.”

William “Brit” Kirwan, vice chair of the Accountability and Implementation Board that oversees the 10-year Blueprint plan, had a few words for any concerns about its future: “Keep the faith. We’re going to get there.”

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