The Blueprint for Maryland’s Future Accountability and Implementation Board held its Thursday meeting virtually. Screenshot from AIB video.
The board overseeing implementation of the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future Education Reform Plan approved the first two local school district plans Thursday, capping months of evaluating districts’ progress.
The Accountability and Implementation Board (AIB) on Thursday approved plans from Garrett and St. Mary’s County Public Schools. These two districts were the only ones given the honor of checking all the boxes on a blueprint reviewed Thursday that outlined the counties’ progress on various parts of their plans.
By approving the plans for these two counties, the board can release 25% of the Blueprint funds that were withheld from the current fiscal year budget.
“We all know that the plans are not just about writing a plan,” says AIB director Rachel Hise. “It’s really thinking and thinking about how things are going, what’s already happening and what needs to be done differently to achieve the Blueprint Goals.”
The board, its staff and the Ministry of Education have spent the past several months reviewing the provinces’ plans, which were submitted in March to outline the challenges to implementing the submitted plan, and follow-up documents submitted two months later. The work will continue through fiscal year 2027.
Documents from the Garrett and St. Mary’s school districts also include literacy plans to improve student achievement, updates on career guidance activities at middle and high schools, and confirmation that teachers received a 10% salary increase between fiscal years 2019 and 2024. Salary increases are part of a state law requirement for teachers in all 24 school districts to be paid an annual salary of at least $60,000 by July 1, 2026.
The remaining 22 school districts have until November 12 to submit updated revisions to Blueprint and department staff for review. If no school district plans are approved at the Nov. 21 board meeting, a written notice will be issued to local school officials to submit updates by Jan. 16. These plans will be reviewed at the board’s scheduled meeting on January 30.
Counties whose Blueprint plans are not approved by February 1 will be allowed to appeal the decision, which will mean AIB Blueprint funding.
According to the blueprint map cited Thursday, all districts have completed work on most parts of their plans.
Future revisions are needed for 15 school districts to explain how they would assess budget strategies to implement their blueprint plans. Board staff are also reviewing career ladder plans recently submitted by officials in Anne Arundel, Charles, Prince George’s, Queen Anne’s and Somerset.
Blueprint board member Joseph Manko, education program director at the Abell Foundation, asked if there was any current information available on teacher retention. But Hise said a few more years of data are needed to measure how the state is doing.
The department released a teacher workforce report this year that included teacher retention. According to that report, teachers with less than three years of experience were most likely to leave the profession between 2020 and 2024.
The report also highlighted teachers who have received National Board Certification, a designation given to them as “accomplished,” or experts in a particular field. The state has designated more than 1,200 as National Board Certified.
The report notes that more than 3,000 teachers registered last school year to receive “reimbursement assistance” to pursue certification. Once certified, the Blueprint allows them to qualify for a $10,000 pay increase, with an additional $7,000 for those teaching at an “identified low-performing school.”
“The logic flows from the fact that if you have more teachers who have achieved National Board Certification or gone through the national board process, those teachers are less likely to leave the profession,” Manko said.
