General Assembly Passes Fix the Fund Act

But it’s not law yet — it still has to pass on the 2018 ballot

(Photo © Stephen Cherry)

Maryland is one step closer to keeping its original promise to put casino gaming revenue toward funding increases for public education. On Friday, the Maryland House of Delegates passed the Fix the Fund Act 130–2, two weeks after the Senate unanimously approved the bill as more than a thousand educators marched in Annapolis.

Ordinarily, a bill like this would go to the governor’s desk for signature into law. But the Fix the Fund Act isn’t legislation — it’s a constitutional amendment — meaning the bill doesn’t go to the governor.

It goes to the voters.

That’s because voters are the only ones who can stop future governors from taking the same budget actions as Gov. O’Malley and Gov. Hogan to re-direct $1.9 billion in Education Trust Fund money away from public schools.

But it’s important to take a step back and remember why Fixing the Fund is such a huge deal for Maryland schools today. According to a state-commissioned study, the average school in Maryland is underfunded by $2 million every single year. That’s funding for more competitive teacher salaries, smaller class sizes, access to early childhood learning, more mental health professionals, living wages for support professionals, career and technology training, and other key elements to quality education that, right now, not all students receive.

Passing the Fix the Fund Act is just the first step in a four-step process to getting our students the resources they need and deserve:

1. January-April 2018: Pass the Fix the Fund Act through the General Assembly ✓
2. April-October 2018: Secure bold Kirwan Commission recommendations for a new state funding formula
3. November 2018: Pass Fix the Fund at the ballot and elect pro-public education candidates — from governor to school board — in the 2018 General Election
4. January-April 2019: Pass the Kirwan Commission recommendations in the 2019 General Assembly session, funded in part by Fix the Fund’s $500 million increase in state education aid

Next Step: Kirwan Commission Recommendations

The Kirwan Commission has been around for a while now. First created in the 2016 General Assembly session, the 25-member group has been slowly studying best educational strategies from around the world and working on an education plan that would bring some of those best practices into Maryland schools.

Months after holding several public listening sessions around the state, the Commission released preliminary policy recommendations in January. There were important victories in that initial report, including:

• A 32% increase in average teacher pay over five years
• Expanding the number of high-poverty schools using the community school model
• Affordable access to public pre-K for all four-year-olds and free access for low-income three-year-olds
• Universal, voluntary access to career and technology education for all 11th and 12th grade students
• Industry-standard staffing ratios for school counselors, psychologists, and social workers

During a listening session in October, educators urge Kirwan Commission to adopt bold school funding plan.

Now, the Commission will resume their work to cost out the recommendations they issued and craft a new education funding formula to invest in those policy ideas. It’s important for educators to be even more engaged in the Commission’s work over the summer to make sure:

1. Good recommendations from the preliminary report make it into the final report;
2. Vital policies that were left out in January, like living wages for ESPs, are also included in the final report; and
3. The current underfunding of our schools is comprehensively addressed by a new state school funding formula.

That agenda is not going to be easy to win. It’s not a slam dunk that the Fix the Fund Act will pass as a constitutional amendment. And it might not matter if we don’t have a governor in office who has the political will to fund the school resources our kids deserve instead of a governor who calls educators “union thugs” for opposing funding cuts. There’s a lot of work ahead of us in 2018 and 2019.

But we cleared the first hurdle. Fix the Fund will be on the ballot. And it’s worth celebrating our activism to this point— including an incredible moment as we marched around the State House two Mondays ago —before taking a deep breath and moving forward to the next step.