Proposed cuts to the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future are inviting pushback from advocates for the landmark education reform package.

Gov. Wes Moore recently recommended hitting the brakes on Blueprint funding as the state grapples with how to afford the multi-billion-dollar plan and avoid a budget deficit. Additionally, the Blueprint Accountability and Implementation Board (AIB) earlier this month voted to adjust the amount of teacher collaborative time prescribed in the Blueprint, due to a shortage of certified teachers.

“I know how risky it is to buck the political power of the State House, but you are the guardians of our school children and must have the courage to do it,” said Kalman “Buzzy” Hettleman, a former member of the Baltimore City school board and the Maryland Commission on Innovation and Excellence in Education, speaking Tuesday during the public comment portion of a joint meeting between the Maryland State Board of Education and AIB.

Hettleman said the Blueprint cuts will cause many young students to miss out on “early interventions,” like tutoring, leaving them academically “doomed.” He said while he understands that members are sitting on a “political hot seat,” it is their “duty” to oppose cuts from the Moore administration.

Maryland State Education Association President Paul Lemle said it’s a “fallacy” that the state can’t provide funding for collaborative time, which includes lesson planning and evaluating student outcomes. He noted some schools are already doing it without the funding.

“We should not be changing our goals in the face of a challenge. We should be addressing the challenge,” Lemle said.

But AIB Chair Isiah Leggett defended the decision on collaborative time, saying the state would first need to hire 12,000 to 15,000 additional teachers to make it work.

“The problem was the teacher shortage impacting collaborative time,” Leggett said. He added that he’s not willing to make other changes to the Blueprint “without clear, convincing evidence” they are needed.

MSBE President Joshua Michael suggested to reporters that the state could “develop pilots and other approaches that advance the core principle of providing more collaborative time during a teacher’s day, while not compromising the learning of students in the classroom.”

Regarding Moore’s proposed pause in funding increases to community schools — that is, schools receiving concentration of poverty grants — Lemle said it’s possible to “find a balance without hurting multilingual learners and students in poverty,” saying it “defies logic” to delay those supports.

“Don’t allow policy decisions to cause catastrophic budget cuts for our most vulnerable students,” he said.

Pre-K expansion is another point of controversy in the Blueprint. The plan offers free pre-K for children whose family income is 300% of the federal poverty level or below – or around $96,000 for a family of four. It also offers child care at a subsidized rate for children whose family income is up to 600% of the federal poverty level — or $193,000 for a family of four.

The expansion involves a “mixed delivery” system including both private child care providers and public schools, due to concerns about private business viability and lack of space in public schools. Private child care providers have described challenges in implementing the plan, including administrative complexities, insufficient state funds, and competition with public schools threatening business viability.

Hilary Roberts-King, executive director for Downtown Baltimore Child Care, made several suggestions to the board about how to make pre-K expansion “more accessible to community providers.” Her suggestions included shifting from a reimbursement model to a fee-for-service approach so private businesses don’t have to cover costs upfront and shifting grant timelines to earlier in the year.

AIB executive director Rachel Hise acknowledged there are a “number of challenges” to implementing full-day pre-K.

“We’re still dealing with the impacts of the pandemic, particularly on the private provider community and the capacity of the districts, particularly space-wise,” she said. “But implementing mixed delivery at scale statewide has not been done in this country, and so we are continuing to address the challenges.”

Current law requires 10% of seats to come from private providers – a reduced goal after no Maryland counties could meet the state’s previous goal of 30% during the 2023-2024 school year.

For the current school year, 1,626 publicly-funded seats were added with 46% coming from private providers.

Have a news tip? Contact Brooke Conrad at bconrad @baltsun.com.