School Vouchers
House Bill 1213, House Bill 1343, House Bill 453, Senate Bill 706: OPPOSE
Against the backdrop of structurally underfunding the state’s public schools, incredibly, a number of bills have been introduced this year to waste tax dollars by giving them to private schools instead.
Partially Elected School Board
House Bill 558: SUPPORT
AFT-Maryland, and its affiliate, the Baltimore Teachers Union, believe that the institution of a process that allows for the election of members of the Baltimore City Board of School Commissioners is imperative.
Workplace Bullying
Senate Bill 689 / House Bill 1104: SUPPORT
Workplace bullying and intimidation by management has been a consistent complaint by employees of state agencies for years. To address this matter, AFT-Maryland is proposing a bill that will provide a framework for curtailing and preventing inappropriate behavior on the parts of the state’s supervisory personnel.
Community Schools
House Bill 1139: SUPPORT
In recent years, the Community Schools strategy has proved to be so effective that some states—most notably Kentucky—have adopted and implemented this strategy state-wide as a means of producing more efficient and effective schools. Maryland currently operates 65 community schools, 52 in Baltimore and 13 in Montgomery County. Community Schools have...
Due Process Protections School for the Deaf Teachers
Senate Bill 21 / House Bill 597 - SUPPORT
The Maryland School for the Deaf (MSD) is a diverse, bilingual community that works in partnership with families to provide an equitable and exemplary education in a nurturing environment. The school strives to ensure that its students achieve personal excellence and become responsible lifelong learners.
Education Assessments
Senate Bill 407/House Bill 141, Senate Bill 794/House Bill 657
House Bill 633, Senate Bill 787/House Bill 1427:
SUPPORT
With the Federal government’s passage of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), state and local governments have been given more leeway to decide how they want to look at student achievement, as well as assess the effectiveness of schools and teachers.
Education Funding and Maintaining Quality State Services: Prioritizing high quality public education and public services for all citizens and children of the city and the state.
AFT-Maryland holds as its highest priority a commitment from the state to provide enough funding to assure high quality public education and public services to all its citizens and children. To underfund any of these services not only deprives every child and citizen of the state this promise, it also would do more to widen the gap between the wealthier and those less fortunate due to circumstances beyond their control.
When Larry Hogan announced the details for his first budget as Maryland governor last week, the state’s teachers and parents were shocked to learn that among his biggest cuts were to Education. Baltimore City Public Schools in particular were singled out for the biggest hit, losing $35.5 million, or nearly 4% of the aid they normally rely on from the state.
The 2015 Maryland Legislative Session is under way, and AFT-Maryland is launching its legislative agenda early in the session, bringing the issues that support Maryland workers and their families to the attention of the Maryland General Assembly.
Join AFT-Maryland as we visit Maryland's elected leaders and make the case for workplace safety, equitable education funding, protecting due process rights for teachers, and legislation for corporations to pay their fair share of taxes.
Larry Hogan will shed the “Governor-Elect” title later today and be sworn in as the 62nd Governor of Maryland. While his inauguration speech is expected to address a general direction and plans for the next four years in office—particularly in regard to private-sector growth and across-the-board tax cuts—many are looking with greater anticipation and anxiety as Hogan announces his budget plans this coming Friday. In specific, public sector and education workers are concerned with how Hogan will make up a $760 million budget deficit.