Legislative

A hot topic among many working professionals is student loan debt. This is also true for members of the unions of AFT-Maryland. We know how pressing an issue student loan debt is because of the huge response to the student loan debt clinics that the state federation has provided to members. In Annapolis, AFT-Maryland is supporting legislation sponsored by Sen. Paul Pinsky that seeks to control costs of predatory private colleges that are unfortunately taking advantage of attendees. 

AFT-Maryland has been taking the lead among unions in Annapolis on providing relief for Marylanders wrestling

AFT-Maryland is a proud member of the Fair Funding Coalition (FFC). This coalition is a collection of organizations that seek to ensure that Maryland public schools are fairly funded for every student throughout the state. The coalition is a cross section of justice organizations, advocacy groups, labor unions, and more. It uses its combined power to lobby for fair and full funding of the Kirwan Commission’s recommendations to improve Maryland public schools and make them more equitable for Maryland students, including those in Baltimore city and the surrounding counties where our members

AFT-Maryland continues to work to ensure that our members and the students they serve have the opportunity to work and learn in a safe and healthy environment. This session, AFT-Maryland has been supporting our members of BTU and CUB by working with state Sen. Cory McCray to pass the Safe Schools Drinking Water Act. This legislation would guard against elevated levels of lead in school drinking water. This law would ensure that any outlet in a public or non-public school that’s used for drinking water, cooking, or cleaning does not have elevated lead level. The standard established by the

UPDATE: February 20, 2020: The Baltimore City Council has passed the resolution and now the property tax credit only awaits Mayor Jack Young’s signature. The resolution had unanimous support in committee, and in the council. CUB offers a huge thank you to Councilman Ryan Dorsey who worked this legislation through the council, Delegate Stephanie Smith who carried the enabling legislation in Annapolis and former Delegate Bilal Ali who first introduced the tax credit legislation and worked with CUB, even when he no longer was a state delegate, to see the bill come to fruition.  2020-02-20

Despite the overwhelming competition to get bills passed all the way through to the governor, AFT-Maryland and its affiliate unions did well in the 2019 legislative session. Bills passed, compromises were made, raises were put in the budget and the first implementation of the Kirwan Commission’s recommendations are now law. 

Click to view the AFT-Maryland 2019 Legislative Report.

The AFT-Maryland testified before the Senate Health, Education & Environmental Affairs Committee in support of the Protect Our Schools Act 2017.  Baltimore Teachers Union member and Waverly Elementary/Middle School 5th grade teacher Lisa Harrison and AFT-Maryland Political Coordinator Todd Reynolds testified in support of the bill. Reynolds called for further examination of various assessments beyond simply standardized testing because students in Baltimore City face a myriad of challenges that need to be considered when assessing the quality and effectiveness of a school. Reynolds

The Public Funding for Public Schools Coalition held a press conference Tuesday February 28, 2017 to call on the Maryland General Assembly to defund Governor Hogan’s BOOST funding in his budget. The coalition brought together a wide range of educational advocates who all want to see public dollars be used on public schools. Among the elected officials in attendance were Baltimore County Executive Kevin Kamenetz and Prince George’s County Executive Rushern Baker. AFT-Maryland was represented by Executive Secretary-Treasurer Kenya Campbell. MSEA President Betty Weller spoke as did Tishan

A Baltimore Teachers Union member and an AFT-Maryland staff member testified before the House Ways and Means Committee on Tuesday, February 28 in support of House Bill 978, loosely referred to as the Protect Our Schools Act of 2017. The bill is a follow up of the Federal Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). In the federal bill, states have the opportunity to craft assessments that are best for measuring the success and achievement of a given school.

Kate Englebrecht of Ben Franklin High School in Baltimore testified in support of the measure. She noted that simple assessments were not the