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Legislative

Over the summer, the state’s Spending Affordability Committee recommended a 1% raise for state employees, as well as a restoration of the annual step increases for those workers. The Governor’s announced budget ignores these recommendations, and gives state workers no raise and no step increase for the year.

With the state once again facing a structural deficit, the members of the AFT-Maryland feel in many ways the state is balancing the budget at our own expense. The result of stagnating wages—wages that do not even keep up with inflation—has essentially become a pay cut for those workers

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When the Governor announced his initial budget, it included a $42 million reduction in state aid to Baltimore City Schools. This is the third year in a row that the children of Baltimore’s City School system have faced a reduction in state aid to their schools. In that timespan, these schools have seen class sizes swell beyond capacity and key programs cut, while teachers and staff have had to purchase vital school supplies out of their own pockets. We do not exaggerate when we say a $42 million cut to Baltimore’s public school system would do irreparable damage to our children’s education.

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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.

House Bill 1213 proposes that corporations be allowed to purchase tax credits by making a contribution to the bill’s proposed BOOST fund. BOOST (Broadening Options and Opportunities for Students and Teachers) if passed, will provide scholarships to eligible students. The bill allows corporations to

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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.

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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.

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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...

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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.

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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.

Some very good ways to start undoing the harm of the test-and-punish model from the years of No Child Left Behind are with bills that either cap or even roll back the large amount of standardized tests

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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.

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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.


While City Schools CEO Gregory Thornton has not yet announced how the schools system will handle this cut, union officials are worried that the governor’s budget will result in job losses for teachers and educational support staff

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