By Deborah Bailey
Special to the AFRO

Bowing to pressure from education advocates and Maryland General Assembly members, Governor Larry Hogan sent a supplemental funding request of $139.9 million to the State’s FY 2023 budget to fully fund the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future (Kirwan Commission) Education Reform plan.

The majority of Hogan’s supplemental education funding request, $125.5 million, is explicitly targeted for Baltimore City ($99 million) and Prince Georges County ($26.5 million) school systems. 

The additional $125.5 million for K-12 education was part of a larger supplemental budget request of $480 million Hogan announced this week. 

Senator Cory V. McCray (D-Baltimore City), Chair of the Baltimore City Senate Delegation said Hogan was obligated to provide a budget that included full funding of -Kirwan Commission’s reforms – particularly impacting school districts with a high concentration of poverty.  

“Reallocating the $99 million to Baltimore City is a profoundly restorative step in the right direction. Thank you, to all the advocates that lifted the voices of the voiceless in pressuring Governor Hogan to make the right decision in the supplemental budget,” McCray said in a statement. 

House Speaker, Adrienne Jones thanked Delegates Stephanie Smith (D-Baltimore City), Chair of the Baltimore City House Delegation, Nick Charles (D-Prince Georges County) and Maggie McIntosh (D-Baltimore City), Chair of the House Appropriations Committee for remaining vigilant in their advocacy on behalf of Baltimore City and Prince Georges Schools.  

“I’m pleased to announce that the Gov. has restored the $99M for Baltimore City, $26.5M for Pr. George’s Co. & fully funded the Blueprint,” Jones tweeted.

While Hogan’s original $58.2 Billion FY 2023 budget, submitted to the Maryland General Assembly in January included $8.15 billion in K-12 education funding, it did not include supplemental funding to implement Blueprint reforms in Baltimore City and Prince Georges County, systems with the highest concentration of poverty.   The Blueprint for Maryland’s Future is referred to nationally as “landmark K-12 education reform” based on recommendations from the Kirwan Commission, established by the Maryland General Assembly in 2016. State lawmakers passed legislation funding the Commission’s recommendations in 2021. Hogan originally vetoed the legislation saying Maryland could not afford the effort, but the General Assembly overrode Hogan’s veto, outlining a funding plan to improve K-12 services, phase in universal pre-K and expand family support programs.  

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