In a move that has been applauded by advocates and educators alike, state legislators voted to trim some parts of the Maryland Department of Education’s signature Blueprint for Maryland’s Future, during the recently concluded legislative session.

“These are the students who really need help with the Blueprint. There is no pause, cut in funding whatsoever,” said Maryland General Assembly Appropriations Committee Chair Del. Ben Barnes (D-District 21).

The decision to trim, while maintaining the basic foundations of the Blueprint, differed from a proposal from Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D) that would have implemented a four-year delay in collaborative time and cut roughly $1.5 billion from state schools in coming years. Moore’s proposal largely cited financial difficulties amid a $3 billion budget deficit and efforts from congressional Republicans and the Trump administration to significantly cut federal spending.

The state also lost an additional $458 million in federal funding that was earmarked for education due to a recent decision by the Department of Education.

Despite financial concerns, the House of Delegates voted 101-38 for House Bill 504 in support of key aspects of implementing the Blueprint plan, and the state Senate gave the bill final approval on a 34-13 vote.

Maryland State Education Association (MSEA) President Paul Lemle and several other education advocates have come out to praise the passage of the bill.

“While there is a delay to increased funding dedicated for collaborative time implementation, the final bill is a significant improvement over where this conversation began in January,” Lemle said.

The MSEA president was relieved to maintain this much of the Blueprint, considering the huge cuts that were originally proposed.

“We were able to avoid the near-immediate, outsized cuts to expected funding for students in poverty and multilingual learners, in particular,” Lemle continued, “and we protected the critical expansion of community schools and supports for students in concentrated poverty.”