Republican's Legislation Seeks To Protect Students And Teachers
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Education in Maryland has been overhauled in the past thirty years and the result has not been good. In fact, it's been a disaster as the State's test scores have tanked while the cost of public education has skyrocketed. Almost every district in the State is dealing with a teacher shortage while their administrative ranks grow due to federal and state mandates. From an article in 2022:
MSDE: Maryland school test scores follow national downward trend
While many attribute this loss to the Covid pandemic, the article shows that the trend has been the same since 2013. While scores may have increased slightly in 2024, this increase is so negligible that it can be called meaningless. Meanwhile, funding the State's leviathan Blueprint school reform program has put the State in dire economic straits.
In the midst of all this, the Maryland Legislature began its 2025 session on January 8th. One highlight of that session is a bill proposed by Maryland Governor Wes Moore who wants to "pause" the Blueprint in order to save Maryland from a potential 5-billion-dollar state deficit. This is Senate Bill 429, a 63 page of vague suggestions regarding per pupil funding and creation of a few "study commissions" for teacher recruitment and special education services. Reading it is an exercise in futility:
Aside from this mess of a bill that pretends to address "fiscal responsibility" but seems to add more committees to control education in the state, there are other bills on the legislative agenda that address school safety, education transparency, protect girls' sports and spaces, and preserve parental rights. The bills are presented with the name of their sponsors and the objective of the bill.
Today's we are going to focus on bills that promote SCHOOL Safety (and one that pretends to but doesn't)
School Safety: With school and other government systems protecting juvenile offenders and bad actors, students and teachers in our public schools are less safe than ever before. Parents in Harford County, Baltimore County, Baltimore City and Howard County found this out when they discovered that their child could be sitting next to a convicted rapist, gang member or murderer without public knowledge.
Are Maryland Families Unaware Of Dangerous Criminals In Public Schools? - The Easton Gazette
Maryland Delegate Nino Mangione Pre-files Two School Safety Bills - The Easton Gazette
Delegates Mangione, Arentz, Arikan, Chisholm, Grammer, Hartman, Miller, T. Morgan, Nawrocki, Rose, Schmidt, Szeliga, and Tomlinson proposed HB 0068, The Student Protection Act of 2025, and HB 0137, The School Safety Act of 2025. Here are links to those bills which were heard in front of the Ways and Means Committee on January 23rd:
Also, Senator Salling proposed Senate Bill SB0078, the Juvenile Child Sex Offenders-Juvenile Sex Offender Registry and Prohibition on In-Person School Attendance. This bill was part of an answer to the Baltimore City student who attended public high school after being convicted of sexually abusing a three-year-old:
This bill will be presented to the Judicial Proceedings EEE Committee on January 28th.
Another bill that addresses school safety is one presented by Senators Gallion, Hershey, Ready, Bailey, Corderman, Carozza, and Jennings is SB 0482, Right to Teach Act 2025. This bill seems like common sense for most normal people because it allows teachers to discipline children who disrupt class by removing them from the class and other county approved measures. This would prevent teachers from being "punished" for trying to maintain order in their classrooms. Seems like common sense, but most teachers will tell you they are constantly having authority to maintain order in the classroom taken from them.
Finally, Delegates Miller, Buckel, and Pippy and Senator Folden have cross filed bills HB0526/SB 0386, regarding Primary and Secondary Education - Definition- Notification of Reportable Offenses. These bills will open the designation of "reportable offenses" to crimes committed on school property not just in the general public.
There are some bills that DON'T support school safety as well.
Delegate Pasteur proposed HB 0197 Public Schools- Restorative Practices Schools which is a bill that would REQUIRE that school systems institute training in these feel good, ineffective practices to handle students who are not only behavior problems but many times bullies to other students. Here's an article regarding these practices:
Restorative Discipline: Crippling Kid's Mental Maturity And Validating Violence - The Easton Gazette
What a boon for the Restorative Discipline contractors out there! These are just a few!
Institute for Restorative Discipline | NLDC
TRAINING | Restoration Matters
Restorative Practices Training Options for Schools - Conflict Center
You may wonder what you can do to provide input to your legislators regarding these bills. In order to testify, you must go to:
Here is an explanation of how to arrange testimony:
At any rate, we know that if the Legislature stays true to their actions in the past years, they will not pass the bills that make sense and will pass the ones that make our students less safe and not as well educated.
It's what they have been doing for decades.
