Charles County, MD – A meeting of the Board of Charles County Commissioners was held on September 10th in conjunction with the Charles County Board of Education. The joint meeting held at the Board of Education Building was primarily a discussion of financial allocation and new educational focuses pertaining to the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future.
The Blueprint for Maryland’s Future was passed in 2021 by the Maryland General Assembly with the goal of increasing educational funding and providing new school programs. The funding also has the potential to increase the amount of teachers and classes in each Maryland school.
One of the goals of the September 10th joint meeting was to establish a common strategy for CCPS funding that both boards can collaborate on moving forward. During the meeting, a graph revealed that the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future contributed over $136 million in funding for the county’s FY 2024.
An essential discussion during the meeting was the blueprint’s priority in funding programs for specific student groups and how it affects the allocation of funds. The issue was brought up during the slideshow demonstration by Maria V Navarro, “The blueprint by definition was very specific in calling out that the money must follow certain groups of students. For example, the expansion of Pre-K, there was funding for that. Funding for students highly impacted by poverty, students that receive special education services, and students who are multilingual. So the funding has now become more restricted.”
Although the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future was the primary focus of the meeting, speakers also made sure to touch on other areas of focus for CCPS. Maria V Navarro noted during the slideshow, “It (Blueprint for Maryland’s Future) is not the only work that’s happening in Charles County Public Schools.”
Multiple other CCPS programs and functions of education are being worked on alongside the blueprint’s implementation, including art programs, school safety, transportation improvements, and class sizes. Dr. Navarro continued with an example, “You will all be invited to see the McDonough Facility renovations where we have expanded our arts programs.”
Another hot topic that came up in discussion was the effect that the blueprint would have on teachers and their required duties. Chris Miller, the Coordinator of District Innovation for CCPS, said during the meeting, “Blueprint funding will increase, but there’s going to be more that we’re required to do with that funding.”
She elaborated about how education will change under the blueprint’s guidance, “We’re going to have to look at the rollout of this sixty-forty split. A sixty-forty split is where 60% of a teacher’s time is going to be spent working and teaching directly to students; 40% of that teacher’s time is going to be other duties, such as participating or facilitating professional learning and working with students one-on-one.”
The September 10th joint meeting provided important insights into the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future and how it may be further implemented into the Charles County Public School System moving forward. If you’d like to join the next discussion of the Charles County Board of Commissioners, an upcoming meeting is set for September 17th at 6 pm.
You can watch the full meeting on the Charles County Public School YouTube channel. If you’d like to learn more about the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future, then you can read the Charles County official webpage to gain further insight on the topic.
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