The Blueprint Quarterly

Welcome to our first newsletter of 2025!

Hello! I am Dr. Sarah Sirgo, the Chief of Staff and Blueprint Implementation Coordinator for FCPS! Welcome to the 5th issue of the Blueprint Quarterly - a communication tool dedicated to providing our students, staff, families, and community members up to date information about the Blueprint implementation in Frederick County Public Schools.

As the 2025 legislative session begins this month, we expect Blueprint to be a key focus of discussion. This includes elevating what is working well, while contending with the need to advance legislative and policy changes that are in alignment with the fiscal and implementation challenges schools face.

In this quarterly update you can learn more about

• Fall 2024 Blueprint Milestone Report
• Committee Member Spotlight on Dr. Frank Vetter
• Blueprint Pillar 1, Early Childhood Education
• Key Bills and Legislation Related to Blueprint
• Recent Announcements

You may review this newsletter as well as all of our Blueprint information on our website at https://www.fcps.org/blueprint

Our latest Milestone Report provides a picture of the work that we are doing in FCPS as part of the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future, a 10 year investment in transforming public education. The Milestone report is published twice each school year, in December and June and includes information on what we have achieved across the Blueprint pillars.

Blueprint Milestone Report - Semester 2

Pre-K serves as a crucial foundation for young learners, bridging the gap between home and school while preparing children for academic success in Kindergarten and beyond. Frederick County Public Schools remains committed to expanding access to Pre-K for income-qualifying families. In recent years, the district has significantly grown its programming, providing over 1,400 seats for 3- and 4-year-old children in the 2024-2025 school year.

In 2016, FCPS offered the first full-day Pre-K class. This 2024-2025 school year, FCPS proudly offers 58 Traditional Pre-K classrooms, 16 Inclusive 4 year old classrooms, 13 inclusive 3 year old classrooms and 5 self-contained Pre-K classrooms. In response to the rapid growth and expansion of the Pre-K program, creative solutions for providing programming were utilized such as the Innovative Pre-K programming held at 5 local high schools and mixed delivery of public Pre-K from private child care providers. There are currently 100 state-funded Pre-K seats in community-based childcare programs, allowing for families to have choice in their child’s early educational settings.

The alignment of Pre-K foundational skills with Kindergarten curriculum promotes a successful transition for young learners. In Pre-K, children engage in developmentally appropriate activities that foster early literacy, numeracy, social-emotional development and executive function skills. Assessment measures are conducted regularly to monitor progress and identify areas where additional learning support may be needed. The data gathered during the Pre-K year is invaluable in shaping more informed responses as the child transitions to Kindergarten.

The Frederick County Judy Center programs offer playgroups, family enrichment opportunities, and training sessions, engaging families and community partners in fostering children’s development. Judy Center staff work closely with Pre-K and Kindergarten teachers to ensure a seamless transition by aligning instruction with the science of reading and foundational numeracy skills.

At the beginning of each legislative session, the Department of Legislative Services, Office of Policy Analysis provides an Operating Budget Fiscal Briefing Report. Among other items, pages 13-15 have key features connected to the Blueprint including the following statewide endeavors.

• Permanently reducing the mandate for the Consortium on Coordinated Community Supports (behavioral health services) from $130 million to $40 million statewide.
• Delaying from fiscal 2026 to fiscal 2030 the start of phased-in funding for teacher collaborative time (known as the 60/40). Monies from this delay go to:
• $33.4 million for the Grow Your Own Educators Grant Program
• $19.3 million for the Academic Excellence Fund, and
• $9.0 million for Collaborative Time Innovation Demonstration Grants.
• Pausing growth in the Concentration of Poverty program for two years beginning with fiscal 2027.

The Excellence in Maryland Public Schools Act is a proposed bill that would create a grant program for school districts to implement innovative ways to improve teaching and fill teacher vacancies. Click on the link SB 429 to review the drafted bill. The bill was proposed by the Moore administration to help ease the impact of cuts that could delay parts of the Blueprint for Maryland's Future. This 74 page draft bill has a number of key features including:

• Creating a grant program for school districts to implement innovative ways to improve teaching
• Fund efforts to fill teacher vacancies

The bill was drafted to address the $3 billion gap in the fiscal 2026 budget and an attempt to soften the impact of Blueprint funding cuts. Other items of note in the bill include:

• Investing $134 million over four years toward the Grow Your Own initiative, which seeks to expand teacher and staff pipelines, boost diversity in the profession and establish apprenticeship programs.
• A national recruitment campaign to attract out-of-state teachers to Maryland. with an added financial incentive of $2,000 in relocation costs.

We will continue to track this bill and any potential impacts on FCPS.

One of the key items included in the Governor's Excellence in Education Bill is time to support more teacher collaboration. This comes following a vote by the Accountability and Implementation Board (AIB), which oversees the 10-year Blueprint plan, who recommended a pause in the timeline to expand collaborative time.

Collaborative time is the time outside of class that teachers use for training, analyzing student data, identifying students who may need help and spending time, one on one or in groups, to get students back on track. Teachers currently spend about 80% of their time in the classroom and 20% in collaborative time. The Blueprint calls for that ratio to change to 60% classroom and 40% collaborative time within the next eight years.

In order to do that on the current timeline, the state would need to add as many as 15,000 teachers by next school year. That does not account for about 6,000 conditionally approved teachers, those who have at least a bachelor’s degree but have not completed the requirements for a professional certification.

The bill will allow officials from all 24 school districts to apply for collaborative-time innovation grants to pilot new structures for a teacher’s time and opportunities for collaboration. The grant pool will be about $48 million over a four-year period across the state and local school officials would apply to the state Department of Education.

Maryland State BOE Issues Ruling in Charter School Funding Case - The MD State BOE issued a ruling that updates the historic formula for charter school funding.

MSDE Releases Annual School Report Card - State, district, and school-level results for the 24 MD School Report Card.

Teacher' Union Lobbies Lawmakers to Fully Fund Blueprint - But push by American Federation of Teachers Maryland, other advocates runs up against new fiscal worries in Annapolis.

Governor's Education Bill Slows Growth of Per Pupil Funding, Worrying Advocates - Joint hearing by House fiscal committees produced some positives, some concerns during discussion of Blueprint progress.

Teacher Career Ladders Need a Timeout [commentary] - Education policy makers may want to take a timeout to make sure they're getting career ladders right.

Blueprint Board Recommends Relaxing "Collaborative Time" Timeline - When implemented, the collaborative time mandate would double the time for teachers to conduct work outside the classroom from 20% to 40% of their days.

Wright: Glass More Than Half-Full on Education This Year - 2024 saw 3rd year of 'Blueprint' education reform implementation, debates over access to school, library books, more.