By Emily Baker
Baltimore Watchdog Staff Writer
ANNAPOLIS- Twenty-one state lawmakers from the Baltimore area met recently to discuss legislation that would affect county residents in the 2016 session, including a bill designed to improve low-income schools.
The Maryland Community School Strategy for Excellence in Public Education Act, which is being sponsored by Del. Mary Washington, D-Baltimore City, seeks to improve impoverished Maryland schools through community partnerships as well as increased funding.
In Baltimore County, 109 schools grades K-12 would be eligible for these benefits.
“We know poverty is a problem,” Washington said during the March 4 meeting. “Poverty in our public schools is also a problem.”
According to the Maryland State Department of Education, Baltimore County is recorded to have the fastest rate of poverty growth for students in all of Maryland, with eligibility for the Free and Reduced Meals (FARM) Program increasing by 64 percent between 2004 and 2014.
Within 10 years, Baltimore County schools in District 7 have seen an almost 200 percent increase in FARM eligibility, the department said.
The FARM program offers breakfast for 30 cents and lunch for 40 cents to students who qualify based on total household incomes. In some cases, the meals may even be free.
According to the Annie E. Casey Foundation, a Baltimore-based philanthropic organization dedicated to assisting disadvantaged children, almost half of the students enrolled in Baltimore County schools are receiving free and reduce priced meals as of 2015.
The bill aims to maintain access to healthy and affordable meals, along with providing the other resources that students need to thrive.
“The purpose of a community school is to help students and families overcome barriers that prevent children from learning and succeeding in life,” according to the bill’s text. “The act will prepare local school systems to embrace community schools as a transformative strategy for student success.”
By also focusing on the social and health conditions of impoverished students, Washington said she hopes to alleviate some of the barriers towards obtaining an education.
Part of this plan includes a community school leadership team responsible for developing goals around the specific needs of their school, as well as overseeing the implementation of the specified strategy.
This team will consist of the school principal and the parent-teacher association president as well as two teachers, two community members who do not work for the school and two students, all selected by the principal.
“Current funding doesn’t support poverty stricken schools in more affluent neighborhoods,” Washington said. “This legislation doesn’t dictate over all schools, instead it gives each school resources to meet their individual needs.”
Some of these resources include nutrition programs, mental health services and job training services to meet the social, emotional, and physical health needs of all students.
Washington said that including community leaders in this program would force the state to look beyond test score data in determining school funding. It is intended to strengthen ties between schools and the communities in which they reside, Washington said.
Though this is not a grant program, the bill would provide a 25 percent increase of funding to qualified schools by requiring the U.S. Department of Education to annually determine certain costs based on certain criteria, and reallocating funds in this manner.
The concerns voiced during the delegation meeting surrounded cost and budget issues, but most of those in the room were in agreement that the bill is important and could be successful in reducing the effects of rising poverty in Baltimore County.
“Thank you for bringing this to us,” said Del. Terri Hill, D-Baltimore and Howard Counties. “This is a very exciting bill.”
“We know poor kids in our school districts have certain needs,” Washington said. “I know we can figure out a way to address these needs.”
The bill is still waiting on a committee vote.
In addition to the education bill, the 21 delegates who were present at the meeting discussed two bills being introduced by the region’s legislative delegates as well as voted favorably on 10 bills authorizing the use of grants to various projects throughout the county.