Appropriations committee adopts amendments to House Bill 504, keeps foundation formula intact and pares back some new programs

The Appropriations Committee on the bill record approved committee amendments to House Bill 504, the "blueprint" education funding bill, after a page-by-page presentation from a representative of the Speaker's office and discussion by committee members. The amendments keep the state's basic foundation formula at current law levels, remove some of the governor's newly proposed program formulas, and adjust several program provisions, including collaborative time and the Academic Excellence Fund.

The committee began with a detailed presentation from Michelle Lambert of the Speaker's office, who told the panel she would "walk through page by page the changes to the blueprint bill that are being offered by the committee." Lambert said the amendment package restores the foundation formula to current law and makes a number of program-level clarifications and cuts to proposed new funding formulas.

Why it matters: the foundation formula is the primary unrestricted portion of the Blueprint funding framework that local jurisdictions use to set spending priorities; changes to its structure or to items pulled out of the foundation number can translate to material changes in local school budgets. The committee's amendments were framed as preserving the foundation number while adjusting how certain new programs would be funded or structured.

Major changes described by Lambert and discussed on the record included:

- Foundation formula: The committee amendment removes proposed changes and "sticks with current law" for the foundation number across fiscal years, restoring the baseline used to calculate unrestricted school funding.

- Academic Excellence Fund: The amendment clarifies a separate Academic Excellence Fund inside the blueprint structure so philanthropic dollars can flow into the program without creating a duplicative state program.

- Collaborative time: A provision that would have pulled $163 per pupil (and a separate $63 pull-out in the 2026 provision) was revised. The committee struck the 2026 carve-out of $163 and specifically struck the separate $63 pull-out provision from the amendment text, while leaving collaborative time conceptually preserved in the foundation number for later fiscal years. Lambert explained "the collaborative time being for each student will be maintained for the rest of the fiscal years," but the immediate 2026 carve-out was removed.

- Community schools: The committee removed the proposal to pause community schools and instead maintained current law for community schools. The amendments also altered provisions related to pooling resources but clarified that community schools dollars could not be used for administrative costs or central-office support, the presenter said.

- Special education and other program formulae: Several proposed changes were shown as strikes in the reprint, but Lambert said that reflected an intention to retain current law for special-education per-pupil funding rather than reduce it. The committee also struck the governor's proposed collaborative grant program formula and left collaborative funding inside the foundation number.

- Leadership Academy and teacher relocation: The amendments maintain current law for the Leadership Academy and make small changes to the Maryland Teacher Relocation Incentive Grant program to give the department discretion to use funds for incentives beyond reimbursable moving expenses to attract teachers to the state.

- Coordinated Community Supports Partnership Fund: The amendment inserts a cut aligning the bill to a reduced BRFA appropriation for that fund, which the presenter said was reduced to $40 million in the BRFA.

- Teacher compact: The committee removed a provision that would have implemented a teacher compact that had been proposed by the Ways and Means Committee; the amendment repeals the compact language from the bill as this is a jointly assigned bill.

Delegate Stonko spoke during discussion to describe how the changes would affect her district: "If the collaborative time funding was cut for Carroll County ... it would essentially break out to be an additional about $5 million of cuts for Carroll County inside of the foundation formula," she said, explaining local impacts and saying the amended bill was nevertheless materially better for her jurisdiction than the original proposal.

Committee action and next steps: Committee members moved and seconded the package of amendments, and the committee approved the amendments on a roll call. The amended bill was moved and approved on the panel floor; the chair thanked the governor for the policy ideas and the committee for amendments intended to refine them.

Ending note: The committee's amendments prioritized preserving the statewide foundation number while folding some new program funding back into that foundation or clarifying a path for philanthropic support. Several program-level items were deferred to future policy work or left for local jurisdictions to implement under current law.