Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Ways and Means reviews a raft of education bills on Feb. 25, 2026
Summary
The committee took testimony on numerous K–12 education bills ranging from teacher-prep and classroom time to school safety, open enrollment, water-safety curriculum, and a proposed statewide financial-literacy graduation requirement.
ANNAPOLIS — In a long February hearing focused on education policy, Maryland’s House Ways and Means Committee heard testimony on a slate of bills addressing school safety, teacher preparation, student access and school governance.
Highlights from the Feb. 25 hearing:
- HB 781 and HB 868 (Delegate Conaway): Two bills would introduce instruction about the collateral consequences of criminal convictions into middle‑school grades (statewide and a Baltimore City–focused variant). Conaway framed the measure as preventive legal education; committee members asked whether city school boards had been engaged and raised concerns about the evidence base for curricular mandates.
- HB 803 (Delegate April Miller): Sponsor proposed recalibrating the Blueprint’s classroom/collaborative time split to 80/20 (more classroom time) to address staffing shortages and reduce reliance on conditionally licensed teachers. Members noted recent MSDE vacancy data and asked…
Already have an account? Log in
Subscribe to keep reading
Unlock the rest of this article — and every article on Citizen Portal.
- Unlimited articles
- AI-powered breakdowns of topics, speakers, decisions, and budgets
- Instant alerts when your location has a new meeting
- Follow topics and more locations
- 1,000 AI Insights / month, plus AI Chat
