House Ways and Means Committee advances broad slate of education, gaming and library bills

The House Ways and Means Committee, chaired by Janelle Wilkins, advanced a package of bills during its March 17 voting session, moving measures on K‑12 education, gambling regulation, libraries and childcare forward, most with amendments.

Delegate Ebersol described House Bill 29 as a measure that "allows county boards of education to develop income eligibility guidelines above specified household income thresholds for students who have achieved college and career readiness" and said sponsor amendments added dual‑enrollment and CTE changes and extended the state board’s authority on dual‑enrollment limits through fiscal 2030. The amendments were adopted and the bill moved favorable with amendments.

An omnibus education measure, House Bill 490, was amended to extend hold‑harmless compensatory education enrollment counts through fiscal 2029, add an out‑of‑state teacher licensure pathway, pause the expert review team program for a year and require AIB and MSDE to study methods for counting low‑income students for funding formulas. Delegate Buckle raised a fiscal concern: "I'm a little concerned about that aspect of the bill from a funding perspective and a fiscal perspective," noting uncertainty whether the hold‑harmless is new mandated spending. Supporters said the uncodified language…