Speakers urge board to back pay increases for ESPs, protect arts amid math schedule changes and act on discipline disparities

At the May meeting of the Maryland State Board of Education, a string of public commentators urged the board to press for concrete improvements on pay, instruction and discipline in local schools.

Paul Lemley, president of the Maryland State Education Association, told the board there are about 13,000 education support professionals (ESPs) in Maryland earning under $25 an hour, with many taking home under $25,000 a year. He asked the board to support an ESP seat and to partner with labor and the General Assembly to establish minimum professional salaries for ESPs so “the people who have dedicated their careers to Maryland students can afford to live in the communities they serve.”

Speakers focused on instruction as well. Trish Brennan Gak of Maryland Reads linked the state’s recent gains on the Education Recovery Scorecard to literacy priorities and urged the board to build trend data into the state report card so parents can track progress over time. She also warned that moving away from screen-based early literacy materials will carry major cost and implementation implications for local education agencies.

Several arts advocates asked the board to ensure that a new requirement for 300 minutes of middle-school mathematics weekly does not reduce student access to arts classes. Doug Conrad, advocacy chair for the Maryland Music Educators Association, called the arts “a doorway into connection, discipline and purpose,” and asked the board to include clear protections and implementation guidance so expanded math time does not “reduce access to the arts.”

Levi Bradford, an education attorney with the Public Justice Center, urged the board to follow up on discipline disparities he has identified in state data. Bradford said Black students in Maryland are “three times more likely to be suspended than white students” and that the disparities have grown; he asked whether the board is receiving the remediation plans that districts are required to file under state rules and whether the plans are being followed up on.

Virtual and in-person speakers also pressed the board on special education implementation, with parents and advocates giving examples from Prince George’s and other counties of delayed IEPs, missing service logs and lengthy corrective-action processes. The board did not take immediate action in response to public comment, but several speakers asked MSDE and the board to use the report-card and accountability work now under way to track progress more visibly and to press local districts to implement corrective orders.

The board took no direct regulatory action during public comment. Written materials and requests by speakers were taken under advisement, and staff noted follow-up conversations with several advocacy groups.