Maryland Gov. Wes Moore says Blueprint education policy may need adjustments

OCEAN CITY, Md. — Though committed to its implementation, Gov. Wes Moore said Saturday that adjustments may be needed to effectively enact the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future education reform policy in light of the state’s fiscal woes.

“The Blueprint conversation is just one of many difficult discussions that we will have over the next 12 months,” Moore said Saturday during his closing speech at the Maryland Association of Counties summer conference in Ocean City. “But in Maryland, we do not shy away from difficult — we lean into it and we get big things done together.”

As Maryland heads into murky fiscal waters, Moore said that “everything is on the table” regarding financial adjustments, but committed to prioritizing funneling dollars toward health care, child care services and education.

However, Moore has been on record as saying his threshold for raising taxes is extremely high. He has yet to indicate under what circumstances he may be moved to implement any increases.

The Blueprint for Maryland’s Future , a multibillion-dollar education reform plan poised to be enacted over the better part of a decade, was passed in the early days of the pandemic in 2020. Moore said early discussions for the reform policy began in September 2016.

He testified in favor of the policy during a joint hearing between Maryland’s House and Senate in 2020.

Moore noted that many prolific laws are amended over time to keep pace with “the reality on the ground,” pointing to the legislation that established Social Security, which was amended more than 12 times, and Maryland’s state constitution, which has had more than 200 amendments.

“It is a prerequisite to make sure that every single one of our children — no matter where they are born, no matter who they are born to, no matter what neighborhood they call home — that they have a chance to achieve every single God-given dream that they have,” Moore said. “And that is why I am fully committed to implementing the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future and making sure we can see that promise come to fruition.”

The Moore administration has braced itself for the state’s forthcoming deficit.

Last month, the Maryland Board of Public Works approved over $148 million in cuts to the active budget. Those decreases account for only 2% of the state’s $63 billion budget for fiscal year 2025.

Earlier this week, Senate President Bill Ferguson, a Democrat representing South Baltimore, said he does not foresee any further large budget cuts ahead of the legislative session in January.

In preparation for the upcoming session’s budget season, the governor said Saturday that his administration will begin requiring state agencies to submit data and “evidence” along with their budget proposals to demonstrate why increases or adjustments are necessary.

“This administration doesn’t move on blind hope. We don’t do blind hope,” Moore said. “We move on data.”