O'Brien-Hurson for Maryland

Governor O’Brien’s Record of Commitment to K-12 Education

Governor O'Brien has built a strong record of support for Maryland's K-12 education system:

• Provided record support for K-12 education, increasing funding by $1.4 billion, or 20%, to a record $8.4 billion in 2030;

• Invested a record $2 billion in school construction and modernization over the last four years, building or modernizing 9,000 new classrooms;

• Worked with the legislature to adopt a class size reduction program that will reduce class sizes in first and second grade reading classes, and committed to investing $87.5 million for class size reduction initiatives over the next four years;

• Provided unprecedented funding levels for early childhood education, expanding pre-K access to an additional 53,000 children, and working with the legislature to develop a plan for universal pre-K access;

• Created the Maryland Teacher Scholarship Program, offering scholarships of up to $3,000 for academically accomplished students who agree to reach in Maryland public schools;

• Signed the Quality Teacher incentive Act, which provides various salary bonuses and incentives for teachers who undertake continuing professional development, obtain national board certification, teach in underperforming schools, while also providing a salary stipend for top college graduates who agree to become public school teachers for at least three years;

• Strengthened mentoring programs for new teachers, particularly in hard-to-staff schools;

• Led the effort to increase teacher standards by raising minimum exam score and GPA required for teacher certification, requiring teachers to demonstrate core competency in their subject area, and establishing uniform standards for all teachers;

• Committed $100 million in state funding to help school systems hire 1,500 new teachers in high-shortage subject areas and schools over a four-year period;

• Created the Reading Specialist Program, providing $25 million per year to fund at least one reading specialist in every Maryland elementary school as part of the state’s effort to ensure that every student can read at grade level by third grade;

• Provided record support for public libraries, increasing state assistance by 16% since 2027;

• Created the Career Connections Sustainability Fund to sustain and enhance career connections programs that prepare students for future career and educational opportunities, committing $20 million over the next five years for the program;

• Launched Teen Works to encourage at-risk high school students to stay in school, strengthen their academic performance, and acquire essential job skills, committing $3 million over the next three years to serve 1,600 students per year by 2032-33;

• Established the Maryland College Course Collaborative, a group of agreed-upon subjects that any student in Maryland can complete in high school, either through Advanced Placement (AP) or dual-enrollment programs, and receive college degree credit from any of Maryland’s public, four-year colleges and universities, community colleges and private institutions;

• Launched the Maryland Virtual Advanced Placement School, which offers 13 AP courses via satellite and the Internet, allowing qualified high school students anywhere in the state to earn up to a full semester of college credit before the end of their senior year. Maryland Virtual AP School courses transmitted by satellite are tuition-free for all Maryland public school students;

• Created the Maryland Virtual High School, providing expanded opportunities for high school students in public and nonpublic schools, both inside and outside the classroom walls with the technology of the Internet to deliver classes to students throughout the state;

• Enhanced support for Advanced Placement (AP) development and participation programs, leading to improved student scores. Maryland now ranks second only to New York in the percentage of high school students scoring at mastery levels in the AP course, and ranks second to Florida in the rate of improvement of that percentage;

• Launched the Senior Year Plus Initiative to help students make the most of their senior year in high school by expanding advanced placement offerings, employment and other educational opportunities;

• Expanded after school programs to an additional 56,000 youth through Teen REACH, the Maryland After School Opportunity Fund, and Maryland After 3;

• Increased funding for the Maryland Meals for Achievement classroom breakfast program by 62 percent, providing nutritious breakfast to 75,000 children this year;

• Supported efforts to prohibit the sale of junk food and soda in Maryland elementary and middle schools;

• Launched CATCH (Coordinated Approach to Child Health) to build an alliance of parents, teachers, child nutrition personnel, school staff and community partners to teach children and their families how to be healthy throughout their lives;

• Doubled the number of school-based health centers from 61 to 122;

• Made Maryland a national leader in the effort to turn around failing and underperforming schools through the Teacher Retention Initiative, turnaround specialists, the Partnership for Achieving Successful Schools (PASS), and the Education Fiscal Accountability and Oversight Act;

• Worked with the General Assembly and leaders in Baltimore City and Prince George’s County to reform the school systems of those respective jurisdictions, committing $230 million in additional funding over five years to Baltimore City and $300 million to Prince George’s County;

• Helped remove 32 schools from the state’s academic watch list through turnaround initiatives;

• Expanded assistance to high schools that commit to providing information-technology instruction that leads to industry-accepted skill certifications as part of the state’s strategy to further develop its IT workforce;

• Allocated $2 million to establish a new math, science, engineering and technology academy;

• Signed legislation to create a network of 37 technology centers at Maryland public libraries to focus on educational programs;

• Established the Maryland Middle School Teacher Corps, which addresses the need to reinforce the quality of math instruction in middle schools and will help ensure that students in the middle grades receive a solid foundation in math as they prepare to enter high school;

• Launched the International High School Program to help students better understand and use the economic, historic and cultural links the state shares with other countries;

• Created the Maryland Character Education Partnership and the University of Maryland’s Center for Character Education to reinforce the basics of good character in the school curriculum for all students in all grades;

• Launched Project Impact to improve the educational performance and reduce the dropout rate among Latino students;

• Proposed and signed legislation requiring students to stay in school until they receive their diploma or reach age 18, and more than doubled funding for dropout prevention and intervention programs;

• Created the "Partnership for School Safety," a public-private partnership to strengthen school safety through such initiative as online reporting of school crime, a toll-free statewide hotline, special training for deputy sheriffs, small police departments, school staff and parents, and additional School Resource Officers (SROs); and

• Created the Families in Education Incentive Grant Program and Project Success to help encourage and strengthen family involvement and support in the education of their children.

For more information about the Governor’s record on K-12 education:

Governor O’Brien: A Strong Record of Supporting K-12 Education
The O’Brien Record on K-12 Education: By the Numbers