Favorable with Amendment
Committee: Budget & Taxation
SB0136
The Maryland Catholic Conference offers this testimony in support of Senate Bill 136, with amendments. The Catholic Conference is the public policy representative of the three (arch)dioceses serving Maryland, which together encompass over one million Marylanders. Statewide, their parishes, schools, hospitals and numerous charities combine to form our state’s second largest social service provider network, behind only our state government. We offer this testimony on behalf of the families of approximately 50,000 students served by over 150 PreK-12 Catholic schools in Maryland.
Senate Bill 136 allows funds from the annual appropriation for the Safe Schools Fund of $10,000,000 to be reallocated to LEAs that have fully expended their annual allocation and have a demonstrated particular additional need within that same fiscal year. The Safe Schools Fund provides grants to local school systems and local law enforcement agencies for school safety.
The safety of our school students in all Maryland schools is a paramount concern, whether they attend a public or private school. One in eight Maryland students, or around 138,000, attend a nonpublic school. Prior to 2023, the state budget was providing $3.5 million for lower-tuition nonpublic schools to receive a per pupil allocation grant for school safety and security measures, but this was removed last year. Especially with increased threats upon members of denominations of our diverse group of Maryland faith-based schools, security dollars are of great need. Thus, we respectfully request that this committee provide that same $3.5 million in this legislation through the attached amendment.
Many of the schools with lower-income student enrollments would not have been able to complete the security upgrades without this funding and should be able to continue to do so annually. The program is making an impact statewide and is highly popular with administrators in every jurisdiction. Student safety should not be determined by whether you attend a public or nonpublic school. For this reason, we urge this committee to adopt the aforementioned amendment and issue a favorable report on Senate Bill 136, as amended.