Favorable with Amendment
Committee: Education, Energy & the Environment
SB0857
The Maryland Catholic Conference offers this supporting testimony with amendments to Senate Bill 857. 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.
Senate Bill 857 would provide a succinct timeline and other guidelines for the State Department of Education in developing prekindergarten expansion grant procedures. This legislation also seeks to ensure that new prekindergarten expansion slots are provided, as opposed to supplanting existing slots used for child care.
Nonpublic school prekindergarten providers have received mixed- delivery prekindergarten expansion grant sites in the first round of expansion in 2022, winning competitive grant bids for programs to provide prekindergarten to four-year-old children whose family income is 300% of the federal poverty level (FPL) or lower. Nonpublic providers have the capacity to offer high quality seats at our programs and are enthused to continue to partner with the state of Maryland in advancing the educational vision of the Kirwan Commission through mixed-delivery prekindergarten expansions. That is why 50% of slots are dedicated to private providers in the Blueprint prekindergarten expansion.
These sites include Catholic schools who are partnering with the State of Maryland to provide high-quality prekindergarten to low-income students. Catholic providers have long participated in and supported prekindergarten expansion in Maryland. All three of (arch)dioceses serving Maryland have a strong commitment to education. Within the State of Maryland, there are approximately 120 prekindergarten programs in Catholic schools or parishes, in addition to Headstart programs. Nearly all are accredited by an accrediting agency recognized by MSDE and a vast majority of them employ state-certified prekindergarten teachers. However, some added flexibility for expansion sites would certainly accelerate Maryland’s ambitions prekindergarten expansion goals.
A strong prekindergarten education has been proven to greatly enhance a child’s educational trajectory. Like early childhood care, it is also an essential component to supporting strong, economically secure families. Prekindergarten availability also helps to empower working parents with workplace access, an imperative part of combating poverty.
If this legislative body wants to expand the provision of high-quality faith-based providers participating in Blueprint expansion, we respectfully urge the following amendments to Senate Bill 857, which have acted as a dissuasion at least and a barrier at most for faith-based schools in applying:
AMENDMENTS TO SENATE BILL SB 857
Amendment No. 1
On Page 7, line 6, add the following language to be struck from statute:
§ 7-1A-04:
[(c)
(1) An eligible prekindergarten provider may not engage in explicitly religious activities during school hours.
(2) If an eligible prekindergarten provider engages in an explicitly religious activity, the activity shall be:
(i) Separate in time and location from any instruction offered by the eligible prekindergarten provider; and
(ii) Voluntary.
(3)
(i) An eligible prekindergarten provider shall make reasonable efforts to make the areas where prekindergarten children spend time during school hours as nonsectarian as possible.
(ii) An eligible prekindergarten provider may not be required to adopt any rule, regulation, or policy that conflicts with its religious or moral teachings.]