Favorable with Amendment
Committee: Education, Energy & the Environment
SB0899
The Maryland Catholic Conference offers this testimony in support of Senate Bill 899 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. Additionally, we offer this testimony on behalf of the families of more than 50,000 students served by over 150 PreK-12 Catholic schools in Maryland.
Senate Bill 899 would afford high-performing students a guaranteed admissions process to public institutions of higher education. Those school would include all University of Maryland institutions, St. Mary’s College and Morgan State University, as well as the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science.
Catholic high schools in Maryland have between a 98% – 100% graduation rate annually, and almost all of those students go on to attend institutions of higher education. Many go out of state, but many stay here at home in Maryland to achieve their higher education dreams and goals. Having a guaranteed admissions process would be hugely advantageous to our students, as well as those in the public school systems.
However, many schools do not actively publish rankings for a variety of reasons.
We respectfully request this committee to consider the following amendment to Section 7–205.2:
Page 3, line 31: insert “NONPUBLIC SCHOOLS SHALL NOT BE REQUIRED TO MAKE PUBLICLY AVAILABLE ANY SYSTEM OF CLASS RANKINGS, SHALL CONVEY ON A TRANSCRIPT UPON STUDENT REQUEST A CLASS RANKING FOR ANY STUDENT APPLYING FOR GUARANTEED ADMISSION TO A PUBLIC SENIOR INSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION UNDER THIS SECTION.”
The Conference appreciates your consideration, for these reasons, respectfully requests a favorable report on Senate Bill 899, with amendments.