001all right the time is now 5:02 um good evening and welcome to the April 1st 2025 special policy and governance committee meeting I am Dr Felton Moss committee chair and district 7 board member it brings me great pleasure to welcome everyone to tonight's meeting and I look forward to our work tonight for those unable to observe now the meeting is being recorded and can be assessed on the PGCPS YouTube channel for later viewing Miss adlay please call the role Dr Moss present Mr BRS present Miss Bure present M Walker pres Jackson with a quorum present the policy and governance committee meeting will come to order adoption of the agenda this meeting was called to receive critical legislative updates before the end of the legislative season and to address policies that were over looked in the
002previous meeting the chair informs the public that that agenda item 4.1 policy 3120 debt management was removed from the agenda to allow Administration additional time for research if there are no objections the committee shall adopt the April 1st 2025 meeting agenda as amended there are no objections the April 1st 2025 meeting agenda is adopted as amended are there is there any public comments there are no public comments this evening public comments can be live written or pre-recorded using video or audio Miss adlay are there any no abolutely the chair at this time will move to our legislative update and the chair will recognize Miss Welsh for the legislative update good evening everyone um I thought what I would do is first uh go through um what where we are with House Bill 504 Senate Bill
00342 9 which is our education Excellence uh bill um that we put a lot of time and energy into uh in terms of advocating for specific things that we need for our school system um they um the at this point the uh we now have the house amendments and we have the Senate amendments and what will happen it's go we'll have to go to conference committee to resolve any of the differences and which they will pick three members from the house and three members from the Senate to be a part of this conference committee and then the conference committee uh will develop a report and hopefully um it will be adopted by both the House and Senate and of course then the bill will pass if in fact they don't get to a point where
004they don't adopt it then the the actual report then of course the bill would fail but I doubt very much that the bill is going to fail uh in terms because of the cuts that are included in that particular bill but I thought it would be helpful uh and within the next couple days that I think things will be moving very quickly because the session ends next week so I thought it' be helpful just um to go through some of the major pieces of of both bills and compare what the house has versus what the Senate has in their versions if you're okay with that um so first of all as far as the actual Foundation formula for per pupil um the house amendments restored the per pupil Foundation amount to was there an existing
005law but the Senate Amendment did decrease that amount from FY 26 to FY 37 um so there's a big difference there uh as far as teacher collaborative time the house has has a delay at school implementation by one year but no reduction to the foundation and the Senate amendments actually paused um the collaborative time teacher collaborative time uh funding uh to 2029 um and instead they will provide these collaborative time in Innovation demonstration grants um uh through 26 to 29 um as far as Eon economic downturn contingencies the house did not address any of that but the Senate does have language in there that says that um if there's changes um in which um the it would trigger to 3.75 from 7.5 both per um state funding and federal funding uh that it would actually
006be uh in a combined downturn of 5% then there will be no uh budget increases at all so they'll sort of bring everything to a screeching halt uh if that were to occur uh which is really pretty scary um and then in terms of Community Schools the house has um it says at least 10 eligible schools then the school system can expend up to 40% funds on behalf of the schools and may not expend but cannot exp expend for Central admin costs so there's no this if you recall we had talked about that before where they actually took that provision out that you can't use any of the funding for any Central administrative cost um but um they must expend on the money on behalf of the eligible schools and then to provide a list
007of those itemized list of services and amount that have been spent for the Senate though they did not take out that ad administra section um and they um it does also have the language that any money that is spent you will have to have a list provide a list of what all the items itemized services and amounts that were provided um and so that so that they're costly and and that I think that makes sense you if we have this money then they want to make sure that we are um providing the documentation to support the expenditure of the funds in the way that it was meant to be expended um it does does um change so there is language there though that now the evaluation report that we used to have to transmit to
008aib and MSD in the house um um we don't have to do that anymore it'll go directly to msde and then msde will summarize Statewide evaluation report for all the systems and then transmit it to the aib um and the and the um Senate did adopt th those amendments um they did the house did revise definitions of wraparound services including offering evidence-based in school and in-person uh tutoring and providing dur uh providing the services during school and then they uh did strike the language other services as de defined by MSD guidance or regulations and um the house the Senate did adopt those house amendments um as uh the next one this as far as the house they did authorize countywide Community School implementation plans um and um so that would mean that not only does
009each school have to have an implementation plan but now the entire county has to have an implementation plan and that the measurable goals that they have to be set at least every two years and a review of The implementation plan at least once every two years um but they there was language there that said if you didn't do those things they would withhold the funds and the house did strike that language and did not uh allow that to move forward however the um Senate they keep kept the countywide implementation plans and the whole idea of of reviewing the plans and goals every two years but they kept the the language that says um that they have the ability to withhold the funds um if in fact the school system didn't do what they were supposed
010to do um the uh next thing is collaborative time Innovation grants which I referred to previously and I just the fact that the house did strike that from the bill and that's because they're only with they're only pausing for one year in the collaborative time funding uh but the Senate of course um because of their Pauls from syy 26 to 29 they actually um have the grants in place for that time period um as far as the school leadership training program um their intent is to that that to implement that has been taken out of house version um but it's still sitting in the Senate version and it has two parts one for the school system leadership training and then one for Maryland school Leadership Academy so they have two pieces to that um that
011they're going to continue with um as far as national teacher recruitment campaign and relocation there was no uh changes to the um house version um and the um the vers the uh Senate version does bring licens and prospective teachers to the state that actually ends as of 7 uh July 1 29 so that's sort of provisional for a while but doesn't extend uh as far as career lad collaboration time the house uh uh pushed back 8y year phase in from 7 uh to one to 7126 uh from 7125 and of course the Senate PES it for eight-year phase in starting in 7129 um from 7125 as far as the um academic Excellence program um there's been a lot of conversation in both um the house and the Senate and um they did the Senate did
012basically pick up most of the Amendments from the house um with a little bit of change in the program language but I know and just listening to a couple of the hearings there was a lot of conversation related to this and I know the state superintendent has been highly invested in this and is swears that it will work based on her experience in Mississippi so I think um that's why that has not been touched that uh much as far as grow your own education or grant program um the house has language what Alters the definition and there's some minor changes and um and um candidates must uh meet all the conditions um not just one condition and then the Senate picked up the house amendments and then the interstate teacher Mobility compact the house version
013actually took that completely out of the bill but the um the Senate um did not change it so that's still the Internet Interstate teacher Mobility compact is still sitting in the Senate bill and then um there's was language that was um the special education funding study that was language that was put there and um the house has language that says contract with independent entity to conduct a study for special education in the state but this um the um Senate says that they will look at require requiring a review of a previous of previous MGA reports and there was a West study that was a West education study that was done in 2019 on education funding um they talked about reviewing and utilizing that information however there's a lot of conversation out there about the fact
014that the results of that study was flawed so I I don't know that they'll be moving forward with that as far as career counseling and remember we did we do have House Bill 772 that also addresses career counseling and that um the house version doesn't address it at all but the Senate uh version basically is extending career counseling and that is where the um the uh County the money is given to the school system and the school system then passes it through to the uh Workforce uh board County Workforce board and that is extended through uh fiscal year 28 was supposed to end this upcoming year but there is a requirement that there be a study in January of 2027 in which the aib is then required to analyze and look at what are the
015benefits for the uh career counseling um so those are like the big major uh differences between the two uh two bills and it looks like they're going to be hashing out um all these different things um um before they come to a final conclusion on what they're what we're going to end up with um are there any questions um colleagues at this time gonna see if there are any questions um from Miss Welsh as it relates to these policy matters uh board member Walker hey there m Walsh thank you so much for breaking everything down it's kind of tough to keep up so I appreciate your summaries when you come here um a quick question that I have um is I know you gave us the difference between the house bills and the Senate bills
016and right now it sits inside the Senate so maybe I don't know if it's a question for you or for John is where are we by way of I know we're hashing It Out by way of timing for this hash out by way of where our Senators and delegates kind of stand on what version might come up because I'm just looking to see where our advocacy lay and how we discuss um what pieces we are going to advocate for and really push for do you happen to have any any thoughts on that or should we take that up with jontel so I actually did talk to jontel today and um I asked her a very similar question what her thinking was on this and um she said that what we have to pay close attention
017to is who will be the members on the conference committee and if there's a Prince George's County uh delegate or Senator that is on the conference committee then that's where we would want to be having conversations it's past the time to write any kind of testimony or anything but certainly once we know who is on this committee then it doesn't hurt to have those conversations just to let that person know you know where Prince George's County stands on different components of the bill and I when that's going to come to light like I as of as of this afternoon when I had a conversation with her their conference had the committee had not been um identifi the members hadn't been identified but whenever they do get to that I think that's going to be important
018for us to keep our eyes open for okay and in my last 49 seconds what I'll say um to this committee for consideration is I don't think it precludes us from actually reaching out to Beyond Prince George's County just to let them know um where our standpoint is when we get that letter together um it is very clear on where it's going and I think that that's beneficial for us to know as we move forward on what support looks like thanks uh thank you board member Walker um for your question I do just want to take a moment and say you know we did send a letter to the delegation this week reminding them of the board's original positions this committee authorized that task earlier in the week um our next step I I do
019believe after the blessings of us tonight will be once the you know that committee is decided the conference committee we will certainly be um agitating and knocking on their doors fully expect Ben Barnes to be a member of that committee who's been a strong voice for PGCPS so um really great advocacy points there board member bu sh yeah thanks um Miss Welsh I was wondering if you have that dollar calculation on what the worst outcome could be from this where the Senate stands now around this pause and collaborative time I think um if I'm not mistaken we're looking at something like 120 million cut in per pable over four years to PGCPS I think that that sounds familiar I can look it up but I think that does sound familiar yeah so you know when
020we're thinking about adding up you know potential Federal cuts and then adding this on I think this is one of our primary messages around advocacy is that the state the state is constitutionally responsible for our school systems and this is the the moment where they need to stand up and and and keep us stable cuts from our primary funer you know are you know this is a terrible time for that and the um also those um contingencies I just want to Circle back to you know your point about you know as you described it it was you know I think you use something even stronger than terrible it really is terrible because we know the history of of these of the this legislation for equity and and achievement through the Thorton commission and in 20
0218 that's exactly what happened and that is where everyone we have a state superintendent a governor everyone wants us to be number one in the nape scores should they even survive this Trump Administration and you can't get there without a plan and we were number one because of investing those first five years of the Thorton commission and then the reason the Carwin commission existed in 2018 was to get back to that plan and so to add these contingencies and to not declare this the number one priority just continues on that cycle so I just wanted to go back to those two points again to say we've been here before and we learned our lesson in fact this very legislature many of the same people convened the Kerwin Commission because they had learned the lesson and
022wanted us not to repeat it but yet here we are again so I just think our our students our parents our constituents in Prince George's County have every right to be very very loud right right now thank you and I can answer your question it was 126 m56 ,500 I mean yeah $ 56,2 over four years but then if you add in the cost that it would be for the uh because it also impacts County funding the total amount over a fouryear for that four-year pause that's in the Senate would be 214 m97 061 thank you so much for thank you thank you so much for answering that I think um you know one of the points I wanted to really make tonight um is around the collaborative time piece um which I think is
023super important I had an opportunity to talk to one of our area superintendents and I think one of the pieces there's a narrative that's actually happening in Annapolis that we don't have the Educators to be able to even fund the collaborative time but I think one of pieces that's missing in this narrative is that you know we have a high proportion of given the nation's shortage of Educators we have a high proportion of Educators who are learning to teach um and they are in the practice of doing that and collaborative time really provides um structured paid time to them to be able to collaborate and be able to focus on getting better at teaching so that we can do this work of raising outcomes for young people in the state so um I just think
024that um you know for folks who are who are listening and super thankful for our parents who've been doing their advocacy work um these elements are super important and it looks like we'll next need to turn our sites to the conference committee um to to be able to maintain the Integrity of the blueprint may may I say one more thing based on what you just said absolutely and then board member Walker oh I'm sorry I'm sorry that board member Walker go first no please go ahead because I'm shifting to Interstate teacher Mobility compact oh I just want to say though because I did uh speak with um Chief Balwin about um the like the that whole conversation about the collaborative time and how can you do it if there shortages of teachers and everything I
025wanted to get her input from it and she said that yes there are that well first of all she pointed out that 90% of our teaching positions right now are occupied um but it what it and it but it doesn't um eliminate our ability to function as a school system and the thing is is that the teachers the teachers that we are hiring just what you said really do need the opportunity to be working with other teachers the new teachers so that they can learn everything but even more importantly we when they did negotiations they included in their negotiated agreement language around collaborative time with the expectation that this this was was the next step in the blueprint and there would be funding to support that and so by the fact that they are they're
026take if the Senate version were to make it through that that that has really big impact for the school system because it is sitting in the negotiated agreement thank you so much board member Walker and then board oh thank you so much um you know as I Look to have a piece uh for for for this piece right here on collaborative time I I didn't see the last letter that was sent but I do think that as we form a letter to be sent in our next version that we could talk about this other uh piece that I've heard some legislators talk about um not only don't we have enough uh teachers which you already talked to uh but the but this piece around um it pulling away from the time in the classroom and
027how much time that really is away from scholars in a classroom in teaching I think that's a narrative that so some people are concerned about and I think that we could easily debunk the myth that exists there because there are a number of people that are a little concerned and don't quite understand when we talk about elabora time what does that mean for time away from scholars in a classroom so that's one piece I think that we should definitely tap into the other piece on this interstate teacher Mobility compact is you know I think what I heard you say is it in or out I think what you what I think I heard you say is that for the delegation the house it was out but for the Senate it was in and I think
028thank you and I think one of the things that we do want to tap into is that this is the streamlined Pathway to lure and a lot of times we get caught up in the red tape so it's not to I think that the narrative really needs to be is not to take away what is required for our amazing um teachers that's right here it gives us this um additional Pathway to lure um that I think will help us to still hire highly qualified teachers inside of the state of Maryland by being able to uh take some of their certifications and their qualifications um that they have from um out of state teaching um I just think we need to just tap into that to help people understand just a little bit better in um
029common language of what that means and what the impacts could be for our teachers our hiring and our attention um here in Maryland thanks thank you so much board member Walker board member uh Vice chair Briggs thank you so much chair um Moss um Mrs Welsh I was hoping that we could um provide like a bit more clarity I'll be completely honest with you that there are a thousand things on my plate as I'm sure are on everyone's plate and I actually am having a hard time like tracking exactly explicitly like what we're doing in Annapolis um and maybe even our our stance and I do appreciate um board member Boer struther kind of giving that background context is I think that that was helpful it was definitely more accessible and then I think also
030when we say like conference committee just for people who are watching this like I think the biggest thing I feel that people want to know is like what exactly in very explicit terms like is happening that we're pushing for in Annapolis um and if anything like what are the strategies that we're like you know if at all like if we're advancing any strategies here I know we talked about a few around who to bring to the table for these conference committees but if you could just clarify some of those things um Broadley that would be helpful to me if that makes sense and let me know if you want me to give more context and I can I want to jump in on this one too because it's been a twofold strategy but do you
031want to start um Miss Welsh oh I didn't realize you were asking me Jonathan because you all have been doing on most of the leg work so I feel like you uh want to talk about all the steps you've taken to to move forward I mean our superintendent did provide a letter you know uh in um pointing out all the things that we oppose in the house bill um but other than that you all have been the ones that have really T taken the major steps and have followed up at least that's my understanding okay yeah board Briggs would you like me to answer just for the I know you're asking this question for the public so do you want me to artic ulate this to the public yeah yeah definitely thank you all right
032got you um so I think a part of our work has we've had a very refined strategy where we started with our our friends and partners in the house where we met with them um had conversations with them about the Integrity of the blueprint I think if the biggest takeaway for the general public here is we fundamentally believe that the commitment that was made in the blueprint when the blueprint was passed is what we should stick too um that is simply what we've been arguing it is the best chance for PGCPS to give all kids an excellent education and make sure that they grow and they they flourish in life um the curring commission um and all those good folks doing those work determine the per pupil amount that it would take to give kids
033that education the blueprint was painstakingly designed with that in mind and we believe that there shouldn't be any Cuts we should protect the Integrity of it and so that's been our strategy we started in the house by meeting with folks telling them you know why we couldn't um deplete the Integrity of the bill once um we saw and we believe our advocacy worked in the house um there were certain elements that didn't make it um but um Brit large the house did what it it should have done in terms of um adopting the Amendments that PGCPS Pro proposed um and that would codify per pupil funding it would make no cuts um to to the foundation if you will it would protect Community School funding um all those elements that we you know we care
034deeply about I mean we promoted not giving the state department access to local dollars to implement grow your own and the like uh we believe that that should have been done at the district level so once we once we were able to be some uh successful on the house side our strategy moved to the Senate um and we started talking to we continue to do our work in the house but talking the leadership um because we knew they would need to get their work over and then we met with all the Senators um from Prince georgees County and we had the pleasure of meeting with some folks from Baltimore um as well and do the work what our strategies been the last few days is reminding all of those folks of what needs to be
035true and staying in the ears jontel our lobbyist staying at the doorfront of uh of leadership and letting them know um you know we have some thoughts around who might be on the conference committee and we'll continue knocking on their doors but I think the great thing about this work is all of us have been doing it um board member Walker has a couple of folks that she staying in contact with every week letting them know PGCPS priorities um board member booer struther you've done your part to board member Briggs to make sure your delegation knows I've done my part it's just been a all hands on deck I know our chairman has reached out to a couple of folks to make sure um the work and I think one of the most exciting parts
036and um I'm GNA steal a comment from a colleague and then stop my comments because I might get in trouble but you know board member booer struther um our veteran board member says the most disastrous thing could be a board that's unified in its strategy uh to folks that want to get rid of the blueprint and I think we've been that disaster if you will as a board um to try to keep folks on their toes the final thing I'll say is I think part of the reason I'm not going to say it's all PGCPS since doing but I think um board member Walker and um and uh and myself and a couple other colleagues can take credit for this partly reason why the Senate probably still has the interstate compact is we kind of
037kind of screamed about it when we were up there right after the house had taken it out um and so um I I think you saw our delegation really stand up to to be able to protect that so that's the work that we've been doing we'll turn our SES to conference committee now um if that makes sense I felt like that was a test from uh our vice chair of the board uh Briggs to make sure we were all doing our job and his vice chair role of the board not this no no no I know you're doing great work I just want to make that everyone understood it yeah thank you I'm just giving you a hard time uh board member Walker yeah I was about to say I think we passed the test
038on that one so I'm glad you said that I was cracking up over here but one of the things I also wanted to add is that I think that this this specific legislative session has been very intentional um on what we've been doing John T has jumped right in I think we've been organized around the meetings that we've been having when we do uh go to Annapolis exactly what we're talking about who it is we're meeting with um making sure we're on a schedule and being committed to um not only our own delegates who support us but Prince George's County as a whole so whether it's the chair of the delegation or the vice chairs of the delegation or individuals um we have a plan we have a cohesive message uh we get that out
039to our communities and I think uh this legislative session and we'll continue to grow but I think that as we grew from last year into this year last year was really all about getting folks to understand that we're here and and seeing who the players were and how we tap into this this year has been really tapping in and making sure not only are we here at the table but um here is a cohesive outline of what's really important to us and I think as we continue to move forward um into even next legislative season uh well let me not even go that far I'm talking even after this session because that's really when the real work happens and I just think we need to make sure that we're continuing to stay fastpaced and on
040top of things and being very clear on what we stand for and why quite frankly because that's what we've learned along this side is why is this important what is the impact if this doesn't happen and making sure we look at the why and the what is the impact as we continue to move forward so I just wanted to add that in I think it's been intentional I think we have the same message I think that as we talk to our own individual um delegates and Senators like I have four senators and multiple delegates that represent uh District nine like you all do as well and as we stay tapped into each one of those U making sure that we have a clear and consistent message on why and what the impact is thanks yeah
041and I'll just close this up if there are no more questions for Miss Welsh around this item um committee we do have an update from the administration around the future so a couple of things are happening I wanted to give you all as part of the legislative update Miss Welsh is part of this we've set our legislative day for September 12th I know all of you on this committee uh were pushing to move that up so it is um a save the date will go out you know once the administration finishes with it the administration is also working on a timeline of events that will occur between now and September 12th I'm right Miss Welsh correct me and the administration is also working on a post session recap between the board and the administration to
042talk about how all the bills that happened during the session Jonathan about missing something we're I don't remember the format we're going to do but we'll be announcing that soon but I do know those are the next steps that we'll be taken over the next um few months after the session is over with to make sure folks know what happened but to also start planning with our delegation members um September 12th is the day uh that we've been able to tensively set for our legislative day for the fall any questions or comments around any of that Miss Welsh you want to add anything there I just want to say that it's so one thing that I thought of immediately was that because legislative day if it's on September 12 it's going to be important to
043make sure that we have worked on the legislative platform in advance and that it's ready to go by that point which means it needs to come to the board probably almost like the August meeting to to really be able to have it ready to move forward because that I think that's important absolutely we'll make sure Cindy um we need to account for that in our planning moving forward if you will miss adlay okay anything on the legislative update colleagues you got questions about any other bills or anything while we're here board member Walker yeah just real quick about the legislative day um we will be involved in that one um your thoughts on work in Partnership um with that one yeah so just to tell you how the board is taking an intentional role there's
044a there's a draft schedule being put together that will come to the um the PNG Committee of that day jontel and Quincy are working in concert to design the day um and so we'll certainly be designing that in a co-constructed way good question I'm really excited about it I just want to say thanks to the administration if they are working um looking on I'll definitely send a note to Quincy and superintendent house for really hearing moving this up earlier and making sure that the schedule is workable like a working session um so we can move forward with actions out of that meeting it's it's really exciting to see so thanks board member Walker I'm not talking about you but I think every week you have said the session needs to be moved up um the
045work and it needs to be a work session so on Friday I was like it needs to be a work session I think I used my two fingers too um so uh thank you for your leadership around there for us any other Miss Welsh anything else before we go on legislative update are you I was going to say I do have a couple more um just a couple more bills that you might want to just hear about that just I mean they're for informational really but that they're you know important to us um um one bill that uh is moving forward which we do support has to do with special ed Service delivery models and publication requirements and which requires us then to uh put on our website every delivery model that we provide specifically
046because to ensure that parentally place private school students the parents of those students have access to this information also uh we already do that so of course we're very much in favor of it so of course we do support it another bill House Bill 1265 which is reportable offenses and uh prohibitive behavior on school grounds this this is um this this law that talks about reportable offenses has been in effect for many years but they have made revisions to it they have repealed the list of modle offenses off the list of reportable offenses but they did add two offenses one actually being U making a threat of mass violence uh which is pretty serious um because often times that's the next step to your active shooter so that's important and the school the State's Attorney's
047office is responsible for notifying the superintendent and the school principal and depending on the school possibly the school security officer and then the superintendent must also and this what this came to effect in the spring where with an event that happened in one of our school County School Systems um where a student was living in one County and actually ended up being found guilty of a reportable offense but then moved to another County and that other County had no knowledge of of that student and often times depending on the nature of the reportable offense it's really important for the school system to offer some alternative method of Education because it's not appropriate for the student to actually be within this in the school setting at that point so that this law does require that we
048that the superintendent once he's aware of a student that has moved out of the county that he inform and moved into another Maryland school system that he informed that that superintendent of that information the other thing is House Bill 102 Senate Bill 225 which is the Family and Medical Leave Insurance Provisions they have actually moved that back the time frame for it which uh as you could say it's it's fortunate and unfortunate fortunate in in the sense that it that now instead of this July where employees and employers would have to begin contributing to um to the to these to the U medical leave um with um money you know to support time off that has been moved back to January 1 2027 and in light of the financial crunch that we definitely will be
049in that's probably positive in the sense of that that coming up this coming school year um the other thing is Senate Bill 130 and House Bill 145 147 today actually um Senate Bill 130 was uh voted on and they accepted all of the Amendments of House Bill 147 this is student technology use policy so um that one which has to do with cell phones so that one is basically both bills are looking at uh what is in house bill 147 uh waysa means did vote on it today to amend the Senate Bill 130 to have the same language as House Bill 147 and what it does is it requires Boards of EDS to develop and adopt the policy on on uh cell phones during school hours uh with a limitation on the use during instructional
050time and that's it's very broad so it's not really prescribing to school school boards exactly what needs to be in the policy it's just saying you need to have a policy and that the whole ideaas we don't want it to interfere with instructional time uh it does say within the bill there that the bill doesn't apply to boards that have an existing policy that includes a limitation or use during instructional time so I thought and there's a hearing coming up in the Senate on um um April tomorrow uh on this bill um the next thing is uh Senate Bill 451 and House Bill 325 and the reason I bring this one up is because we actually had in our platform that with the GED so there was one section of the GED which uh requires
051that um that it be done in Spanish and it's the one that has to do with English but you have to but I mean it can't can't be done in Spanish your own your own language so you have to do this one section which I think has to do with a lot of writing and all this stuff in English it's the only section of the assessment that is like that and we had put into the platform that that it would be there would be a bill that would revise the GED so that it all sections could be done in your native language um if that's what was needed and so um that basically the Senate Bill uh was voted they voted to have it conformed with the house bill language which basically says that the
052language um that the person can take the GED in their own language U the language that they choose their preferred language English or Spanish so that was s exciting to think that this was something we put in there and it did get through so that was good the other thing is and I don't we hadn't really talked about this in a while but House Bill 935 which is the venue spe specific emergency action plans in high school football games that bill was revised um so that there's not this strict requirement for either athletic trainer or or um EMT be present and instead at the language says that it the what you must have uh at a football game whether it be a volunteer or an employee who is an athletic trainer or a license or
053certified emergency medical service provider or a licensed nurse or physician uh so it's it's it was um provide a little bit more flexibility for school system so that you're not in a position where you have to go out there and try to find all these trainers because that's the other issue is that there's a shortage so it's it's difficult to find them and then the very last one which is House Bill 1127 which has to do with water safety instructional content which there is a hearing tomorrow at two at 1:00 in the Senate and that one they took all the water requirements so that the you you don't have to have the swimming component but the it is the curriculum must have instructional content on water safety and it must be offered in elementary middle
054and high school so there was that that that um Bill itself was um um sort of softened a little um I'm sure they probably received a lot of uh opposition from not just our County but other counties when it came to the whole issue of having access to pools when most high schools you know we yeah they don't exist so so that I just thought I hit on a couple of that or you know last minut highlights that are coming through appreciate you so much Miss wilsh member Boer strer I believe you have a question yeah thanks so you know I know last session our big our big issue was it seemed like there were just so many unfunded mandates what what's the landscape for unfunded mandates this session are you are we looking at
055additional expenses in the context of these massive potential massive Cuts I think that's a very good question and I don't have your have an answer to give you any specifics at this point but I was thinking to myself once we know what's been what's made it through even even before it gets to the governor but least like start calculating what because we have fiscal notes for most of them so anything that gets past we could at least have like a a projection of what we think those costs might be for us uh I do think it just off the top of my head looking at the bills that did get through I'm not sure we are nond day with as many bills that have the unfunded mandates but I think that's something that we want
056to look at you know next week as soon as it gets over because that's going to have to be considered you know with the budget and everything and with all these other things that that are happening right now to the budget yeah thank thank you and it s I know you you mentioned two that are now not unfunded mandates so it made me wonder if there's some we haven't even been talking about because of the focus on the really big impacts the um and that covered what may is tracking like is is there anything else big that may still has on the agenda for us whether to to oppose or to support or did you cover a lot of what basically what's left after crossover mainly what was left I just shared May has not
057this past year may has not been as active as it has been in the past and I think part of it is because there's new people and they're attempting to learn the ropes uh and once they you know because John Willams I think was a hard act to follow because he you know he lived and breed this stuff and he not only did he understand education law inside and out he also you know he knew all the delegates and Senators you know he knew all the ins and outs that were going on within the process so it's it's a big you know big shoes to fill so all right thank you for that context Miss Welsh thank you so much U for the legislative update um appreciate all of your work I don't know if
058we say it enough but we appreciate your work this is a lot to keep up with and Shelby and Quincy and all the folks in your office who are making sure uh we are even prepared to Advocate and our lobbyist is not on tonight um because she's talking to delegates and senators in Annapolis and so um but huge thanks to jontel for our legislative work um we're g to move to just a a couple of last things before we get out of here we have no policies for first consideration tonight none for second consideration we do have a couple of policies for third cons consideration which is first reader to the board policy 3100 Investments policy 3160 transfer of funds policy 4113 Community involvement in the principal selection process policy 5111 legal age of admission
059policy 5206 yearbooks photographs that is being rescinded and then policy 9366 which is order of business to parliamentary procedures these policies are under um agenda items 6.1 through 6.6 will be submitted submitted um for public comment were submitted for public comments none were received on these items I do want to flag that so the question is shall the committee recommend the policies under agenda items 6.1 through 6.6 to the full board for consideration is there any discussion if not miss adlay please call the role Dr m i Mr BRS hi m I miss walk I four in the affirmative the policy there are four in the affirmative the policies under agenda items 6.1 through 6.6 will be recommended to the full board for public comment consideration um colleagues saying that we have nothing else um
060for tonight um the chair informs the public that the next virtual policy and governance committee meeting will be April 9th with um a special meeting please continue to check the Prince georgees County Board of Education website for meeting information and updates thank you for all the great discussions and attendance to our viewers thank you for watching there being no further business the time is now 5:48 the April 1st 2025 special policy and governance committee meeting is adjourned thank you good night see youall have a good night