Two bills in the Maryland General Assembly are aimed at attracting and retaining teachers and school support staff.
One bill would offer a $500 bonus each year for two years to Maryland’s school support workers — including everyone from food service workers to bus drivers.
In a virtual news conference on the legislation, state Sen. Craig Zucker said parents have been able to see over the past two years just how much work is done by staffers, such as paraeducators and other school employees.
He said the bonuses in the legislation serve as a way of telling support staff that “the state of Maryland is investing in you, just as you have invested in our children.”
Pia Morrison, president of SEIU Local 500, which represents school support staff in Montgomery County, said, “This issue around pay parity and around low pay for support staff professionals has got to be addressed in a meaningful way.”
She explained that according to the Economic Policy Institute, the median weekly wage for food service workers is $331.
“There shouldn’t be a public sector job in this country and particularly in K-12 education that is not a family-sustaining job.” Morrison said.
Another bill would allow for class size to be considered as part of the collective bargaining process for teachers. Currently, state law does not allow for class size to be part of the bargaining process.
“An unmanageable number of students in a class can prevent a teacher from providing the individual learning and attention that a child may need to succeed,” Del. Jazz Lewis said.
Sia Kyriakakos, an art teacher in Baltimore, said teaching large classes limits what a teacher can accomplish with students. When she had larger classes, she said she often thought to herself, “Was I there to just simply babysit?”
Cheryl Bost, president of the Maryland State Education Association and a fourth-grade teacher, said she had similar feelings when she taught classes of 30 students.
In that situation, she said she felt she did more managing than educating. When teaching a class of 20, Bost said, “I knew each of their reading levels, their math levels.”
She added that it allowed for a more personal connection with her students. “I knew their favorite colors, their dogs at home,” and Bost said that led to the ability to meet the needs of her students in a meaningful way.
Costs
The initial cost of providing the bonuses in Senate Bill 831 would be $41 million, according to the Maryland State Education Association. The bill would create a work group to study what percentage of support staff earn a living wage, and study wage levels needed in order to attract and retain school staff.
Asked about the fiscal impact of allowing for bargaining over class size, Bost said, “We’ll have to see that in the out years.”
If class sizes are reduced, it’s possible that more teachers would have to be hired and that school building capacity could be an issue.
“We know that we’re going to have to look at school physical capacity as we expand our pre-K opportunities that are provided in the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future,” Bost said, referring to the sweeping education reform bill that’s been enacted.
