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Blueprint for Maryland’s Future (Kirwan)

Join the Baltimore City Public Schools team as we provide an overview of the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future (Kirwan) and an update on the progress underway.

Kirwan/Blueprint Townhall

On Thursday, April 4, 2024, from 5:30 p.m. - 7 p.m., participants can ask questions and share feedback. City Schools will be submitting our second Blueprint for Maryland’s Future implementation plan, and your feedback will help us create the best plan possible for our children.

The Blueprint for Maryland’s Future (also known as “Kirwan”) is landmark legislation that was passed into law in 2021. Building on the recommendations of the Kirwan Commission on Innovation and Excellence in Education, this legislation represents a comprehensive overhaul of education funding in the state of Maryland, with major new investments designed to close equity gaps and improve the overall quality of education in the state. 

The Kirwan Blueprint should not be confused with City School’s existing Blueprint for Success. Our 2017 Blueprint for Success clearly articulated our vision and our plan for what we would accomplish — as a district, in schools, and for students — should equitable resources be made available. With our Blueprint – an evidence-based guide to what students will be taught, how they will be taught, and how we can improve environments for learning – our elected officials and advocates rallied support for what would become, after years of debate, the successfully passed Kirwan legislation. Thus, the priorities in the Kirwan plan align with the existing City Schools priorities articulated in the Blueprint and Reconnect, Restore, Reimagine. In many ways, City Schools has a head start on Kirwan implementation.

Developing the 2024 Kirwan Implementation Plan

City Schools is currently working on developing our second local implementation plan for the Kirwan Blueprint for Maryland Future. We continue to consider how policies and practices support a system that equitably serves all students to prepare them for success that advances and accelerates our goals and priorities and that of the Kirwan Blueprint.

This year’s plan is split into two parts: a short overview of our systemwide implementation, due March 15, 2024, and the full Blueprint Implementation Plan, due May 1, 2024. The systemwide implementation overview gives City Schools the opportunity to share how we align the Kirwan Blueprint with our priorities and programming and the implementation challenges we face. The full LEA Blueprint Implementation has 23 questions this year across all 5 pillars.

Please use the link below to provide input that will help inform the development of our plan

Kirwan Implementation Plan: 2021-22 through 2023-24

City Schools’ Kirwan Blueprint implementation plan for the 2021-22 through 2023-24 school years was approved by the state's Accountability and Implementation Board in July 2023. The plan is laid out as a series of responses to questions posed by the Maryland State Department of Education.

This initial plan was laid out as 164 questions covering the five pillars of work outlined in the Kirwan Blueprint. You can learn more about the development timeline, authors, and process in the presentation that was made to the Board's Operations Committee.

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Town Hall materials - January 26 and 31, 2023

Understanding Kirwan Funding

While some initial elements of Kirwan were implemented in the 2021-22 school year, the 2022-23 school year will mark the beginning of substantial impacts on district funding. It’s important to understand what Kirwan is — and what it isn’t.

Kirwan is a recalibration of state funding through an equity lens that works to correct what has been historical underfunding of educational resources for children from low-income families, English language learners, and students with disabilities. In addition, it gives special attention to students who live in areas of concentrated poverty.

This will mean additional funds for the district and the opportunity to deploy new resources on behalf of our students. At the same time, as part of its equity focus, Kirwan is targeted at schools and students who need it most; some schools and students will benefit more than others from Kirwan funding.

Kirwan is not a curriculum, and it is not a “blank check” for the district to spend however it wants; there are guidelines, restrictions, requirements, and mandates. Kirwan is also not the sole source of funding for the district. It is designed to be transformative — to support students and schools at the margins as well as bring about systemic change.

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Kirwan Components

Kirwan is a long-term change to City Schools resources that will scale up significantly in coming years. Like our Blueprint, it is an evidence-based approach to closing opportunity and achievement gaps with clearly identified focuses that are similarly aligned with City Schools’:

Did you know?

Kirwan funding arriving after pandemic disruptions to education makes this an incredible opportunity to target resources when and where the need is at its greatest. Kirwan begins to correct historical inequities while providing opportunities for more resources for our students, our families, our communities, our schools, and our staff.

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Kirwan Blueprint Implementation Plan 

City Schools’ implementation plan for the Kirwan Blueprint was approved by the Accountability and Implementation Board in July 2023. The plan is laid out as a series of responses to questions posed by the Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE).

The plan only addresses planning and implementation work that began in 2021-22 and ends in 2023-24. A second plan will be submitted in March 2024 and will cover subsequent years.

The plan is laid out as 164 questions covering the five pillars of work outlined in the Kirwan Blueprint. You can learn more about the development timeline, authors, and process in the presentation made to the Board's Operations Committee.

Below you will find:

  • The implementation plan that was submitted to the MSDE and approved by the AIB.

  • An overview of the presentation that was made to the Board's Operations Committee earlier this year.

  • A very brief, high-level summary of points made under each pillar in the plan.