Voices Blog

We succeeded beyond expectation!  The bill, containing the essential elements of taking restorative practices to scale was introduced by Delegate Cheryl Pasteur and co-filed in the Senate by Senator Brooks. An amended version, taking account of the legislative concern with costs as the General Assembly faced a structural deficit, was passed by an extraordinary margin of 128-6 in the House of Delegates. The hearings in the House on February 28th and the Senate March 6th were very successful. We mobilized over a dozen individuals to testify in support of the bill and dozens more volunteers to attend and show support. No one testified in opposition to the bill at either hearing. In addition, a powerful coalition of organizations supported the bill including: Maryland State Education Association, Baltimore Teachers Union, the NAACP State Conference, the Caucus of African American Leaders, the Maryland Education Coalition, Maryland Alliance for Justice Reform, Maryland Public Defender’s Office, Maryland Education Coalition, Maryland Out of School Time Network, the ACLU, Center for Dispute Resolution at the University of MD Law School. The Maryland State Superintendent of Schools, while having to maintain an official neutrality, testified in person strongly in favor of restorative practices as a priority. Given the huge success in the House, the successful hearing in the Senate, no opposition, and amending the bill to remove the cost barrier led us to be optimistic the bill would pass. Unfortunately, it did not receive a vote in the Senate committee. We attribute failure in the Senate, in addition to the normal crush of bills at the end of a session, not to actual opposition, but to a combination of the following: The collapse of the Key Bridge created an unforeseen time crunch in the legislature. Quite understandably, legislators needed to address many issues associated with that tragedy. Secondly, a budget impasse has hovered over the House and the Senate due to Maryland’s structural deficit. This disagreement on the budget has reduced time spent advancing other legislative priorities. We are elated with our progress in both raising awareness and with the huge margin of support in the House of Delegates. We are, of course, disappointed with the non-action in the Senate. But our support for enabling all Maryland schools to be Restorative Schools remains as strong as ever. We are currently thinking through next best steps to broaden and strengthen the base of support for enabling all schools to be place that build community, foster positive relationships, where students, teachers, administrators value one another and respect each other’s voices, where equity is the everyday lens through which people act and make decisions. The effort continues.