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ROBERT L. EHRLICH, JR., Governor
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S.B. 759
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Preamble
WHEREAS, The foundations of lifelong learning and well-being are based on
the experiences of early childhood; and
WHEREAS, Maryland has invested in many programs to improve the early
experiences of the State's children; and
WHEREAS, These programs have the potential to move the State toward the
achievement of one of its foremost goals - that all children arrive at school with the
skills and competencies needed to succeed in school and later in life; and
WHEREAS, One of foremost challenges faced by early childhood programs is
that they are spread among different State agencies, rather than residing in a single
agency that has as its core mission the continuum of learning from birth through high
school; and
WHEREAS, The Maryland State Department of Education, which embraces this
core mission and already houses a number of major early childhood programs, could
provide a unified home for all the programs that nurture and educate the State's
children; and
WHEREAS, The benefits of such a reorganization would be substantial, in that
the programs would reside in an agency that approaches its work with families and
children though an "asset-based" model that identifies strengths and builds on them,
rather than focusing solely on deficiencies and remediation; and
WHEREAS, The State's involvement in early child care would thus be
understood as beneficial to all children, not just disadvantaged children; and
WHEREAS, Located in a single department, programs could more easily be
aligned to support development from birth to completion of high school, and the
department being held accountable for children's educational achievement under the
No Child Left Behind Act and the Bridge to Excellence in Public Education Act would
be in a far stronger position to accomplish that goal; now, therefore,
SECTION 1. BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF
MARYLAND, That Section(s) 2-303(j) of Article - Education of the Annotated Code of
Maryland be renumbered to be Section(s) 2-303(k).
SECTION 2. AND BE IT FURTHER ENACTED, That Section(s) 5-559 and
5-585.1 of Article - Family Law of the Annotated Code of Maryland be repealed.
SECTION 3. AND BE IT FURTHER ENACTED, That Section(s) 46 through 50,
respectively, and the subheading "Maryland School-Based Health Policy Advisory
Council" of Article 49D - Office for Children, Youth, and Families of the Annotated
Code of Maryland be transferred to be Section(s) 7-4A-01 through 7-4A-05,
respectively, and the subtitle "Subtitle 4A. Maryland School-Based Health Policy
Advisory Council" of Article - Education of the Annotated Code of Maryland.
SECTION 4. AND BE IT FURTHER ENACTED, That Section(s) 6-801 through
6-807, respectively, and the subtitle "Subtitle 8. Maryland After-School Opportunity
- 3853 -
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