Maryland Green Schools - Website, Outreach, and Designations (Green Schools Stewardship Act)

HB 540 requires the Maryland Association of Environmental and Outdoor Education to create and maintain a dedicated website by March 2027, featuring step-by-step guides for schools to adopt sustainable practices. The website must include beginner-friendly resources ("Novice Section"), transition tools for advancing green initiatives ("On-Ramp Section"), and application templates for formal recognition ("Application Section"). County school boards must prominently link to this website on their own sites, and the bill allocates $70,000 for fiscal year 2027 and $40,000 for 2028 specifically to support these website updates and outreach efforts. This directly affects Maryland public schools seeking green school designation and provides standardized resources to help them meet environmental literacy goals.