SB 170 Maryland Senate · 2026 Regular Session

Task Force on Education Funding and Student Population Growth

SB 170 creates a temporary task force to study how delays in student enrollment counts impact school funding and how growing student populations connect to funding levels in Maryland. The task force, composed of 11 members including education officials, school board representatives, teachers' unions, parent groups, and county officials, will analyze these issues and propose improvements. It must submit its recommendations to the Governor and legislature by December 15, 2026, and the task force will expire on June 30, 2027. The bill does not change current funding formulas but sets up a structured review process for education finance policy.

Bill status passed 3 of 5 stages cleared

Introduction

Jul 2025

Committee Review

Feb 2026

Senate Passage

Feb 2026

House of Delegates Passage

Governor

Introduced Jul 7, 2025 Last action Apr 7, 2026

Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

First - Task Force on Education Funding and Student Population Growth → Third - Task Force on Education Funding and Student Population Growth · 3 edits

MINOR

The bill underwent significant restructuring to reorganize the composition of the Education Funding Task Force, replacing specific stakeholder groups with a new, expanded list of representatives. Additionally, the administrative responsibilities for providing staff and data were shifted from the Governor's Office to the State Department of Education, while the core mandate to analyze funding challenges and report by December 15, 2026, remained unchanged.

Scope change

The scope of the Task Force's membership was altered to include different organizations, specifically adding the Baltimore Teachers Union while removing the Maryland Association of Counties and School Personnel Administrators from their original positions in the list.

SCOPE

The Task Force membership list was reorganized and partially replaced, swapping out the Maryland Association of Counties and School Personnel Administrators for the Baltimore Teachers Union and reordering the remaining groups.

REQUIREMENT

Responsibility for providing staff and data to the Task Force was transferred from the Office of the Governor to the State Department of Education.

TECHNICAL

New procedural text was added to the header indicating the bill was adopted and read a second time on February 9, 2026.

Floor votes · Senate Feb 12, 2026

How they voted

44–0

Passed · 5 other

Total votes 49

Feb 12, 2026

D Democratic36

32 Yea 4

88% Yea

R Republican13

12 Yea 1

92% Yea

Vote distribution

All Yea All Nay Mixed No data

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Feb 18, 2026

Committee

Referred Appropriations

lower

Feb 17, 2026

Upper · Passed

Third Reading Passed

upper

Feb 12, 2026

Upper · Passed

Favorable with Amendments {

upper

Feb 12, 2026

Senate · Passed

Senate Vote: pass (44-0-5)

senate

Feb 11, 2026

Upper · Passed

Favorable with Amendments Report by Budget and Taxation

upper

Jan 14, 2026

Committee

First Reading Budget and Taxation

upper

Jul 7, 2025

Introduced

Pre-filed

upper

2 primary · 0 co-sponsors