Bill
SB 892
Sets a $25/hour minimum wage for education support professionals (noncertificated, nonsupervisory) in county schools, with annual CPI-U increases, starting July 1, 2025.
Status snapshot
- Title: Education — Minimum Wage for Education Support Professionals
- Sponsor (Senate): Sen. Zucker
- Introduced: late January 2025 (first reader Feb. 27, 2025 in analysis)
- Committee: Budget and Taxation (assigned) — Hearing noted for 3/04 at 1:00 p.m.
- Cross-file: HB 1369 (Delegate Wims) — Appropriations
- Effective date (statute): takes effect June 1, 2025; the wage schedule begins July 1, 2025
Purpose
- Establish a statutory minimum hourly wage for “education support professionals” employed by county boards of education and require annual inflation adjustments, with the stated intent of raising pay for noncertificated school employees who are in nonsupervisory bargaining units.
Key provisions
- New §6‑306 (Education, Subtitle 3 — Salaries and Wages):
- Defines “education support professional” as a noncertificated public school employee designated as part of a nonsupervisory bargaining unit under Subtitle 5 of the Education Article.
- Requires each county board to pay education support professionals at least the statutorily set minimum wage, notwithstanding §3‑413 of the Labor & Employment Article.
- Sets the initial minimum wage at $25.00 per hour beginning July 1, 2025.
- Requires annual increases on July 1 each year thereafter by multiplying the prior year minimum by the percentage growth in the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI‑U) (or successor index) published by BLS.
- If CPI‑U shows no growth or a decline, the minimum wage remains unchanged for that year.
- Authorizes the State Board of Education to adopt regulations necessary to implement the section.
Who is affected
- Primary: Education support professionals — noncertificated public school employees who are designated members of nonsupervisory bargaining units (e.g., many teacher aides, library aides and similar positions depending on local designations).
- Employers: County boards of education and local school systems (local governments).
- State agencies: State Board of Education (regulatory implementation only).
Fiscal impact and budgetary considerations
- State: No direct state general fund impact anticipated; SBE can adopt implementing regulations with existing resources. The bill imposes a mandate on local governments.
- Local school systems: Significant and indeterminate increased expenditures beginning FY2026 (tens of millions of dollars statewide). Factors complicating exact estimates:
- The bill’s definition doesn’t align exactly with MSDE job categories and reporting, so counts of affected employees vary.
- DLS illustrative example (limited assumptions) suggested ~17,000 employees could see ~$198.9 million in increased wages in FY2026 if each earned $10 more at 1,170 hours/year; MSDE estimates suggest many additional categories could be affected.
- Local estimates provided to DLS: Baltimore City +$1.8M; Montgomery County +$24.0M; St. Mary’s County +$23.2M; Wicomico County +$3.5M (first-year estimates using different assumptions).
- Costs will increase in future years with CPI adjustments.
Implementation and open questions
- Local boards must identify which employees qualify under the statutory definition (designations may vary by county and bargaining-unit structure).
- The CPI‑U adjustment method uses a 12‑month average comparison; the law prevents annual decreases in the wage if CPI declines (wage simply remains unchanged).
- Exact statewide cost depends on local job classifications, current wages, hours worked, and bargaining-unit designations — the fiscal impact is therefore indeterminate but expected to be substantial.
Procedural notes / next steps
- Hearing scheduled (committee action pending). If reported favorably, the bill would proceed through Budget & Taxation and then to the full Senate; cross-file HB 1369 would proceed through House appropriations processes.
Compiled from official sources — confirm details with the bill’s official record.
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