Betty Weller: Education Shouldn’t Be a Partisan Issue
Throughout my time as your president (and trust me, well before that), I’ve said that edu- cation shouldn’t be a partisan issue. I believe this to my core.
We all depend on our public schools — they support the dreams and aspirations of future artists, scientists, writers, athletes, musicians, engineers, and citizens — our future. Our schools set them on a course for healthy, happy, productive lives.
A poll last month of 823 registered Maryland voters shows the breadth of support for our public schools with agreement across counties, parties, and backgrounds. We want more funding for public schools, increased access to pre-kindergarten, and a focus on improving public schools rather than shifting resources to private schools and for-profit charter schools.
The results aren’t even close. Eighty-three percent of Marylanders say it’s important to increase funding for public schools, bridging ideological, geographic, and demographic divides. With nearly $3 billion of unmet needs in Maryland schools according to a recent independent report, Marylanders are calling for increased school funding. They want to spend it on targeted steps that we know work, like expanding access to pre-K. We need to make sure legislators also see fundamentally increasing school funding as a non-partisan, imperative issue and build the political will to meet those needs.
Despite the focus of Gov. Hogan and President Trump on expanding vouchers and privately-run charter schools, 68% of Marylanders want their elected officials to focus funding on improving existing public schools rather than shifting funding to private schools and privately-run charters.
Only 19% prefer shifting focus to privately-man- aged schools, an approach which we’ve seen yields fraud and waste — not better results for kids.
However, real change in how we fund our schools won’t happen unless we ask for it. By being a strong and vocal advocate with legislators, we can make sure that they don’t just protect the schools that we have, but help us substantially improve the resources we provide every public school and student across the state.
