Education
Montgomery County Public Schools are bursting at the seams. We are sending our children into larger and larger classrooms with teachers that are stretched to the breaking point. If we don’t like it, we have to pay tens of thousands of dollars per year for private school tuition on top of our already high property taxes.
When I graduated from Walter Johnson High School in 2003 each graduating class was significantly smaller than they are now. I’ve been through our public schools and I know firsthand the benefits accrued by having smaller class sizes.
More teachers need to be brought into the classroom to ensure that our children are receiving the attention and instruction they need in school. The more teachers we hire the more we can reduce the student to teacher ratio in the classroom to give every child the attention they deserve.
When I graduated from Walter Johnson High School in 2003 each graduating class was significantly smaller than they are now. I’ve been through our public schools and I know firsthand the benefits accrued by having smaller class sizes.
More teachers need to be brought into the classroom to ensure that our children are receiving the attention and instruction they need in school. The more teachers we hire the more we can reduce the student to teacher ratio in the classroom to give every child the attention they deserve.
- Achievement Gap
- Reduce disparities in education (the achievement gap) through support for Head Start early childhood education programs, Free and Reduced Meals (FARMs) breakfasts and lunches during the school year and holidays, and the maintenance of funding for English as a second language and special education programs.
- Universal Pre-K
- Support universal pre-Kindergarten classes to help young children along the path towards realizing their potential while helping parents to gain and keep jobs.
- More School Construction Funds
- Work within the Montgomery County Delegation to bring more school construction funds from the State back to Montgomery County to reduce MCPS' dependence on portables to educate our students. MCPS accounts for 18% of Maryland's student population and yet Montgomery County receives only 12% of our state's school construction dollars. Over the course of a decade that difference would amount to $100 million, which would be sufficient to build one new high school. We're growing at the rate of one new high school each year; the least we can do to address overcrowding in the classroom is to get Montgomery County our fair share.
- Foreign Language Immersion
- Incorporate foreign language requirements and immersion programs into elementary school curricula to prepare the next generation of our workforce to compete in an increasingly globalized economy.
- Support the Arts
- Expand funding for arts and music programs in elementary schools. The Integrated Arts program is an excellent way to keep students engaged with their education both in school and at home. Our education system should create thoughtful, active citizens. We need to promote the arts as a means of self-expression and creative, critical thinking. We should build upon our STEM programs (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) with an extra "A" for Arts. A STEAM powered generation of young Marylanders can make us proud and keep our economy humming for generations to come.
- Promote Public Service
- Create a voluntary public service corps as an umbrella program in Maryland that would guarantee every Marylander between the ages of 18-26 the opportunity to perform 1-2 years of public service within Maryland should they elect to do so. This program will build a sense of common identity, experience, and commitment to service.
- Civic Education
- Require that high school students pass the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Naturalization Test in order to graduate from high school. Democracy is dependent upon informed engagement by its constituent members. Civic education forms the foundation upon which members of our society are taught about their role and responsibilities in our system of government.
- Fund More Teachers in the Classroom by Opposing Corporate Welfare
- Revoke nearly a half billion dollars of tax-credits for corporations with thousands of employees. These companies can and should pay their regular corporate income tax just like every other business in Maryland. The argument that these tax-credits are necessary to keep these companies here is bogus; a Fortune 500 Company just left Montgomery County for New York City despite having received tens of millions of dollars of tax credits. Corporations locate their headquarters here due to the high quality of life, public education, and educated workforce that our community has to offer. The new revenues that will be collected by revoking these taxpayer subsidies will fund the addition of new teachers to our schools.