Maryland has a history of "record level funding" for our educational system and yet, our national standing has been steadily decreasing yearly, while we have seen a rising tide of bullying, hate speech, focus issues and frustration in the classroom. Additionally, our funding for schools has been shielded from view under the auspices of the general fund and Common Core, developed in response to the failures of "No Child Left Behind" has continued to frustrate parents and hamstring teachers.

Investment in education has a positive effect on the workforce, local business, property values, and the community at large. Good schools make neighborhoods more attractive to young families, the bedrock of any community. We need a comprehensive solution to our educational needs, and we need to engage with teachers and parents to ensure not only that students have the resources necessary for educational success and that those resources are equitable across communities and across the financial spectrum, but also that teachers have a restored classroom autonomy so they can teach to their strengths and the individual needs of the classroom. We need to take a comprehensive look at how start times are affecting the success of our most vulnerable students, and ensure that we are investing not only in the tools for learning, but in the facilities. We can't expect our students to thrive when we are asking them to suffer. Most importantly, we must invest in our teachers, so we can attract and maintain educators of high caliber, and compensate them adequately so our teachers, to whom we entrust our future, feel respected and appreciated.

We need to invest in our early education and make the proposed free Pre-K, Kindergarten-For-All initiative a reality.

We also need a path to continued education which will not result in debilitating debt. We need to reinvest in our trade schools and take a page from other states who have successfully introduced free in-state tuition, making our community colleges and state schools free to in-state students who will commit to remaining and reinvesting in the state of Maryland. As your Delegate, I will work tirelessly to make these ideals become reality.