Bettering Our Schools

There is nothing that we as citizens can do to ensure a sustainable economic future than focus on bettering our schools. As delegate, I will make the continued reform of our school systems one of my top priorities by simply advocating for what has worked for other jurisdictions such as New York, Pennsylvania, and Washington D.C.

1. Create and Grow Charter Schools

Charter schools are a critical component in our education toolbox. I have been and will continue to be a strong advocate for charter schools. As a father of children who attend a public charter school, I am keenly aware of the value of charter schools. As Delegate, I will continue to support charter school development in Maryland and I will look for innovative ways to promote and foster their success. I will write legislation to develop a public-private Maryland Charter School Incubator. A charter school incubator, such as the Innovative Schools Development Corporation in Delaware, provides a wide range of support services to help plan and open charter schools. Charter schools would be able to use this program to assist them in securing initial financing and to help obtain foundation grants for school construction or defray the cost of extracurricular activities and facilities. In addition to loan guarantees, the Incubator could support a variety of other tools, such as credit enhancements, to reassure lenders that charter schools will have long-term stability and impact.

As Delegate, I also will advocate for an independent chartering board for charter schools. We need a new way to start charter schools. Right now, it takes far too long and there are too many hurdles for many charter schools to get off the ground because the law only allows local school boards to grant charters. Groups can appeal that decision to the state Board of Education, but this is a cumbersome process that does not pay enough attention to the need for and ability of local citizens to make their own education decisions. We need a separate public charter school board that would work to develop successful education alternatives for our State.

2. Hire and Retain the Best Teachers.

Perhaps our most important resource is our teachers. As Mayor, I will fight to keep our great teachers and work to bring the best and brightest new teachers and principals into our schools. We will look at all means available to accomplish that objective, including offering signing bonuses and housing assistance to exceptional educators willing to teach at low-performing schools, building partnerships with organizations like Teach for America, and adding an extra 15% to the salaries of teachers at hard-to-staff schools. I will work to ensure that all our schools keep good teachers.

3. Provide a Safe and Secure Environment for Learning.

Recently, our schools have been placed in a negative light because of the bad behavior and disruption of bullies. The time has come to move kids who repeatedly disrupt learning and threaten violence out of the classroom and into in-school suspension, for the sake of all the kids who arrive at school every day eager to learn. Of course, we will provide those children with the resources to find an alternative to their behavior, but we must be willing to hold them accountable. In fact, principals also need to be able to remove disruptive and violent kids from the school altogether. Principals must be able to suspend the worst violators with minimal bureaucratic interference. We should not, however, abandon due process to which students are entitled.

4. Creation of a School Construction Authority.

We have seen it time and time again: capital funds meant for school construction and upkeep wasted due to fraud and corruption. In order to ensure that these funds are spent where the legislature intends, on our children, I would introduce legislation to create a School Construction Authority. The Authority would oversee the all aspects of school construction from the architect to the mortar to the eventual renovation years later. By placing school construction funds in the hands of trustees, appointed by the Governor, we can stop the fraud and corruption that is caused when capital funds get placed into the hands of irresponsible bureaucrats. Maryland already has a Stadium Authority to manage our sports stadiums, but the time has come for us to get our priorities in line and have some accountability in the management of our school facilities.