LAWMAKERS GET BRIEFED ON KIRWAN: Maryland lawmakers began their formal review Monday of sweeping, expensive legislation that supporters say would raise the state’s public schools to the world-class levels of such educational powerhouses as Finland, Singapore and Ontario, Pamela Wood and Luke Broadwater of the Sun report.
- Members of a landmark Maryland education commission painted a bleak picture of the state’s education system, one in which students are failing and teachers are fleeing, and warned that without drastic reforms by the General Assembly the state’s economy will face dire consequences, Ovetta Wiggins of the Post reports.
- The 172-page bill calls for increasing teacher salaries and expanding vocational training for students, for with a goal of boosting test scores. Gov. Larry Hogan has criticized the estimated $4 billion price tag of fully implementing the Kirwan Commission recommendations by 2030, John Rydell of WBFF-TV reports.
- The leader of one Maryland county called on lawmakers to fully implement a generational expansion of public education funding and policies in one jurisdiction — Baltimore — before rolling it out to the rest of the state, Bryan Sears reports for the Daily Record.
- In their weekly video on the General Assembly, Wood and Broadwater talk about some challenges facing the education and budget committees in Monday’s joint hearing as well as the support and opposition the bill has faced, among other topics.
- Wood also offers up answers to some key questions about Kirwan, one of Maryland’s most significant public policy issues.
RALLY FOR SCHOOL FUNDING: As the General Assembly’s money committees engaged in a day-long hearing on education funding, hundreds of parents, students and teachers rallied near the State House Monday in support of a proposal to pump billions of dollars into Maryland classrooms, Bruce DePuyt of Maryland Matters reports.
- Abby Issacs of WMAR-TV reports that Baltimore City student Saidah Ervin told the rally: “I stand here dreaming of a better tomorrow. A school that has classrooms full of the latest technology. Classrooms led by a diverse group of professional educators.”
OPINION: BUSINESSES WANT KIRWAN: A group of local businesspeople, in an op-ed for Maryland Matters, opines that “Passing and funding The Blueprint for Maryland’s Future is a no-brainer. The greatest challenge we face in our businesses is finding enough qualified people to fill open positions.”
1st INSPECTOR GENERAL FOR ED NAMED: Gov. Larry Hogan announced on Monday that a state education department administrator with a long former career in the U.S. Marshal’s Service will be the state’s first inspector general for education, the AP is reporting.
DEMAND FOR HEALTH AIDES GROWS: In an article reprinted in MarylandReporter, the Business Monthly’s George Berkheimer writes that demographic changes and a rapidly rising senior population in Maryland are driving the growing demand for personal care aides, home health aides and certified nursing assistants but they are in such short supply that the Maryland Regional Direct Services Collaborative has declared the situation a crisis.
UMMS BOARD MEMBER HAD ‘SOME KNOWLEDGE’ OF ‘HEALTH HOLLY’ DEALING: As a Maryland Senate committee continued vetting nominees to the revamped University of Maryland Medical System board Monday night, one returning board member acknowledged that he had some knowledge of the “Healthy Holly” book deals that sparked a scandal and resulted in the conviction of former Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh, Luke Broadwater of the Sun reports.
MFUME TAKES HEAT OVER PUGH LETTER: Kweisi Mfume, who is running for the late Rep. Elijah Cummings’ seat, is taking heat as one of nearly 50 people who submitted character references on behalf of former Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh, and as part of the defense’s documents submitted to the judge, requesting a sentencing of one year and one day, Alexa Ashwell of WBFF-TV reports..
ON LIZ BOBO: Former Howard County Executive Liz Bobo, who also served as a state delegate for 20 years and on the county council for two terms, is the face of the Year of the Howard County Woman — a yearlong celebration of the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution that gave women the right to vote, Janene Holzberg writes in the Howard County Times.
5 NAMED TO PG DISTRICT BENCH: Gov. Larry Hogan appointed five people to the Prince George’s County District Court bench on Monday, Heather Cobun of the Daily Record writes. Wennesa Bell Snoddy, John Anthony Bielec, Dolores Dorsainvil, LaKeecia Reneé Allen and Stacey Maria Cobb Smith were named to vacancies after being recommended by the county’s judicial nominating commission, according to a news release from the governor’s office.
OPINION: SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL NEWS OUTLETS: Economist Anirban Basu, in a commentary for the Sun, makes the case for individuals financially supporting local news outlets, writing that we “need local reporting because we need vetted information to help us improve our communities, whether from The Sun, the Baltimore Business Journal, Daily Record …”
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