Listening to You!

     Commitment to Education By Tim Quinn Democratic Candidate for Maryland Delegate District 37B

     How do we provide the best possible educational environment for our students? There is a long list of priorities, but all of them require a solid financial commitment to education.

     To give our kids the necessary competitive edge for today's world we must deal with how we fund our facilities, and how we retain and attract the best teachers.

     Our students will learn best in buildings which meet all their physical and technology needs. In the 2005 legislative session everybody on both sides of the aisle agreed that we will need $250 million each year for the next ten years for school renovations and construction.

     Governor Ehrlich, with the blessing of our incumbent 37B legislators, tried to hold our schools hostage next year to the tune of $150 million. The first $100 million Governor Ehrlich said he could find but he insisted the balance could come only from slot machine revenues. After slots died, and with only two days left in the legislative session, the extra $150 million was miraculously found . This legislative session proves that we can find the funds without imperiling our children's futures.

     Second, one only need to look at the Federal "No Child Left Behind" standards and the testing relationship to teachers salaries. Teachers explain that they are actually encouraged by the structure of that system to help students when taking the tests. Test scores go up; teachers salaries go up. Under this "alternative pay system", our children often are learning how to take tests rather than getting a broad and comprehensive education. This is wrong. To retain and attract the best educators should be our goal and increased pay packages should be our competitive edge.

     Our teachers pay incentives need to be more than financially competitive with other states in our region. According to MSTA, Maryland is the fifth wealthiest state in America but our teacher pension plan ranks 50th, dead last!

     Is there a disconnect between education, governmental priorities and what we value? Absolutely. According to the NEA, in 1940 male educators earned 3.6% more and female educators earned 15.8% more than their professional counterparts with four or more years of college education. In the year 2000 male educators earned 60.4% less and female educators earned 16.4% less than their counterparts. We need to halt and reverse this dangerous trend and prioritize the funding of our children's education by paying our educators more money.

     Equating good education with more money spent is not the whole story. But as a business man I do know that I can keep my best people and attract more qualified candidates for jobs if I offer a good working environment and a competitive pay package. It's time to be morally responsible to our children, set an example of solid school facility funding and value our educators.