The future of our public education system is the most important issue my colleagues and I will address during this four-year term.
What will we be asked to do?
Preparing our students for the 21st Century economy will require:
- Early support for children in pre-kindergarten;
- High quality and diverse teachers and school leaders;
- College or career readiness for all students; and
- Accountability for everyone involved to ensure that all students succeed.
Those are the conclusions of the Commission on Innovation and Excellence in Education. It was chaired by Brit Kirwan, former chancellor of the University of Maryland System.
He has called it “potentially the most important thing I have ever been involved in.”
I was the lead sponsor of legislation that has expanded pre-kindergarten and provided incentives for our best teachers to work in schools with the greatest need for their skills.
Now it’s our obligation to do that on a greater scale.
We must review the commission’s recommendations, enact them into law where appropriate, and fund them.
That must be a bipartisan effort – by the Governor and the General Assembly,
