When Larry Hogan announced the details for his first budget as Maryland governor last week, the state’s teachers and parents were shocked to learn that among his biggest cuts were to Education. Baltimore City Public Schools in particular were singled out for the biggest hit, losing $35.5 million, or nearly 4% of the aid they normally rely on from the state.
While City Schools CEO Gregory Thornton has not yet announced how the schools system will handle this cut, union officials are worried that the governor’s budget will result in job losses for teachers and educational support staff, increased class sizes, and wholesale closing of programs.
AFT-Maryland Political Coordinator Todd Reynolds worries that Hogan’s budget demonstrates a shift in Maryland priorities away from educating its children:
“What the governor has proposed is not an education budget,” Reynolds said. “This budget will not close the achievement gap in Maryland’s public schools, but make it worse. This budget sacrifices our children’s education so as to not raise taxes on the top 1% in Maryland. It is immoral and must be challenged at every opportunity.”
Teachers and educational support staff will get their first opportunity to voice their concerns about these budget cuts during the AFT-Maryland’s Lobby Night in Annapolis, scheduled for the evening of February 9th. If you would like to participate, please contact Todd Reynolds at treynolds@aftmd.org, or 410-764-3030.
T.Reynolds, 1/28/2015