Parris Glendening on Education Former Democratic MD Governor

Began the Golden Age of School Construction ($1.6B)

Make tuition an anachronism: free college for all

We must be mindful, however, that much of our work together was merely to “catch up” to where Maryland should have been. Higher education bore a disproportionate burden of budget cuts in the recession of the early 1990s. We are just now fully recovering. Having brought stability to our colleges and universities, we must look towards the future with a determination to go beyond the status quo with dramatic, bold steps.

I want the word ‘tuition’ to be seen as an anachronism. All children will move into college just as they now move from junior high to high school. Maryland’s institutions of higher education will be among the best in the country.and they will be free.

Improve and invest in public schools.

Principles of the Democratic Governors Association:

IMPROVING PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND INVESTING IN OUR YOUNGEST CHILDREN

Democratic Governors are leading the way with highly-trained teachers, strong standards and accountability, increased funding to repair and modernize public school facilities, access to technology and computers, and more discipline and safety in the classrooms. Democratic Governors believe the most important aspect to insure a child’s education is to have the best possible teachers in the classroom. They believe that we must value teachers as professionals, encourage their development to be the best teachers they can be for our children and compensate them accordingly. Democratic Governors favor greater parental choice, but oppose measures that weaken public schools diverting taxpayer dollars to private schools with no accountability for results. Democratic Governors around the country are also forming innovative public-private partnerships to create programs to provide early childhood education, nutrition and health care services to ensure that our children have the best possible start in life.