Wednesday, October 26, 2011

NOTED: Montgomery Delegate Heather Mizeur Co-Authors Pitch for Baltimore School Funding

The following op-ed in today's (firewalled) Baltimore Sun, will be of interest to some Maryland Juice readers. Maryland Delegate Heather Mizeur, who represents parts of Montgomery County, co-wrote the following pitch for a Baltimore school funding proposal with Thomas Wilcox, the president of the Baltimore Community Foundation. We highlight excerpts below:
A big build for city schools

Creative bond financing proposal could infuse billions into Baltimore for school construction and renovation

By Heather R. Mizeur and Thomas E. Wilcox

No heat in the winter. No air conditioning in the summer. Windows painted shut since the 1950s trap stagnant air that triggers infections and asthma attacks. Broken water fountains sit rusted outside crammed, crumbling classrooms.

The city and its people deserve better...

Schools serving as local anchors — with their libraries, pools or auditoriums — can potentially bring in new private revenue from the community and help revitalize neighborhoods. ....

We ask for the city to consider forming such a partnership and developing a long-term maintenance plan that ensures these buildings remain in peak condition far into the future....

At the same time, the state should explore how the Board of Public Works, the Interagency Committee on School Construction, and other public resources might make this program work....

Children from high-poverty neighborhoods are already achieving at record levels in schools across the city. Imagine what they could do in humane conditions....

It is not often you see politicians coming to the aid of the downtrodden in other parts of the State. Or taking an interest in the Board of Public Works....

2 comments:

  1. Yeah, that is clarified in the first sentence of the article. Technically, she is a Delegate from Montgomery, but that makes for a clunky headline. :)

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