BUILD turned out 110 of the 270 leaders from ACT (Anne Arundel Connecting Together), BUILD (Baltimoreans United in Leadership Development) , and AIM (Action in Montgomery), united as Maryland IAF. We were not outside with protest signs, but inside making a public commitment to ourselves and our elected officials to work together as one united Maryland to ensure that our public education systems are thriving.
The Blueprint for Maryland’s Future, based on the recommendations of the Kirwan Commission, provides $32 billion in additional investment in education over ten years, and includes:
- investments in community schools with wrap-around services;
- increased attention to special education;
- access to affordable early childhood education; and increased training and pay for teachers.
A bill tied to the Blueprint also provides millions of additional dollars for school construction.
During the joint hearing that followed the Maryland IAF action, four leaders gave testimony on the Blueprint as part of Maryland IAF’s panel. Our panel represented the breadth of Maryland, ranging from 85-year-old Yevola Peters of Annapolis, who has “been on the front lines of education reform since 1960,” to Sarah Insa Sadio, a fifth grader and Niger-American at South Lake Elementary School in Montgomery County. Emily Pettus, a sophomore at Coppin Academy in Baltimore shared about how the lack of an arts program makes her school an obstacle to her dreams. Ms. Sadio and Ms. Pettus were the first students to testify about their own educational future in the entire hearing. Whitney Schroeder, a military mother from Anne Arundel County, shared about the real lack of resources for her son who has special needs, despite excellent work by the teachers and staff at his elementary school. All four made clear to the senators and delegates that Maryland IAF was not only asking for the bill to be funded and passed, but that we would be partners in holding them accountable that the funds were allocated correctly.
Insa Sadio brought the hearing to a standing ovation after she said, “There is much in my life that I cannot control. But I get to decide how I spend my time. I am here today because I want you to remember me. ….And you get to decide whether or not to invest in children like me so that we may become the great artists, politicians and teachers of the future.”