Schools may be on break for the holidays, but Prince George’s County Public Schools CEO Dr. Monica Goldson is looking forward to the new year and the new legislative session in Annapolis.
Goldson, who leads the second-largest school district in Maryland with 130,814 students and 208 school buildings and facilities, said she is excited to see what state lawmakers are able to achieve in the 2020 session.
Goldson is hoping for progress on two ambitious education plans: the Kirwan Commission plan and a school construction funding plan laid out by Democrats in Annapolis called the “Built To Learn Act.”
“Both of those will provide us an ability to move Prince George’s County schools forward,” Goldson said.
The Kirwan Commission’s outlined priorities include boosting teacher pay, expanding pre-K to all 4-year-olds as well as 3-year-olds from low-income families, and creating more “community schools” with a variety of services for students and their families.
Figuring out how to pay for the recommendations laid out in the Kirwan Commission’s plan for education is expected to dominate the upcoming Maryland General Assembly session.
Goldson said it’s important that lawmakers don’t take a piecemeal approach to the reform package.
“If we really do want Maryland to be No. 1 in the nation, then you do have to give to get,” she said.
“For true reform,” said Goldson, all the elements of the Kirwan recommendations should “come wrapped in a basket together.”
Though Maryland Democratic lawmakers say the Kirwan education package is a priority, Republican Gov. Larry Hogan has called the recommendations “well-intentioned” but “fiscally irresponsible.”
Asked about the cost of instituting the Kirwan recommendations at a news conference in Prince George’s County last month, Democrats avoided specifics, although state Del. Maggie McIntosh said the plan could be phased in “in a way that would not have a major, massive tax increase.”
Goldson said within the plans for Kirwan, there is a component that requires “accountability and monitoring,” and she added that she welcomes that.
“I don’t shy away from that. It’s taxpayer money. I am a taxpayer in Prince George’s County — I have kids who are in the system,” Goldson said. “And I want to know that every penny I am spending has been spent towards what the elected officials said it would go towards.”
School construction plans
The “Built to Learn Act” supported by Democratic lawmakers is designed to funnel $2.2 billion in new money to local governments to help pay for renovation of existing schools and construction of new buildings.
Currently, Goldson said, public-private partnerships have helped the school system make progress on construction of new schools.
“But, with the ‘Built to Learn Act,’ that would allow us to build more schools faster,” she said.
Goldson said she hopes to move ahead with plans for high schools, which, because of their size, are typically more expensive.
“We have High Point High School, Suitland High School, and then a new Adelphi-area high school that we need to build to help reduce overcrowding in the northern part of the county,” she said.
Goldson added that she is optimistic, based on what she is hearing from lawmakers as they gear up for the session in Annapolis starting Jan. 8.
“Everything that we’ve heard gives us great hope that that bill will pass with funding connected to it,” she said.
Earlier this month, Hogan introduced his plans for school construction programming, a plan he called the “Building Opportunity Fund.” Hogan said his plan would generate $3.8 billion for school construction over a five-year period.
