Tell Legilsators to fully fund Kirwan! Maryland needs an excellent education system!

From Maryland ACLU:

The time is now to fight to ensure that the initial down payment on the Kirwan public education plan does not get eroded.

Tell your state legislators children can’t wait any longer! Fully fund the Kirwan “Blueprint” bill in the budget.

Over the next several days the General Assembly will be meeting to make final decisions about how much to invest in the Kirwan “Blueprint” legislation for funding public schools. There is disagreement about the level of funding that will be distributed this session and we need to let our lawmakers know that Kirwan must be fully funded. This is the first step the General Assembly is taking on Kirwan and legislators are already trying to cut it.

Anything less than full funding is unacceptable. Our schools have been shortchanged for too long.

As of right now, only the House version of the budget proposes full funding of the Kirwan bill. The Senate version of the budget cuts Kirwan funding by 1/3. And the cuts are coming from special education funding, which slashes one of the important areas addressing equitable outcomes. The ACLU continues to push for consideration for equity at every decision point in this process.

We need your help to encourage the members of both the House and Senate to fund the bill as recommended by the Kirwan Commission. Anything less than $325 million in the school year 2019-2020 and $750 million in the school year 2020-2021 is unacceptable.

Legislators need to know Marylanders from every jurisdiction support building a world-class system for every student.

Thanks for fighting with us,

Dana Vickers Shelley
Executive Director, ACLU of Maryland