Worcester County Public Schools are now in the process of writing their implementation plan for the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future and Strong Schools Worcester County stands ready to support this exciting endeavor.

The Blueprint is designed to transform public education in Maryland into a world-class education system that is both excellent and fair. The Kirwin Report says:

“Excellence is defined as globally competitive student performance. Equity means ensuring every student, no matter their family income, race, ethnicity or physical, intellectual, and emotional challenges, has the resources to be successful.”

To achieve this the Blueprint will increase education funding by the state each year for 10 years, accelerate student outcomes, and improve the quality of education for all children in Maryland, including the historically underserved.

Some of the Kirwin Commission’s findings include the following:

· Maryland has severe teacher shortage and retention problems

· Maryland has unacceptably large achievement gaps based on race and income.

· Maryland is a regressive state in terms of school funding, depriving the very populations in greatest need the resources required for success

As the population becomes even more diverse and there is an ever-growing need for a well-trained, highly educated workforce--Maryland needs to address the Commission’s findings. To create a world class school system, we need these new state funds that are invested in proven strategies.

The Commission identified five major policy areas that must be addressed:

· early childhood education;

· preparation of high quality and diverse teachers;

· rigorous college and career pathways;

· equitable funding to ensure that all students are successful; and

· effective governance and accountability

These are the 5 Pillars of the Blueprint and we know that the WCPS administration is hard at work creating the implementation plans for each of these.

Taken together, these actions will dramatically improve the quality of Maryland’s education system. We are glad that the Administration and the Board support the development of our local plan and we are excited to stand in support of this effort.

Gail Jankowski

Berlin