Public school advocates filled the sidewalks and packed the commissioners’ chambers to lobby elected officials, 120 seconds at a time, for a fully funded Worcester County Board of Education budget.
The vibe was upbeat when school supporters, many of them teachers or school personnel, queued up outside the Worcester County Government Center hours before the start of the 6 p.m. budget hearing. Many wore black teachers’ union T-shirts and planted a raft of orange “Support Public Education” yard signs along the North Washington Street curbside.
Speakers’ remarks were limited to two minutes, a constraint not lost on Emily Gelman of Ocean Pines, a mother of three Showell Elementary students. She advocated for smaller class sizes, so students with differing needs can be served better by classroom teachers.
“How do I convince you in two minutes that your decision is, above all else, about the kids in this community?” she said. “Educators can tell you countless inspiring student stories about these students. So, I need to ask you, what is the right decision for these students?”
Christina Hulslander, who lives in the Pocomoke area, asked the commissioners to fully fund the budget in order to maintain not only the school system’s top state rating but smaller class sizes.
“I am a taxpayer. I am a voter. I am okay at times when you need to increase my taxes to support schools,” she said. “I don’t think you need to do that this time around. I think we just need to commit to having the will and finding the way to support our schools 100 percent.”
MOE isn’t even enough for them…so glad I’m no longer feeding this beast.