Class in Session

Class in Session

Dear Fellow Marylanders,

It is that time of year. This weekend marks the unofficial end of summer. Many of our students went back to school last week with the remainder returning to classrooms next week after the Labor Day holiday. Stores are awash with back-to-school items of all kinds and first-day-of school photos flood our social media streams.

Have you noticed how traffic seems to get worse for about the first two weeks of school and then folks seem to get back into a routine and the backups soften slightly? Be careful out there. Drivers, please keep an eye out for students who might be crossing the street to or from a school bus, or simply in a crosswalk.

Back-to-school can be an exciting time for both students and educators: long awaited reunions with friends you haven't seen all summer, a new crop of students who are hopefully ready to learn, and, of course, a fresh classroom to decorate and make welcoming for those eager students.

Education is one of the great equalizers in our society. Our public school system, while underfunded and overloaded in far too many of our school districts, is designed to ensure that every student, no matter their socioeconomic status, has access to a quality education. What happens in practice is much more complicated, but it is safe to say that education helps create opportunities and prepare the next generation for their participation in our community.

Schools are more than just a place to learn academic subjects. Schools provide a stable and presumably safe environment, including meals, mentorships, afterschool activities and friendship. None of this would be possible without the educators - teachers, support professionals, administrators and other staff - who spend every day helping our students in every positive way possible.

Educators arguably have one of the most consequential jobs in our society, yet they face difficulties every day. Educators have been pushed to their limits by funding shortages, staffing shortages that result in overworking, and low salaries, to name a few. While COVID-19 expanded these problems and laid them out for the entire country to see more clearly, they surely existed long before the pandemic hit.

As an example, teacher pay has suffered a sharp decline compared with other college-educated workers. In 2022, teachers made 26.4% less than other similarly educated professions. Compared to 6.1% in 1996. 41 states and D.C. are facing shortages in at least one subject area or grade level and studies place the current teacher shortage at 55,000 vacant positions.

Meanwhile, our educators are also dealing with a significant lack of funding to the education system. Since most education dollars are controlled and distributed at the state and local level rather than federal, education funding has historically been inequitable across the country and also uneven across states like Maryland. In fact, the U.S. educational system is one of the most unequal in the industrialized world. Students receive dramatically different learning opportunities simply based on their zip code.

While many - myself included - continue work to bridge this gap, we are also fending off unprecedented attacks on our public education system, going so far as to threatening to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education all together. These extremist views are simply out of line with the value that most families recognize our public schools provide.

Maryland has taken on this task by creating the Blueprint for Maryland's Future. Passed by the Maryland General Assembly in 2021, the blueprint will transform public education in our state into a world-class education system. It will increase funding for education in Maryland and improve the quality of education for all children in Maryland, specifically historically underserved communities.

I've introduced federal legislation that would bolster the Maryland effort, called the TRUE EQUITY Act. If signed into law, it would provide an additional $1.4 billion in federal grant funding for states and local communities that commit to transformative policy changes like our Blueprint for Maryland's Future.

New research reveals a direct connection between federal pandemic relief aid and academic recovery in K-12 schools, especially in low-income districts. However, with much of that funding has been spent, making it critical to find a new path forward.

Many of the federal education funding streams have been underfunded over decades. For example, I have supported Senator Chris Van Hollen's legislation to fully fund the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), to remove barriers to special education and provide a quality education for every child. While the promise of IDEA was that the federal government would pay 40 percent of the average per pupil expenditure for special education, that pledge has never been met, with current funding is at less than 13 percent.

In addition to increased funding for classroom initiatives, our teachers deserve increased pay and financial relief for out-of-pocket expenses. The Educators Expense Deduction Modernization Act, a bill I introduced alongside Senator Sherrod Brown, aims to increase the allowable limit for educator's tax deductions. This legislation would increase the amount educators are able to deduct on qualified out-of-pocket classroom expenses on their annual tax return from $250 to $1,000, indexed to inflation moving forward, and expand the deduction to all eligible K-12 educators - including teachers, but also counselors, principals, and other educational instructors and aides.

Additionally, I cosponsored Senator Bob Casey's Safe Schools Improvement Actbecause no child should be scared to go to school for fear of bullying and harassment. As we enter a new school year, we must ensure that all students feel safe and welcome in their classrooms and that each child has an equal opportunity to access quality instruction, no matter their demographic or socioeconomic background. I also cosponsored Senator Chris Murphy's Strength in Diversity Act to establish a grant program to give school districts tools that can help improve diversity initiatives and better support students and educators.

As children and educators go back to school, we must remember to lift up these young people and brave souls, providing the tools and support they need to thrive and be future changemakers for their generation.

I want to wish all Maryland students and educators best wishes for the school year ahead. Working together as federal-state and local partners, with parents and community leaders, we can ensure our public school system lives up to the greatest of American ideals.

Thank you for your time. Please feel free to reply to this email with your thoughts on how to strengthen our public education, or on any topic. I value all of the feedback we receive.

In solidarity,

Ben Cardin

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