State Senator Paul Pinsky spoke to about 30 school employees, parents and other stakeholders at Eleanor Roosevelt High School on Thursday, January 11. Pinsky described the work to date and the areas on which the Kirwan Commission will focus. This group of 25 state legislators was tasked with reviewing the findings of the Study on Adequacy of Funding for Education in Maryland and hearing from national experts on world class education systems. In addition, the group was tasked to make recommendations for improving education in Maryland through funding, policies and resources that will prepare Maryland students, according to the commission’s cover letter, “to meet the challenges of a changing global economy, to meet the state’s workforce needs, to be prepared for postsecondary education and the workforce, and to be successful citizens in the 21st century.”
State Delegate Alonzo Washington was also on the commission and attended the meeting.
Pinsky, who was introduced by county school board representative Lupi Grady, said the commission heard from national experts who compared Maryland to public schools in Finland and Singapore as well as to Massachusetts, which consistently is reported to have the best public schools in the United States.
Read more of this story in the January 18 News Review.