Continuing funding for the Thornton Initiative, renovating older schools and giving more populous counties additional money for education are priorities of Democrat Rich Corkran.
The Thornton Initiative, which passed several years ago, involves the state funding hundreds of millions of dollars in education spending until 2008.
“The school system can use it to pay for teacher salaries and programs,” said the 59-year-old Ellicott City resident, who is running against Republican state Sen. Allan Kittleman.
The Hammond High School teacher criticized Gov. Robert Ehrlich for not funding a part of the initiative ? the geographic index ? that would have given additional money to counties facing higher education costs.
“This would have been extra money, and $72 million could have come to Howard County,” he said.
But Henry Fawell, press secretary for Ehrlich, said the geographic index amounted to the Democrats trying to increase funding in the governor?s budget, which is not allowed under the state?s constitution.
He said Ehrlich has increased education spending by 44 percent during his term. For fiscal 2007, he said Ehrlich?s education budget totaled $4.5 billion.
Kittleman, 47, of West Friendship, said he has supported the governor?s budget, which has fully funded the initiative.
Regarding the geographic index, he said the attorney general ruled that it was not required to be funded as a part of the initiative.
“The governor inherited Thornton, and he was not given any revenue sources. Thankfully, he was able to fund it through cutting and finding savings wherever he could,” said Kittleman.
