Getting more money for early-childhood programs, science academies and job training for disabled adults top state schools chief Nancy Grasmick?s wish list for this General Assembly session.
She?d also like to keep her job, even as legislative leaders threaten to try to force her to resign.
Helping toddlers with learning disabilities can get them on track in time to attend regular kindergarten classes, not more expensive special education ones, Grasmick said.
Maryland is the only state that has a common, state-supervised curriculum for its infants and toddlers program.
Nearly half, or 46 percent, of the 2,800 3-year-olds who participated in early-childhood programs moved on with school not needing special education services, according to state data from 2006.
But the cost of the programs falls mostly on county governments.
To ease the burden on local districts, Grasmick has requested an additional $8 million a year from the state, boosting the total annual state contribution to $13 million.
With the military base realignments and the expected influx of 45,000 jobs, the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics programs at schools across the state will only grow in importance to help fill the next generation of vacancies in science-related fields.
To that end, Grasmick wants more funding for the STEM programs, which all 24 school districts have or are planning to start.
Grasmick, fighting lawmakers and Gov. Martin O?Malley to keep her job as superintendent, touted some of her success at a breakfast with business executives Tuesday. She said a new report to be released today shows Maryland?s educational system ranks among the best in the nation.
But she and her supporters still need to convince Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller that she should stay.
Miller said in a recent interview on Maryland Public Television that he?ll support bills that essentially force Grasmick out so Gov. Martin O?Malley?s appointees to the state school board can appoint someone new.
“It transcends me,” Grasmick said. “It?s about the stability of the educational system of the state.”
