Dan Cox has been courting voters frustrated by pandemic-era restrictions on their children’s schools, and has turned conservative grassroots voters after the county headmistress left because of her support for the Black Lives Matter movement. I chose Running Mate, the organizer of the .

Wes Moore has pledged to work with a broad section of the organization, including the state teachers’ union, to provide full funding for Maryland’s groundbreaking education reform and other initiatives. As his campaign chief of staff, he chose a former principal and veteran Baltimore city administrator with strong ties to the city’s school system.

The two candidates are competing against very different educational platforms in a state home to more than 882,000 public school students.

The new governor inherits education problems caused or exacerbated by the pandemic. Schools are facing declining enrollments and teacher shortages, with standardized test scores dropping and some students exhibiting emotional or behavioral problems.

At the same time, schools are starting to receive a lot of cash thanks to the state’s education reform plan, the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future. Add $3.8 billion to education each year over the next 10 years.

Moore is the Democratic nominee in a state where Democrats outnumber Republicans by about 2 to 1, losing to Republican President Donald Trump by 33 percentage points in 2020. Moore said his educational platform rests on collaboration.

“My leadership style is that everyone needs to be heard and everyone needs to be part of the conversation.

In addition to Blueprint funding, Moore is pledging additional increases in school construction, educator wages, after-school programs, tutoring, childcare and early childhood education. He promised to revive the State Commission on the School-to-Prison Pipeline and the Governor’s Office for Children, which Republican Gov. Larry Hogan merged with the Office of Crime Prevention, Youth, and Victim Services. And he said he meets regularly as governor with the teachers’ union that supports him.

By contrast, Republican candidate Cox appeals directly to parents who are unhappy with government decisions affecting their schools.

“Parents tell me: They are angry and tired of the radical left using their children as social experiments,” Cox said in a video on his campaign website. .

He calls his educational platform, which facilitates school choice, “defend parental rights.”

He has fought to ban schools from teaching kindergarten through third grade about gender identity. We call it “indoctrination”. He wants to ban critical racial theories. It is a term that describes an academic framework for the idea of ​​institutional racism. Although not taught in Maryland public schools, the phrase has become a shorthand in some conservative circles for topics about racism and the history of slavery in the United States.

Cox says it will expand school options. He wants to increase funding for his BOOST program in Maryland. This program provides scholarships for low-income families to attend non-public schools. He planned to appoint more guardians to the state board of education. The State Board of Education consisted of his 13 full members and his 1 student member, all appointed by the governor.

“My approach to parental involvement, community education, and school choice options contrasts sharply with that of the opposition, which is all about centralizing education,” he said in an interview with The Sun. rice field.

“Different schools and different regions should have more authority to tailor curricula to the needs of their communities,” he said.

Cox worked for many years as a teacher at Wellspring Christian Family Schools, a private homeschool program.

While criticizing state teachers’ unions, he is quick to say that he aligns with educators on topics such as salaries.

“My candidacy reflects the lives of most Marylanders,” he said. “We don’t care about parties anymore. I’m included.”

Moore called the opposition’s educational platform “dangerous” and “divisive,” adding that he believed Cox was trying to bring Trump’s agenda to Maryland.

“He’s an ideologist,” Moore said.

Cox has Trump’s support and backed Trump’s baseless claim that the 2020 presidential election was stolen. He said he attended a pro-Trump rally in Washington on Jan. 6, 2021, but didn’t go to the US Capitol, where the riots turned deadly.

The Governor of Maryland does not directly oversee the state’s education department, but can appoint members of the state board of education, approve or block education spending plans, and issue executive orders that directly affect schools. I can do it.

The Hogan administration used these powers to significantly influence public education.Spokesman Michael Rich promoted several educational initiatives in an email Monday. such as launching a taxpayer-funded voucher program for low-income students to attend private schools, supporting bipartisan funding schemes for school construction projects, and investing in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math). as a result.

Hogan has also stepped into high-profile controversies regarding education. When Annapolis state legislators and the Baltimore area’s elected education leader weighed how best to address the lack of air conditioning in his aging schoolhouse in 2016, the governor announced several administrations delaying the start of the school year. signed the order.

During the pandemic, Hogan relied on the school system to resume in-person instruction in early 2021, and revoked the mask mandate a year later on the state board of education.

He also rejected the blueprint education reform package as too costly. The veto was overturned by the General Assembly, which ultimately delayed the development of the plan.

Ricci recognized accountability for K-12 education spending as an administrative struggle, but pointed to the establishment of the Inspector General of Education as an outcome. The office was founded in his 2019 and has published several reports critical of school systems, including that of the City of Baltimore.

Both Cox and Moore expressed concern about schools in Baltimore City, in particular, where students and staff in some buildings had little or no tap water in the last week due to contamination, and that the school buildings were too hot. I mentioned that I was sent home early because of school.

The gubernatorial election has drawn prominent figures in Maryland’s education community, including former Baltimore city administrators, city school officials, and conservative parents who ousted the county superintendent for declaring that black lives matter. attracted people.

Tisha Edwards resigned a year ago From her role leading the Office of Children and Family Success in the City of Baltimore, she joined Moore’s campaign as Chief of Staff. After Edwards served as principal of public schools, she became head of staff at the City of Baltimore Schools under the school’s chief executive officer, Andres Her Alonso. She then served as interim CEO for about a year.

Moore said he was drawn to her because she “has dedicated her life to helping children.”

“Our campaign had a real focus on making sure education was central,” he said. think”

Its focus is Moore knocking on doors, calling and texting potential voters, and helping selected candidates by providing volunteers to distribute information about policy plans and public records. It helped secure the support of the teachers’ union.

“Once I nominate a candidate, I will do everything I can to [to] Help them win,” Samantha Zwaring, the union’s head of political and legislative affairs, said in an email.

Cox has found strong allies among those involved in grassroots efforts to shape public education, including running mate Goldana Cifanelli. He is also a part-time professor.

She made headlines in 2020 for ousting Queen Annes County’s first black superintendent of schools, Andrea Kane, after Kane expressed support for the Black Lives Matter movement in an email to her parents. Cifanelli and her husband later traveled to the states to talk about how to replicate their success at local conservative rallies.

During the course of the campaign, Cifanelli attracted parents unhappy with the mandates and closures of schools during the pandemic, many of which have since been lifted.

Cox said he met with several people who expressed interest in jointly campaigning for lieutenant governor.

“Goldana, although not a politician, stood out as someone who was sophisticated and could lead on these issues, especially on education,” he said. As what we call ‘Mama Bear’, we have already shown that we are stepping up.”

Cifanelli declined to be interviewed by The Sun, but said in an email Wednesday: She believes her ability to relate to parents and children helped Ticket win the Republican nomination.

“Children are being used for malicious purposes and I am horrified for our future,” she wrote in an email.

Voters say they are scrutinizing candidate platforms.

Digital Harbor High School teacher Angela Wesneschi visited both Moore and Cox’s campaign websites and decided to vote for Moore. The 25-year-old Democrat worried Cox’s school-selection plan would siphon money out of public schools at a time when they were short-staffed.

“With everything going on in the world right now, we need to focus on keeping teachers in the classroom,” said Wesneski. “We can argue all day about certain things that are or are not discussed in the classroom. But without a teacher, it means nothing.”

Wesneski, who is studying to become a librarian, said she was concerned that politicians were trying to limit access to information, books and educational materials.

Maryland Policy and Politics

every week

Stay up to date on Maryland politics, elections and important decisions by federal, state and local government officials.

Cox on Wednesday called for one of his opponents’ books, “The Other Wes Moore,” to be removed from state school reading lists. A synopsis on the back cover of some editions states that Moore was born in Baltimore, and that Moore warned the publisher to correct it before publication. Random House said the correction was overlooked, and Moore pointed out the error again last year and then “corrected all subsequent publications.” Cox said school districts that use books encourage lying.

“Increasing access to information is my core value,” says Wesneski. “We understand that we all love our children, but reducing access to information will never result in them learning and growing into kinder, more thoughtful people. Hmm.”

Other voters, such as Montgomery County Republican Frank Nice, say they see Governor Cox facing an uphill battle due to Democratic influence at the General Assembly in Annapolis.

“Do not think [Cox] It will have the same impact,” said Nice.

The 77-year-old has aligned more closely with Republican candidates, but worries that bipartisan cooperation and political compromise have become harder these days.

“I think Dan Cox is coming too far from the right and Wes Moore is coming too far from the left. They’re not going to meet in between,” Nice said. where is, somewhere in the middle.”

this is, series of articles On issues important to Maryland voters and issues facing the next governor.