Editorial - Schools and politics
In a move that could deprive Harford County Executive Ellen Rehrmann of one of her key issues in her campaign against fellow Democrat Parris Glendening, leaders of the Maryland General Assembly last week said they'd like to see a comprehensive approach to education funding.
The funding issue arose last year after Gov. Glendening approved a $250 million settlement of a suit brought by the Baltimore City school system. That got elected officials thinking in Prince Georges County, where a voter-imposed tax cap has left officials short of funds. Maybe, some said, filing our own suit wouldn't be such a bad idea.
Glendening weighed in again, saying he felt that additional money for Prince Georges County was justified, since the county had for many years been under a judge's order to bus children from one school to another to achieve racial integration. There have recently been some moves to get that order dissolved, but while it would allow students to attend schools in their own neighborhoods, some of the schools, abandoned decades ago, will have to be completely rebuilt.
