Campaign Update: Schools Can Be Better and Yes, We Can Afford It
Campaign Update: Schools Can Be Better and Yes, We Can Afford It
As the school year ends, I keep hearing the same thing from families I meet at the door, over coffee, and at community events: our public schools are failing too many children in deeply personal ways. Parents describe kids who are twice exceptional, struggling in math, unsafe or bullied, living with visible and invisible disabilities, navigating gender identity, or managing serious mental and physical health needs. These families moved to Montgomery County for excellent schools. Increasingly, they feel those schools are no longer “the jewel” they were promised. When they can, they leave — the county, the state, or the public system entirely.
Other failures are systemic. Hungry children can’t learn. Children without pre‑K are less likely to be kindergarten‑ready. Kids whose families can’t afford summer or after‑school enrichment lose ground and face greater risks. None of this is new — but it is unacceptable.
Most of us believe no child is more deserving than another. Yet we tell ourselves there isn’t enough money, that taxes are already too high, that MCPS already consumes half the county budget. When the system fails your child, it stops feeling like a public good. Scarcity thinking takes over, and we start pitting children’s needs against those of older adults, people with disabilities, working families, or even other children.
It’s not that we don’t care. It’s that we don’t see a way out. So we settle for goals like 75% kindergarten readiness or 60% reading proficiency and call that “good enough.” But it isn’t. Our definition of “good enough” must rise to meet the needs of all children.
To get there, we need universal pre‑K and school nutrition for every family that wants it, and enough teachers and staff to reduce class sizes so every child is known and supported.
And here’s the truth: we can afford this without raising county income or property taxes. It only feels impossible because a small number of people hold extraordinary wealth, and because Maryland leaves billions in owed taxes uncollected. The comptroller estimates $3 billion in state taxes go uncollected each year, and roughly one‑third of the largest corporations pay no state income tax at all.
If we want schools that meet the needs of all children, more equitably, we must fully fund tax enforcement, adopt water’s‑edge combined reporting (as 28 states already do), allow counties to levy sales and luxury taxes, and increase pension fund investment in Maryland’s social infrastructure, including schools. These are choices the Maryland General Assembly controls — and these are the choices I will make to better District 18 and to ensure MCPS truly serves all of our children.
Read Kate’s unabridged thoughts on our schools on Substack.
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We do not accept funds from large corporations or PACS. This campaign is funded by friends and neighbors - please make a contribution, today!
In Solidarity,
Kate
Democratic Candidate for Delegate, District 18
202.294.5141
By Authority: Kate Stein for D18
Treasurer, Deborah Williams
DIGNITY · FAIRNESS · FAMILY · COMMUNITY
