O’Malley Makes School Construction Funding a Priority

Joins with Elected Officials and Community Leaders for Third Announcement this Week in Prince George’s

GREENBELT, MD (August 26, 2006) – Martin O’Malley joined with elected officials and community leaders in Prince George’s County earlier today to commit school construction funding for Prince George’s County and the entire State of Maryland.

O’Malley was joined for the press conference in front of mobile classrooms at Eleanor Roosevelt High School in Greenbelt by State Senators Paul G. Pinsky, Ulysses Currie, Gwendolyn T. Britt, and John A. Gianetti, Jr., and State’s Attorney Glenn F. Ivey, among others, where he committed to providing $400 million dollars for school construction during his first year in office if he is elected governor and providing $250 million recommended by the Kopp Commission for the next 10 years.

“If we are going to make progress for working families in Maryland and improve our public schools across our state and in Prince George’s County, we need a commitment from our state government to work with our local communities, not against them, to make sure our students have adequate leaning facilities where they can meet their full potential,� said Martin O’Malley. “Refusing to fully-fund Thornton and cutting school-construction funding is not the type of partnership our local jurisdictions need.�

O’Malley’s commitment stands in stark contrast to Bob Ehrlich’s record on education.
Ehrlich cut school construction funding by nearly $200 million compared to the four years prior to his taking office. And despite now taking credit for legislation he wouldn’t even sign, Ehrlich failed to fully fund the Thornton school financing reforms.

Senator Currie who spoke just before Martin O’Malley stated, “Until we are able to get all of our children in one building, we will not see the performance of our children improve. Our children cannot be expected to learn in ‘outhouses.’�

The press conference was the first in a series of events by O’Malley in Prince George’s County today. O’Malley attended and greeted the congregation of the Metropolitan Seventh Day Adventist Church in Hyattsville, and attended Kingdom Fest in Capital Heights, before greeting local business owners and shoppers at Rivertowne Commons in Oxon Hill, Maryland.

Earlier this week, Martin O’Malley and Anthony Brown visited Prince George’s County to announce their commitment to Minority Business Enterprise in the State of Maryland and their plan for a statewide homeland security facility in Prince George’s, including a homeland security research and training program at Bowie State University.

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Friends of Martin O’Malley – 2400 Boston St., Suite 203 – Baltimore, MD 21202 – 410-814-4206 – fax: 410-814-4218
Authority: Friends of Martin O’Malley, Martin F. Cadogan, Treasurer