Montgomery County, Maryland is fortunate to have some of the best schools in the United States. Our students are regularly admitted to the top Colleges and Universities and pass record numbers of AP and Honors Classes. While many of our students enjoy the best opportunities available, it is attrocious that in our district we have schools that are performing below average.

The most important thing in a child's life outside of family is education. As the child of an educator of nearly forty years, the values of education were instilled in me at an early age. However, many children are missing the bus. We cannot deny ANY child the right to an education in this country.

We must make improvements:

• End Social Promotion
  We are not doing our jobs by allowing children to continue to face obstacles by not mastering their curriculum before moving on.
• MORE MONEY into schools in underserved areas - We must do our part and fully fund those schools with the most needy children. We cannot build a strong economy for our future unless we do our best to educate the students who meet the greatest challenges
• Zero tolerance for drugs in our schools - Drugs DO NOT belong in our schools.
• Federal Regulation of Teacher Pensions so we can recruit the best teachers by offering higher pensions