Issue Position: Education

Issue Position

As a former Baltimore City public school teacher, Bill Ferguson is passionate about continuing his work expanding educational opportunities through smart, sensible work with parents, teachers, administrators and government.

As a Maryland State Senator, Bill will work to:

* Promote innovation in education by preparing students for a globalized economy through technology, trades apprenticeship learning, and STEM educational programs. Invest in Labor Colleges and other labor-related worker retraining, skills development programs.
* Develop a statewide program to close the digital divide. Promote data-sharing in the interest of kids. Create linked and dynamic youth databases to target at-risk populations at an early age. Ensure that such a system utilizes benchmarks to measure "on-track" graduation.
* Engage in a Maryland Race to the Top initiative to stimulate innovative school reform throughout the State, including measures of arts integration in metrics of school success. Ensure that high-achieving students have access to advanced academic programming in their neighborhood schools in the 46th District.
* Create pipelines of great school leaders from non-traditional pathways. Foster a system for incentivizing great principals to work in at-risk schools. Adjust the certification requirements for principals to attract non-traditional candidates to lead schools.
* Establish the "Maryland Promise" -- all students receiving free and reduced lunch meals may attend any Maryland 4-year university at no cost with successful graduation from a Maryland public high school.

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