Speech for the Howard County Task Force to Study Revenue Options for School Capital Needs Ho. Co. 18-24

Thank you, Madam Chair. 

Good evening.  Thank you very much to every committee member. I want to thank our County Executive Ball for putting up this committee quickly.

I truly appreciate our delegation’s support to pass this important legislation. When I proposed the idea, all delegation members were so supportive, especially Senator Hester, who sat next to me, revised the bill language line by line. 

For the first time in many years, we are working together now, from the superintendent, the school board, county council, county executive, the state delegation and community members, to address two important issues:

1. How to find the 500 million dollars for the deferred maintenance for HCPSS
2. How to find revenue to build and renovate schools with bigger, brighter classrooms with windows. We should also give our staff members a nice, welcoming work environment. 

I am very concerned about the long term fiscal situation of the county. Education has been the source why many people come to Howard County. It is also driving up the county revenue. We should do everything to keep its best quality. 

The committee has a very challenging task in front of you. However, I believe you will be able to find some solutions, for example, 

1. Reshuffling our spending priorities, maintaining or even ramping up support for HCPSS from the county.
2. Debating on “what we want” and “what we need”.
   1. Many “good-to-have” multi-million dollar county projects, which have a significant fiscal impact, should stay in the second place. 
3. Creating a multiple-year solution with dedicated, additional funding.

      Thank you again for working hard on this important issue.