Take Action Now

1.  Email the commissioners.

2.  Write a letter to the editor.

We Need EVERYONE to Email the Commissioners 

Write your own message, personal stories are always effective, or use just one of these 4 messages:

I urge you to fully fund the WCPS FY 24 Budget! As MD is moving toward a world class education system, we need to make sure Worcester County is not left behind.  To do this Worcester County must be a full and enthusiastic participant in the implementation of the Blueprint for MD’s future, and that means you need to fully fund the WCPS budget.

OR

This is to request that you fully fund the WCPS FY 24 budget.  As budget requests are considered, we should remember that quality education is the cornerstone of a thriving community.  We see that 91% of the budget goes to salaries.  We need to keep all of these valuable employees of the BOE.  Therefore, for the sake of our students and our teachers I ask the commissioners to fully fund the WCPS FY 2024 budget.                 

OR

Quality education is so important to me and my community, that I am willing to support a tax increase. Comparing the amount that neighboring counties receive from the state compared to what Worcester County receives is an irrelevant argument because those funding formulas are set at the state level. These formulas are designed to help counties that bring in less property taxes and supplement their educational budget with more state funding.  If the Commissioners really want to address a way to have more revenue to fully fund the BOE budget perhaps they should consider raising the County tax rate (piggy back tax). Somerset’s is 3.2%, Wicomico’s is 3.2% and Worcester’s is the lowest in the state at 2.25. We need to ensure that Worcester County Schools keep the high standards and so I urge all Commissioners to pass the WCPS FY 2024 Budget! 

OR

In the past several years, you have projected a deficit and yet you ended with a surplus. It makes it difficult to believe that you can’t fully fund the Board of Education budget.  A quality education system increases the value of homes and attracts businesses to a community. This is not the time to underfund Worcester County Schools—I urge you to pass the WCPS Budget as passed by the elected Board of Education members.

Write a Letter to the Editor!  

We need a series of Letters to the Editor published in local papers which are asking the Commissioners to fully fund the School Board budget. If you write a letter, contact Gail at janfam83@gmail.com to find out where and when to send it. We want to pace the letters. If you want to write a letter, we can give you talking points. If you need help, let us know.

Talking Points

Use one of the above messages as a starting point.  Support your letter with some of the following information.

A quality education 

• Increases the value of homes.
• Helps to attract businesses to a community
• Worcester County is currently the top performer in the state.  We can not afford to fall behind.

Early Education 

• The Blueprint invests in high quality pre-school
• Research shows that for every dollar invested in high-quality early childhood education, society gains up to $7.30 in economic returns over the long term.
• children who attended a high-quality pre-K program were 31% more likely to graduate from high school than those who did not attend.
• early education programs can help to close the achievement gap between children from disadvantaged backgrounds and their more affluent peers.

Class Size

• 92 % of the budget is salaries. Cuts will likely mean the loss of teachers and larger class size.
• research has indicated that children in smaller classes achieve better outcomes, both academic and otherwise, and that class size reduction can be an effective strategy for closing racially or socioeconomically based achievement gaps .

Pay now or pay Later

•  Individuals who graduate from high school are more likely to 
• be employed and earn higher salaries, which means they are less likely to rely on government assistance programs.
• pay taxes so they can help to fund essential government programs and services, such as public education, infrastructure, and healthcare.
• not engage in criminal behavior reducing the cost of law enforcement, court proceedings, and imprisonment.
• be healthy and have better health outcomes meaning they are less likely to require expensive medical care or emergency services.
• for every $1 spent on social emotional learning initiatives, there is an $11 return on investment according to a new research brief from Penn State University and the Robert Wood Foundation.