Funding

I am an advocate for adequate funding for public education. I understand how important it is that our schools have the resources they need. However, I am also the leader of an organization that provides high-quality services — including mental health services — to thousands of people in this region, and I am deeply disturbed that mental health funds are being used to restore cuts to education, an area that has historically remained untouched...

A decision by Anne Arundel County officials to eliminate $5,000 in funding for the annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Breakfast has resulted in a pointed back-and-forth between the administration of County Executive John R. Leopold and a prominent local civil rights leader. Carl O. Snowden, the former longtime chairman of the breakfast, alleges racial insensitivity on the part of the county. He sharply criticized Leopold after it became public that the county had rescinded its annual funding because the committee that puts on the breakfast is not a registered nonprofit group, which officials say is a requirement.

Rolling Knolls Elementary School third-grader Luke Mueller asked the Anne Arundel County Council to keep his aging, overcrowded school in mind when deciding on funding next year's school budget. "A new school would make everything better," Luke said of the Annapolis school. "We wouldn't have to come in from the trailers to go to the bathroom. We could even have a real playground with swings. And our parents could stop parking in the parking lanes because of how small our parking lot is. " Luke was among dozens of county residents of all ages and backgrounds who spoke up for their schools, their local libraries and their education programs during public hearings on the county budget on Monday at Old Mill High School in Millersville and Wednesday at the Arundel Center in Annapolis.

When President Bush visited North Glen Elementary School in Glen Burnie last week to tout the success of his signature education initiative, the No Child Left Behind law, he cited the school's progress in narrowing the achievement gap between minority and white students on state tests. That school's progress is impressive, but one administrator pointed out that it was achieved, at least in part, thanks to extra federal funding. Too many other schools are unable to show that kind of progress because federal education funding has been coming up short.

The desperation of the Palestinians' move to win United Nations recognition was matched only by the pettiness of the U.S. refusal to continue funding UNESCO in order to punish that agency for standing up to Israel ("UNESCO vote on Palestine shuts off funding from U.S. " Nov. 1). For 65 years Israel and the Palestinians have been throwing metaphorical loads of dirt at each other. When will this spoiled child of an Israel loosen its stranglehold on American politics? Donald T. Hart, Baltimore

A new education advocacy group, formed late last year, has pledged to lobby for charter schools, funding for pre-kindergarten education and leave time for parents attending meetings with teachers. MarylandCAN, which is affiliated with a national coalition of school reformers called 50CAN, announced its agenda this week. Curtis Valentine, executive director of MarylandCAN, said he was "quite optimistic about passing" a bill that would give more students access to pre-kindergarten and legislation that would allow parents to take time off from work to attend teacher-parent meetings without being penalized by their employer.

Gov. Parris N. Glendening will make an announcement about school construction funding when he visits Hickory Elementary School in Bel Air Tuesday, according to one of the governor's press aides.A county school official said Mr. Glendening is expected to announce plans for funding of school construction statewide.Harford County has asked for more than $2 million in state money to renovate Hickory Elementary, which has not been substantially renovated since it was built in 1950.The school was the county's first "modern" facility for black students in grades one through 12, said county schools spokesman Donald R. Morrison.

On the eve of his inauguration, incoming Gov. Parris N. Glendening last night declined to say that he will work to keep funding in place to build a football stadium to attract an NFL team to Baltimore."

Aberdeen Proving Ground environmental cleanup officers have received approval from the Department of the Army to seek research funding to clean up high levels of a rocket-fuel component found in the soil near the city of Aberdeen's well field. But Ken Stachiw, head of APG's cleanup program, said Friday the plan has only a "50-50" chance of coming together. "It's not a sure thing," he said, adding that his staff hoped to learn this week from APG officials whether such funding would be likely.

THE MARYLAND State Board of Education ruled this month that the level of public education dollars due charter schools in Baltimore City is nearly $11,000 per pupil, far more money than what is earmarked for each regular school student. Advocates of public school education might applaud the ruling because it indicates the level of funding that the state believes public school students are entitled to. But it also means that charter schools will be funded at significantly higher levels than traditional public schools.