November 21, 2008 - Vol. 4, Issue 11
FrontLine will be on vacation next week. Have a Happy Thanksgiving, and we'll see you on December 5!

Funding

MSTA and school advocates press for sustained funding
A local TV news station called it “a preemptive strike—a message from school leaders to Annapolis saying we know times are tough, but please, try to leave the schools alone.”

That message was very clear at a press conference Monday when President Clara Floyd urged state and local elected officials to continue funding public education at current levels, even as they struggle to balance budgets compromised by the economic downturn.

Floyd was joined at the kick off of American Education Week by Dr. Andrés Alonso, CEO of the Baltimore city schools, and speakers from the Baltimore Teachers Union, Maryland PTA, Maryland Association of Boards of Education, and Maryland ACLU. Learn more

The Baltimore Sun
WBAL-TV

Join the fight to protect public education funding!
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Watch the new ad on GreatSchoolsMaryland.org, then contact your legislators! Use the prepared message or write your own.

Locals

Baltimore County celebrates Education Support Professionals Day
Teachers, as well as county and state leaders, donned aprons Wednesday to serve breakfast to support professionals at Ridge Ruxton Middle School to celebrate Education Support Professionals Day in Baltimore County.

The event was one of several slated for the Baltimore County Instructional Assistants and Clerical Employees' (BACE) public relations campaign to raise awareness about ESP contributions to public schools. The campaign, supported in part by MSTA, also includes a 30-second cable TV spot featuring the county ESP of the Year, radio interviews, and an editorial in the Patuxent newspapers.

Read the press release
Photo gallery

Congratulations!
PGCEA bargaining team wins tough battle for salary increase
Prince George's County teachers knew they were in for a tough bargaining season when they took their first look at the 2008-2009 school budget—there was no line item for salary increases.

After an exhausting review of the budget, the PGCEA negotiators and the Board members finally found the funds to give teachers a respectable three cost-of-living adjustments of 1 percent over the course of this school year, despite a crumbling economy and the smallest increase in the school budget in nine years.

The PGCEA team also negotiated an additional three “non-report” days for teachers, which coincide with the existing three grading days on the school calendar.

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