Let’s start with the fun stuff. The Comus Quarry has not been utilized for resource extraction for a decade. It is over 2 square miles of land with multiple deep mines (over 200 feet) that have been filled with millions of gallons of water fed by a naturally filtered mineral spring. I was able to take a tour of the site and I came away impressed and excited by the possibilities. At over 200 feet deep, this body of water offers tremendous opportunities as a diving certification location because all divers must be certified in open water. The 17 acre body of water where the diving is proposed is so pristine that you can see through the water like glass. It would be the only facility in the Washington DC/Baltimore corridor that would be able to certify divers. This includes rescue divers, government divers (to inspect bridge pilings etc…), and recreational divers.

This is an exciting opportunity for adaptive reuse of land that will increase recreational opportunities and tourism in Frederick County. The owners of the site plan to sink a C-130 airplane near the edge of the water so that divers can train and even snorkelers can enjoy the underwater wildlife. The County Council is in the midst of a change to allow such uses on mining land.

The next two items relate to education. In January, there will be a new vacancy for another new member of the Board of Education. The process for filling that vacancy will be much improved. As of this writing it sounds as if the County Council will going through an application and interview process which will be available to be seen by the public, and the Council will take public comment on the applicants before voting to send three names to the County Executive to make the selection. The important values of transparency and public feedback will be upheld for replacement of this elected position. The goal is to have the new member sworn in during the month of January.

Finally, the Council voted to take positions of support on a number of pieces of legislation that are being proposed in the state legislature. The council unanimously supported efforts to expand the state renters tax credit; change the Board of Education salary; change the way we fill vacancies on the Board of Education; creation of a behavioral health advisory council; various agricultural initiatives; and support funding for school construction, paratransit services, and the veteran center.

The Council also voted to support the Kirwan Commission on education recommendations where I was the lone vote against. The Kirwan Commission was appointed to study how to improve primary education in Maryland. I am pleased to say that Frederick County Public Schools are excellent, but many jurisdictions across the state are not so fortunate. The main aspect of the Kirwan Commission recommendations included huge mandated spending increases on the state and local levels over the next decade. In fact, the 10 year cost increase has been estimated to be $32 billion dollars statewide. To give some context, the entire state budget for all transportation (highways, roads, bridges, tunnels, airports, ports, buses, subways, etc…) is less than $4 billion dollars a year.

The Kirwan Commission did not recommend a revenue source for generating these additional billions of dollars which is why the Governor has termed the Commission ‘The Kirwan Tax Increase Commission.’ The Governor has calculated that the required spending will require revenue that would equate to thousands of dollars of tax increases per year on families.

Further, there is little evidence generally that simply increasing the allocation of tax dollars to education is effective. In 2002 a different education commission recommended a similarly dramatic increase in education that was implemented. In the following decades, billions more dollars were spent. In fact, Baltimore City spends more per student than any jurisdiction in Maryland and almost more than any in the country and has experienced persistently poor performance; still only 15 percent of eighth graders are proficient in reading and 10 percent are proficient in math in Baltimore City Public Schools. Throwing money at education has not proven effective. This debate will likely continue in the legislature well into the new year.