State Senate Candidate Jessica Douglass (D)

(6/1) Adopt the recommendations made by the Maryland Commission on Innovation and Excellence in Education, and create a new funding formula for Maryland’s Public Schools.

Move Maryland toward a clean energy economy.

Legislate, regulate, and tax the growth, distribution, and sale of marijuana in order to prevent opioid addiction among patients suffering from chronic pain and to fund vital addiction rehabilitation centers and clinics.

Hold big business accountable while giving small business a chance.

Since filing for candidacy in the State Senate race, I have been talking with voters about what matters to them. These four action items reflect the bulk of responses I have heard over the past few months.

I am a candidate for State Senate. I am a mother of four sons. I have been a teacher for fifteen years in Maryland public schools.

Throughout my career, the injustices of our society have presented themselves in the faces of children. Every day, teachers are reminded of the bitter inequality between the "haves" and the "have-nots." Children whose parents have stable careers and quality healthcare arrive clean, well-rested, and eager to be with friends, while children whose fortunes are not secured, struggle to focus. It is impossible to witness this disparity, wrought only by the luck of one’s birth, and choose tax cuts over text books, or corporate welfare over free and reduced meals.

To that end, I feel compelled to run for statewide office in the face of Maryland public schools attempting to service our children without heat in the winter. I have to step up because protecting Maryland’s natural resources is no longer supported by the EPA. I need to stand up for rational and research-based answers to the opioid crisis. I must do this because I can.

I have spent my adulthood teaching public high school students and raising my children, so I do not have a voting record to review. What I do have is a history of caring for others. I have a history of putting the needs of the community first. I have a history of being entrusted with our state’s most precious assets – its children. For 15 years, communities have trusted me to prepare their children for success.

In this pursuit, I have worked with every type of personality. I have worked with the highly motivated, the impossibly disinterested, and the actively opposed. I have worked with people across all disciplines and capacities to successfully usher children toward success in their adult lives and to develop programs using resources we had on hand that would benefit the most students.

I want voters to know that there are practical solutions to the issues that Maryland faces. These solutions are already "in the works," and we need to elect leaders who will support these solutions in Annapolis.

The formula that distributes funding to public schools in Maryland was written in 2002. Based on the Kirwan Commission’s research and findings, the formula was used to fund Maryland Public Schools completely and fairly. The commission recently published its most current recommendations, reflecting the new population that Maryland Public Schools serves. In the 2019 general assembly, I will support these recommendations and will vote to implement a new school funding formula so that Maryland Public Schools can again serve all students with a quality education that will prepare them for today’s job market.

The Clean Energy Jobs Act increased Maryland’s renewable energy goal to 25% by 2020. We need to redouble our efforts and become a leader in clean energy jobs. We can expand renewable energy in Maryland to 50% by 2030. By pushing such legislation, Maryland can create jobs for the future and reduce air and water pollution.

To address the opioid crisis, I will push to decriminalize marijuana possession. Not only are there studies that find that states with fewer restrictions on marijuana experience fewer opioid deaths and prescriptions, legalizing the use of marijuana will save the state money by incarcerating fewer people. Also, taxing the sale of marijuana will raise revenue for the state that I would earmark to be used solely on drug addiction rehabilitation centers and clinics. Maryland can use the lessons learned in other states that have already taken such action to write our legalization ballot initiatives and legislative measures; we do not have to reinvent the wheel, yet we cannot be left behind as more states take advantage of this broadminded opportunity for revenue and action against opioid addiction.

Finally, $15 minimum wage and paid family leave are initiatives that working families need and the will likely pass the general assembly in 2019. While I support such measures, I would write legislation that would ease the burden they might present to small business owners, giving small businesses a longer timeframe for implementation or possibly a tax credit for family leave application.

There are common-sense solutions to the problems voters have voiced to me. District 4 needs a representative in Annapolis fighting for these solutions. Frederick and Carroll County residents can elect a representative in Annapolis who sponsors meaningful legislation that supports children, working families, small business, and a healthy environment. You can have a representative in Annapolis forging real change of which you can be proud: vote Jessica Douglass for State Senate.