Parents ask Maryland lawmakers to back textbook, technology budget

Published: 2005-01-11

PARKVILLE, Md. (CNS) -- In what several lawmakers called the most impressive legislative lobbying effort they have ever seen, thousands of nonpublic school families gathered at 16 Catholic schools throughout Maryland Jan. 6 to urge their representatives to support $6 million in state funding for a textbook and technology loan program. They also urged their lawmakers to extend an existing public schoolteacher tax credit to certified nonpublic schoolteachers to help them maintain or enhance their certification status. At St. Ursula School in Parkville, more than 800 parents crammed into the gymnasium to tell lawmakers why the funding is needed. They urged Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. to restore textbook and technology funding to $6 million after it dipped to $3 million last year.

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