Thanks to all who joined us on last Thursday's statewide meeting, focusing on the upcoming Primary Election and what damage Gov. Hogan did to our schools with his veto of the Blueprint for Maryland's Schools. Make sure you vote by June 2 and take action to urge our legislative leaders to override Hogan's veto sooner rather than later.

To those of you who were able to join us Thursday evening for our statewide Marylanders United Virtual Organizing Meeting, thank you for your patience as we dealt with some  technical difficulties. It was great to be with you as we talked about education and the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future. We hope you are as inspired as we are by what Sen. Paul Pinsky (D-22) and Joe Francaviglia, the Executive Director of Strong Schools Maryland, shared about the need to keep fighting to make the Blueprint a reality. It’s one of the most comprehensive and progressive education proposals this country has ever seen. We appreciate the leadership and vision that Sen. Pinsky and Joe have provided over the past few years to help craft and pass this landmark bill. Thanks to each of them for joining our call.

We can’t let Gov. Hogan’s opposition to the Blueprint and by extension to more teachers, better pay, and more racial equity, win the day. We have to help organize public support for a veto override. Now more than ever we need to invest in our students and the school buildings and resources. This pandemic has shone a light on all the disparities that exist in our society and institutions. It’s time to deal with the inequities in our public schools. That’s why, on the call last night, we sent emails to Senate President Bill Ferguson, and House Speaker Adrienne Jones, asking them to commit to overriding  the Governor’s veto. Click here to send your message to Sen. Ferguson and Del. Jones asking for their leadership on this.

We also got to hear from local Montgomery County School Board Candidate, Sunil Dasgupta, on the need to support candidates who support educational equity. Thanks to Sunil for joining us and thanks to all of you who made phone calls -- because of you we reached another group of potential Sunil voters. Let’s keep that momentum going - we have many phone banking opportunities scheduled between now and Tuesday to help boost voter turnout! Click here to view our outreach and volunteer opportunities.

Your votes and your calls can make a difference, especially in some hotly contested races, like the ones for Baltimore Mayor and City Council. Check out Progressive Maryland’s candidate endorsements here.

As we mentioned on the call, we are taking a short short break from our statewide Virtual Organizing Meetings right after the election We will resume with local meetings and issue task force meetings during the week of June 9 and June 16. Thanks again and please stay safe!

The PM Marylanders United team

P.S. - Don’t forget to sign up for our weekly memo and join the Marylanders United Facebook group if you haven’t already!