PUBLIC EDUCATION

The Maryland Constitution makes it a declaration of principle that
this Legislature "ought to encourage the diffusion of knowledge and
virtue" by the "extension of a judicious system of general education
.... " Under this mandate, therefore, we are charged with the re-
sponsibility of providing educational opportunities for all the people.
And, as I have said before, it should be our aim and purpose to offer
Marylanders the best education that is available in our time. Last
year, you will recall, we effected a sweeping change in our program
of State aid to local governments for the operation of their school
systems, which, among other things, resulted in sizeable increases in
pay to Maryland school teachers. This move, I am convinced, will
go down in history as one of the outstanding achievements of this
General Assembly and this Administration. The revised program is
reflected in the budget for fiscal 1966, which calls for increased ap-
propriations for State aid to education amounting to more than $10
million. In addition to the State's share of current expenses, increased
assistance is provided for important items in the overall expenditure
for the education of our youth, such as school construction, the edu-
cation of handicapped children, libraries, vocational education, adult
education and driver training.

I think we all recognize that one of the knottiest problems we face —
and in all probability will face for years to come — is that of providing
adequate college and university facilities for the education of the
youth of Maryland. It is a twin problem in that it involves a tre-
mendous expansion of plant to accommodate the population growth
and the ever-increasing demand for more education and at the same
time calls for a continuing upgrading of the quality of education to
meet the educational standards of our modern age. It is, as it has been
said elsewhere, a quantity of quality that we seek, and this is not
easy to come by. In the budget for next year, we have moved ahead
in that direction by increasing appropriations for just about every
phase of the activities of the institutions of higher education which
the State supports or assists.

Public higher education is our most critical area insofar as capital
outlays are concerned, and it is significant that 73 per cent of the
capital budget which I am recommending for next year is earmarked
for improving the plants of the University of Maryland and the State
colleges. For the University of Maryland, I am proposing an operating
budget of $51. 1 million, which is $6. 6 million more than was ap-
propriated in fiscal 1965. Provision is made in both the operating

34