A Crofton Online Interview
Marcia Richard: 'West County High School A Top Priority'

Candidate Marcia Richard says that the number one reason voters should support her candidacy is her dedication to quality education in Maryland. Obtaining state funding for a West County High School would be a top priority of hers, she told Crofton Online in a recent interview. Ms. Richard is running for the House of Delegates from District 33, which includes Crofton. Richard, a public school teacher in Anne Arundel County, noted that she has been endorsed by the Maryland State Teachers Association, the Maryland Classified Employees Association, and the Maryland Dietetic Association, as well as by Delegate Marsha Perry and the Baltimore Sun. "In conversations with voters across the area, education has been the number one concern raised," she told us. She noted that one parent was very upset because her daughter's third grade class had 28 students in it. "That is just too many," she said.

Richard discusses campaign with a supporter.

As a teacher, Ms. Richard is aware of problems in the formula used to determine average class size. She noted that every school-based employee with a teaching certificate is counted in figuring that average, even if he or she is not in a classroom. As a result, many classes are actually larger than county figures seem to indicate. "Arundel High School is particularly overcrowded," she said in explaining the need for a West County High School. "We have not been getting our fair share of state education funding," noted Richard, pledging to work hard in Annapolis to change that. Next page of Marcia Richard Interview. Back to Crofton Online.