Michael E. Busch, speaker of the Maryland House of Delegates, toured varied Southern Maryland facilities on Sept. 29.
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| Delegate Johnny Wood; former Sen. J. Frank Raley; Joe Anderson, Board chairman SMHEC; Delegate Sally Jam- eson; Delegate John Bohanan; Dr. Mel Powell; Capt. Matt Scassero; Speaker Michael Busch. |
In the early afternoon, the speaker visited the Southern Maryland Higher Education Center in California where he explored the challenges faced by education centers, in particular funding and partnerships.
According to Dr. Mel Powell, executive director at SMHEC, the value of Busch’s visit was the center being able to demonstrate its productivity and, therefore, justify an increase in state funding.
“We are independent,” Powell said. SMHEC is not part of the higher education system and receives no support from the funding apparatus for higher education. “We are totally dependent on the Legislator and the governor for funding,” he said.
According to Powell, SMHEC polls businesses in order to provide the workforce with the education it seeks. SMHEC offers 96 programs: 31 more than the Maryland regional center in Shady Grove and 55 more than the Hagerstown center. Shady Grove and Hagerstown receive funds from the higher education system. Yet, with fewer programs, Shady Grove receives $9,968,538 and Hagerstown $1,666,418 more in state support grants than SMHEC.
Speaker Busch also visited the Civista Medical Center in La Plata where he received a briefing on the challenges of rural health care including physician and nursing shortages. During a visit to the Calvert Cliffs nuclear plant, he received a briefing on the facilities Unit 3 expansion.
During the day, Busch was joined by delegates Sally Jameson, Murray Levy, Peter Murphy, John Bohanan, Tony O’Donnell and Johnny Wood