Trent Kittleman for Board of Education, District 5

Questions 

1.         Please provide the spelling of your first and last name.

Trent Kittleman

 2.         Where do you live in Howard County? How long have you lived in the county?

West Friendship.  52 years.

 3.         What is your occupation? If retired or no longer working, what was your former occupation? 

I practiced law for over 10 years, after which I was elected to the Maryland House of Delegates where I spent the last eight years.

 4.         Have you ever run for school board before? Another office? 

This is my first time running for school board.  I have run for other offices.

5.         Have you previously held office? Or do you currently hold an elected position? If so, how long have you held office?

I was a Maryland State Delegate elected in 2014 and served until 202 when I lost my run for reelection by 113 votes.

 6.         In between 150-200 words please describe why you are running for the Howard County Board of Education. 

Having served in the legislature during the initiation, examination, and approval of the Kirwan Blueprint, I gained insights into the state of education in Maryland, and unfortunately, much of it revealed challenges. Since December 2023, my focus has been dedicated to the Howard County Public School System, evident in my monthly newsletter, "A Voice for Parents," initiated in August.

 While Howard County stands as a premier public school system in the state, the margin is narrowing. With five grandchildren attending Howard County schools, I'm committed to preserving its excellence.

 My leadership, knowledge, and experience empower me to pose informed inquiries to department heads. For instance, as a lawyer, I knew upon reading the ZUM bus contract that it was inadequate, lacking certain critical provisions. 

 Despite our county's affluence, the soaring cost of education is a stark reality, often fueled by new state-mandated responsibilities. Given the evolving fiscal landscape, creativity is imperative to sustain adequate funding for our schools. I believe I can contribute significantly to shaping these crucial decisions.

Question Title

1. What should the top three priorities of a school system budget be?

• Academics
• Safety, from home, to school, in school, and back home
• Special Education

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2. Do you believe schools should institute stronger disciplinary measures? Please explain.

Schools should institute disciplinary measures that actually work to stop misbehavior from being repeated and should implement such measures. consistently.  Restorative Justice is a valuable first step in addressing bad behavior.  Often, serious communication among students is limited, and straight talk can often help them understand the impact of their behavior on others.  But if it does not prevent the student from repeating their misbehavior, more traditional disciplinary measures may be imposed.

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3. What do you think are the best ways to recruit and retain educators?

• Start listening to what the school-based teachers and principals are telling you.
• Reduce paperwork & workload in general
• Encourage more open communication.

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4. Do you support Maryland parents’ recent efforts to restrict the content available to students in school libraries? Please explain your answer.

When parents believe their children are being exposed to subjects or materials they feel interfere with the family’s culture, religion, or moral code, higher-income families have the option to provide an alternate education for their children.  Lower-income families do not have that option.  There are an ever-growing variety of these alternatives, but most cost money, and homeschooling generally requires at least one parent remain home rather than work.  The greatest inequity in our State’s public school system today is its opposition to allowing lower-income families the opportunity to escape failing schools – or ones that offend their family’s culture, religious, or moral beliefs.

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5. When your district needs to redraw school boundaries, what should be the top priority?

The purpose of any redistricting is to balance out the numbers of students among schools that are overcrowded and those that are under capacity.  My two most important considerations in designing new districts are: (1) move the fewest students possible, and (2) preserve community integrity.

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6. How would you balance the competing priorities of funding school construction/renovation and keeping property taxes low?

While serving as Deputy Secretary of Transportation I worked on several Public Private Partnerships (P-3s),  Although there are pluses and minuses to P-3s, the primary values they bring are: (1) the ability to fund and build things quickly, as Prince Georges County did to get six schools built in just three years, and (2) elimination of the need to provide most of the funding up front, spreading the cost of the construction over a considerable period of time.  With a more dependable path for funding school construction, the Board should be able to have better control of maintenance spending that would allow them to create an objective 5-year plan identifying priorities that do not change from year to year. 

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7. Why should voters elect you?

I have a lengthy career and educational background in law, leadership, and finance and have worked in the federal, state, and local government, as well as the private sector.  I have led unique and successful group efforts to achieve major accomplishments as Deputy Secretary of  Maryland’s Department of Transportation.  And, importantly, I care about and have been involved in the Howard County School System in many ways for many years.  I have been a judge for the 5th grade Simulated Congressional Hearing program for the last 13 years, judging at an average of six schools a year.  I write a well-researched monthly Newsletter titled “A Voice for Parents.”  As a Delegate, almost every day I talked to Howard Countians. The most compelling conversations were with the representatives of the groups advocating for Special Education.  That includes teachers who came every year hoping for some relief from the overburdensome paperwork requirements of the job that diverts time from teaching.  And finally, since I am retired, I can and will devote all of my time to the duties of the Board if I am elected – and I have five grandchildren in the HCPSS who keep me informed, involved, and on my toes!