OPINION: Maryland can make education better for all students

Torrey Smith, a former Baltimore Raven, is president of the Torrey Smith Family Fund and a Players Coalition member. John B. King Jr. is president and chief executive of the Education Trust and was education secretary under President Barack Obama.

As the legislative session in Maryland is underway this winter, we know that there are students who have been trying to learn in classrooms that have inadequate heat. We’ve all seen the stories about students struggling to learn in coats, gloves and hats. In what is arguably among the wealthiest states in the nation, it simply makes no sense that students are forced to learn in these conditions.

Students absolutely need heat and air conditioning, but they also need our commitment as a state to provide the opportunities — from quality preschool to rich, rigorous learning experiences in elementary, middle and high school — that prepare them to thrive in college and careers, and that can literally change their lives.