Kenneth P. Kerr

Kenneth P. Kerr (born January 28, 1957) is a Democratic member of the Maryland House of Delegates.

He represents District 3B, which covers parts of Frederick County.

Kerr was born in Boston, Massachusetts on January 28, 1957.

He attended Frederick Community College, where he earned an A.A. degree in general studies in 1976.

He also attended Hood College, where he earned a B.A. degree in music in 1981.

After graduating from Hood College, he worked as a fourth grade teacher for Frederick County Public Schools from 1983 to 1986.

During this time, Kerr led a group of fourth-graders through the Maryland State House and thought to himself, "Wow, this is really cool. It'd be great if I could do this someday."

After teaching, Kerr worked in the information technology field for 10 years, working various jobs including computer repair and writing software manuals.

While at Frederick Community College, he met his wife in a philosophy class, who he married in 1984.

Writing manuals made him return to Towson University, where he earned a M.S. degree in professional writing in 1995.

After graduating from Towson, Kerr worked as an English professor at Cecil College, Frederick Community College, Hagerstown Community College, Harford Community College, and Wor–Wic Community College.

Since 1999, he has worked as an English professor at Frederick Community College, serving as the chair of the English department from 2011 to 2017.

He later attended Morgan State University, where he earned a Ed.D. in 2003.

In 2014, Kerr unsuccessfully ran for the Frederick County Board of Education, seeking to replace board member Brad Young.

He lost to incumbent April Miller in the general election by a margin of 43 votes.

He declined to request a recount, saying that he trusted the proficiency of the elections officials in tallying absentee and provisional ballots.

He was previously a member of the Frederick County Board of Education from 2016 to 2018.

In April 2016, Kerr again ran for the Frederick County Board of Education.

During the general election, Kerr teamed up with candidates Michael Bunitsky and incumbent school board member Joy Schaefer to campaign and fundraise together and to pool funds.

Kerr was victorious in the general election, receiving 25.7 percent of the vote.

He was sworn in on December 7, 2016.

Kerr supported legislation introduced by Delegate Kathy Afzali during the 2017 legislative session that would require schools be open for at least 1,080 hours a year, or roughly 155 full school days.

In January 2018, Kerr announced his candidacy for the Maryland House of Delegates, seeking to challenge Delegate William Folden.

He ran unopposed in the Democratic primary.

Kerr defeated Folden in the general election, earning 52.4 percent of the vote.

After his general election win, Kerr resigned from the Frederick County Board of Education.

The Frederick County Council voted to appoint Lois Jarman to fill his seat.

During the 2018 election, Kerr ran as "a champion for public education."

Kerr was sworn into the Maryland House of Delegates on January 9, 2019.

Since 2019, he has sat on the Health and Government Operations Committee.

Kerr is also an associate member of the Maryland Legislative Latino Caucus, as well as the Veterans Caucus.

In January 2019, Kerr testified in support of a bill that would classify teachers at the Maryland School for the Deaf as state employees, rather than "at will" employees.

Kerr introduced legislation in the 2020 legislative session that would allow farmers who grew malting barley and rye as cover crops to combine harvest their crops while still earning a stipend.

The bill received an unfavorable report from the Environment and Transportation Committee.

Kerr introduced legislation in the 2021 legislative session that would allow some restaurants, bars, and taverns to continue selling alcoholic beverages that could be consumed off-site.

The bill passed and became law with Governor Larry Hogan's signature on May 18, 2021.

Kerr introduced legislation in the 2020 legislation session that would categorize kratom as among the most dangerous controlled substances in Maryland.

Kerr introduced legislation in the 2020 legislative session that would prove funding for a teacher apprenticeship program for the Frederick County Public Schools system.

He also introduced a bill that would allow students to attend a nonprofit institution of higher learning at the same cost as an average four-year rate for tuition and fees for public colleges and universities through Maryland's higher education system.

Kerr introduced legislation in the 2022 legislative session that would require seizure training for teachers and other school employees.