School’s in, but many parents turn outside for better education

Originally published in the Baltimore Examiner

By Alison Lake
Published on Wednesday, August 22, 2007
BALTIMORE - A wall will eventually sag or crumble if too many blocks are missing. The same thing can happen to a child’s education when he or she lacks too many skills. Because so many taxpayer-funded schools are not providing adequate instruction to children, parents must look elsewhere to help fill the gaps. This situation drives growth in the supplemental education market every year. The demand stems both from federal requirements and parents. No Child Left Behind requires that Title I schools not meeting Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) provide tutoring to needy students. In spite of the NCLB mandate, many more children need supplemental education than receive it. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) said states and school districts need to vastly improve how they advertise tutoring information to parents in an August 2006 report. Contracting and services mismanagement, for example, led to only 19 percent of eligible students in the 2004-2005 school year receiving extra help. In 2007, 2.3 million students were eligible for services. Many issues can contribute to students not using services, including living in rural or dangerous areas without many tutor choices, a lack of information about them and language barriers. Read More »

School Choice Options for Maryland

Education Tax Credits and the BOAST Tax Credit Proposal

Edited By Alison Lake
Published on Monday, March 12, 2007
In the 2007 Maryland state legislative session, a bipartisan coalition of legislators has introduced the Building Opportunities for All Students and Teachers, or BOAST tax credit proposal. This initiative is modeled after a similar tax credit program in Pennsylvania that has strong bipartisan support there. The legislation (Senate Bill 265) is sponsored by State Senator James E. DeGrange, Sr., a Democrat from District 32 (Anne Arundel County) and 17 co-sponsors. In the House of Delegates, the bill is sponsored by Delegate James E. Proctor Jr., a Democrat from District 27A (Calvert and Prince George’s counties) and 57 co-sponsors.The BOAST tax credit proposal would provide up to $25 million in partial tax credits to Maryland businesses that make contributions to support education. Specifically, the bill would allow businesses to make up to $15 million in contributions to non-profit organizations that fund tuition scholarships to non-public schools. Businesses would also be allowed to contribute up to $10 million to organizations that fund initiatives to improve public education. Businesses participating in the BOAST tax credit program would be able to receive a partial tax credit (worth 75 percent of the donation) for qualifying contributions. Read More »

School Choice Options for Maryland

Education Tax Credits and the BOAST Tax Credit Proposal

Edited By Alison Lake
Published on Monday, March 12, 2007
In the 2007 Maryland state legislative session, a bipartisan coalition of legislators has introduced the Building Opportunities for All Students and Teachers, or BOAST tax credit proposal. This initiative is modeled after a similar tax credit program in Pennsylvania that has strong bipartisan support there. The legislation (Senate Bill 265) is sponsored by State Senator James E. DeGrange, Sr., a Democrat from District 32 (Anne Arundel County) and 17 co-sponsors. In the House of Delegates, the bill is sponsored by Delegate James E. Proctor Jr., a Democrat from District 27A (Calvert and Prince George’s counties) and 57 co-sponsors.The BOAST tax credit proposal would provide up to $25 million in partial tax credits to Maryland businesses that make contributions to support education. Specifically, the bill would allow businesses to make up to $15 million in contributions to non-profit organizations that fund tuition scholarships to non-public schools. Businesses would also be allowed to contribute up to $10 million to organizations that fund initiatives to improve public education. Businesses participating in the BOAST tax credit program would be able to receive a partial tax credit (worth 75 percent of the donation) for qualifying contributions. Read More »

Importing prescription drugs is not the solution

Originally published in the Baltimore Examiner

By Alison Lake
Published on Thursday, July 27, 2006
Baltimore Mayor Martin O’Malley announced recently in his gubernatorial campaign that he will consider buying prescription drugs from Canada and abroad as a way to reduce health care costs for Marylanders. But that policy can potentially harm both consumers and the economics of drug creation and sale in the United States. Those unsolicited and poorly worded offers for Cialis and Viagra in our e-mail inboxes say it all. Drug re-importation is one situation where the invisible hand will not solve the problem. The key prefix is the “re-” in reimportation. The United States develops, creates and produces the bulk of the world’s drugs. Foreign governments legally purchase drugs from American companies at discount prices and then set their own prices at home (translation: price controls). Were Maryland to allow drug re-importation, American firms would continue to assume the worldwide burden of drug research and development but at a profit margin that did not take those efforts into account. Read More »

Fostering education stability

Originally published in the Baltimore Examiner

By Alison Lake
Published on Monday, July 10, 2006
BALTIMORE - Thousands of miles away in Arizona, a small but significant program hatched here in Maryland became law in June. But Maryland’s 11,500 foster care children, 7,000 of whom are in Baltimore City, have yet to benefit from this program designed by The Maryland Public Policy Institute. Gov. Janet Napolitano, Democrat, personally signed into law a first-in-the-nation targeted school choice program for foster care children. Arizona’s $2.5 million scholarship grant program offers foster children scholarships worth up to $5,000 for tuition. Any child who has or is placed in the foster care system is eligible, and the students can use the scholarship to attend private schools. Read More »

Relieving overcrowded ERs in Baltimore-area hospitals

Originally published in the Baltimore Examiner

By Alison Lake
Published on Thursday, June 22, 2006
BALTIMORE - About five years ago, Baltimore’s emergency rooms started overflowing. The city’s emergency rooms are not alone. In 2003, the General Accounting Office reported that ERs throughout the state and nation are overcrowded. But Maryland’s ERs force patients to wait longer than most in the country. Fortunately, two city departments and area hospitals are trying to do something about it. Around the state, more backup units have been asked to respond to medical emergencies while other ambulances idle until hospital beds become available. This strain on Baltimore City Fire Department’s emergency medical services prompted William J. Goodwin Jr., the city fire chief, to ask area hospitals for help. In just over a month, the city and its hospitals have set a fine example of what regional cooperation can do to address a serious problem that affects all levels of government and social services. “We took a proactive approach to a growing national problem,” said Goodwin. Read More »

The right to smoke, or a right to clean air?

Originally published in the Baltimore Examiner

By Alison Lake
Published on Friday, June 02, 2006
BALTIMORE - On June 5, 2006, the Howard County Council will vote on a bill to ban smoking in all restaurants and bars. If the Robey-Ulman bill is passed, Howard County will join Prince George’s, Montgomery and Talbot Counties in legislating smoke-free establishments. Yet for Marylanders who detest cigarette smoke for health or personal reasons and for Marylanders who savor the experience of lighting up a cigarette, state and county tobacco policies are contradictory and not altogether helpful. Read More »

The right to smoke, or a right to clean air?

Originally published in the Baltimore Examiner

By Alison Lake
Published on Friday, June 02, 2006
BALTIMORE - On June 5, 2006, the Howard County Council will vote on a bill to ban smoking in all restaurants and bars. If the Robey-Ulman bill is passed, Howard County will join Prince George’s, Montgomery and Talbot Counties in legislating smoke-free establishments. Yet for Marylanders who detest cigarette smoke for health or personal reasons and for Marylanders who savor the experience of lighting up a cigarette, state and county tobacco policies are contradictory and not altogether helpful. Read More »

Special children, special needs, big bucks

Originally published in the Baltimore Examiner

By Alison Lake
Published on Thursday, May 18, 2006
BALTIMORE - The ongoing and systemic failure of Baltimore City’s special-education system in public schools is an extreme but very real example of what happens when a public school district is allowed to underserve its students for decades. Under state management since summer of 2005, the city’s special education services have been ordered to provide 90,000 hours of makeup services from 2005 on top of what is due children in 2006. A state report also showed that 25 percent of city high school seniors in special education received diplomas last spring without meeting graduation requirements. Baltimore City’s school system is an excellent example of a situation where both mainstream and special-education students would benefit greatly from the opportunity to take their per-pupil money elsewhere to a better school. Read More »

Baltimore's lost generations

Originally published in the Baltimore Examiner

By Alison Lake
Published on Wednesday, April 26, 2006
 Eleven Baltimore City schools that are failing their students qualify for state oversight under No Child Left Behind. Yet when the state department of education moved to assume control of those schools, Maryland legislators blocked the measure in the General Assembly, leaving the schools to fail for yet another year. Baltimore City schools, in academic danger for years, have reached a serious impasse now, simply because no one can effect an appropriate administrative solution. What legislators, and outsiders, do not appear to grasp is the severe situation of many Baltimore City children. For example, several generations of the city’s special education students were allowed to miss out on essential services before the state finally assumed control of the system. Those effects of state oversight have yet to be measured and will require at least a couple of years to demonstrate any positive effects on student learning. Read More »