Annapolis Report 2010

By Gabriel J. Michael
Edited by Alison Lake
Published on Wednesday, October 13, 2010
With midterm elections and a gubernatorial race just weeks away, the Maryland Public Policy Institute has a second edition of “The Annapolis Report,” a review of the state’s 2010 legislative session.

Required viewing

Originally published in the Baltimore Sun

By Marta Hummel Mossburg
Published on Monday, September 27, 2010
Many presidents and politicians have claimed education as their first priority over the past 40 years. They signed legislation and threw money at public schools - pushing per-pupil spending from about $4,000 in 1971 (in inflation-adjusted dollars) to more than $9,000 today, as student achievement stagnated. How could we spend so much for so little, dooming millions of children to "dropout factories" and diminished lives?

Maryland should make the most of online education

Originally published in the Baltimore Sun

By Dan Lips
Published on Thursday, September 23, 2010
High school students must feel like Marty McFly. In the classic 1980s movie "Back to the Future," Michael J. Fox portrays a teenager who uses a time machine to travel back to 1955. During his journey, Marty sees what it was like to attend school with his parents' generation. Teenagers heading back to school this fall must also feel like they're traveling back in time - leaving the high-tech world of 2010 to return to schools that have remained largely unchanged since the 1950s.

How Maryland Can Become A Leader In K-12 Online Learning

By Dan Lips
Published on Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Technological innovations are improving and transforming most areas of American life. Yet our schools continue to be one area that has resisted transformation, operating more or less as they did 150 years ago. This will soon change.

'A-' for FCPS

Originally published in the Frederick News-Post

By Marta Hummel Mossburg
Published on Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Maryland government tries to hide lots of information from residents. It does not want people to know about government employee salaries and benefits, loans made to well-connected businesses and many grants to politically in-vogue organizations.

Marvin Mandel at age 90

Originally published in the Daily Times

By The Daily Times Editorial Board
Published on Thursday, May 06, 2010
We missed a milestone of sorts last month -- the 90th birthday of one of the last of the greats to occupy Governor's Mansion in Annapolis.

Former Gov. Mandel turns 90, politicians gather for roast

Originally published in the Baltimore Sun

By Julie Bykowicz | The Baltimore Sun
Published on Wednesday, May 05, 2010
Generations of Maryland politicians celebrated Tuesday former Gov. Marvin Mandel's recent 90th birthday at a dinner in College Park that featured countless age jokes and heartfelt tributes, as well as a handful of awkward moments and surprise reunions.

The Accidental Governor: Marvin Mandel dictates his memoir

Originally published in MarylandReporter.com

By Len Lazarick
Published on Friday, April 30, 2010
"I'll Never Forget It" is what former Maryland Gov. Marvin Mandel calls his memoir published today - a forgettable title that could have been applied to a thousand autobiographies. It might better have been called "The Accidental Governor," since Mandel's subtitle is "Memoirs of a Political Accident from East Baltimore."

Kids suffer for politics

Originally published in the Frederick News-Post

By Marta Hummel Mossburg
Published on Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Someone told me a story once about a boy standing amid thousands of starfish on dry sand. He was hurling those within reach back into deep water when a man walked by and asked the boy why he was wasting his time -- the vast majority would die. The boy replied that his effort mattered to the ones he saved.

Republicans drop out

Originally published in the Gazette

By The Gazette
Published on Thursday, March 25, 2010
In opposing a bill to reduce the number of high school dropouts in Maryland, some Republicans in the General Assembly have chosen the wrong issue on which to demonstrate their fiscal principles.