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A School Voucher Program for Baltimore City

Education

by Dan Lips

STUDIES

Baltimore City’s public school system is in crisis. Academically, the school system fails on any number of measures. The city’s graduation rate is barely above 50 percent and students continually lag well behind state averages on standardized tests. Adding to these problems is the school system’s current fiscal crisis, created by years of fiscal mismanagement that has now caused multimillion dollar budget deficits.

Despite persistent problems in the city’s public schools, city officials continue to oppose studentcentered, parent-directed school choice reform proposals such as school vouchers. Such voucher programs have proven successful in other cities, such as Milwaukee and Cleveland, which have seen test scores and parental satisfaction climb. Washington D.C. was the most recent city to launch a school voucher program. More than a thousand low-income students were awarded vouchers for the fall of 2004.

This paper explores how Baltimore could enact a similar school voucher program. It examines the current state of the Baltimore City school system and considers other cities’ experiences with vouchers.

To read the full study, please download the PDF version. 

To read the full report, click here