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.

Nonprofit, teachers’ union duel about $25K grant for foster kids

Originally published in the Baltimore Examiner

By Tawanda W. Johnson
Published on Tuesday, May 16, 2006
GERMANTOWN, Md. - A nonprofit wants to promote school choice as the best way to help foster children. But the state teachers’ union sees this initiative as diverting funds from public to private schools. Maryland Public Policy Institute received a $25,000 grant from the Milton and Rose D. Friedman Foundation to promote school choice for the state’s 11,500 foster care children.

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.

Strong leadership can uplift public schools

Originally published in the Baltimore Examiner

By Alison Lake
Published on Monday, April 10, 2006
Recently the state department of education targeted 11 Baltimore City schools for eventual takeover. No Child Left Behind allows such action with schools that demonstrate a sustained pattern of low test scores for five years or more. The city’s broken special education system has been under state control since summer 2005. Now, four high schools and seven middle schools are the first in the country to be overtaken by the state under the auspice of No Child Left Behind.

Is More Education Spending The Answer In Maryland?

By Kirk A. Johnson, Ph.D.
Published on Wednesday, January 25, 2006
On January 5, 2006, Maryland Governor Robert L. Ehrlich, Jr. announced an initiative to spend an additional $462 million on state education programs, and an additional $281 million on public school building rehabilitation and construction.[1] This new education spending proposal comes just a few years after the record amount of Thornton Commission money was passed by the Maryland General Assembly in 2002, which was supposed to provide more than a billion additional dollars to Maryland’s 24 public school districts.[2] K-12 education spending continues to be an emotional subject in Maryland, especially because it usually is the largest single budget item in county budgets, and one of the top spending items in the state budget. In the debate over ever-increasing education spending, a legitimate question emerges: has education spending been shortchanged over the past few decades? Is it being shortchanged now? The best way to evaluate this question is to look at the history of education spending in Maryland, and on average in the United States. [1] Liz F. Kay, “Ehrlich Announces Additional Education Dollars: Spending Increases to Fund Various Initiatives, Public School Construction,” Baltimore Sun, January 5, 2006. [2] This law is known as the “Bridge to Excellence in Public Schools Act.”

The Maryland’s Teacher Union is Wrong About Certification Reform

Maryland Policy Report No. 2005-6

By Tom Neumark
Published on Friday, December 09, 2005
In a series of articles posted on its website, the Maryland State Teachers’ Association has come out strongly against the alternative certification program offered by the American Board for Certification of Teacher Excellence—a program that was recommended by the Governor’s Commission on Quality Education in Maryland.  Following is a point-by-point rebuttal of the primary article in the series, titled “ABCTE: Creating a Teacher Mill.”

It's Time For Merit Pay in Maryland Schools

Maryland Policy Report No. 2005-5

By Kirk A. Johnson, Ph.D.
Published on Thursday, December 08, 2005
In September 2005, the Governor’s Commission on Quality Education in Maryland released its 30 recommendations for revamping PK-12 education in the state. Topping the list is a call to “Develop a new compensation system for teachers and principals.” This recommendation has substantial promise to improve the way the state’s faculty and administrators are paid.

Parents With Special Needs

Originally Published in the Washington Post

By Alison Lake
Published on Sunday, December 04, 2005
Last month the Supreme Court ruled in a case involving Montgomery County Public Schools that parents must assume the burden of proving that the special-education plan the schools devise for their child is lacking [front page, Nov. 15].

School Choice for Maryland Foster Care Children

Fostering Stability, Satisfaction, and Achievement

By Dan Lips
Published on Tuesday, October 11, 2005
There are an estimated 523,000 foster care children in the U.S. Maryland has approximately 11,500 foster care children, 7,000 of whom are in Baltimore City. This paper is based on the understanding that these children require specially tailored education and assistance to help wit the difficult transition from youth to adulthood. Unlike their peers in traditional families, foster children often do not have an adequate safety net or social network. They are unable to rely on parents and other relatives for support during the school years and to facilitate a smooth transition out of the home and into adulthood.

The Steele Commission Report: A Lost Opportunity To Debate Vouchers In Maryland

By Kirk A. Johnson, Ph.D.
Published on Wednesday, September 14, 2005
On September 14, 2005, the Governor’s Commission on Quality Education in Maryland, dubbed the “Steele Commission” because of its chairman, Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele, released its final report—the culmination of a year-long investigation of Maryland’s K-12 public schools. While there are a number of both positive and troubling recommendations, the report fails to even mention school vouchers as a way to improve the educational prospects of children trapped in too many failing Maryland schools.