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.

“School Choice for Maryland’s Foster Care Children: Fostering Stability, Satisfaction, and Achievement” would offer Maryland’s 11,500 foster care children the opportunity to attend a high-quality school of choice regardless of change in the child’s residence.

According to studies, adults who were formerly in foster care are more likely to be homeless, incarcerated and dependent on state service than the general population.

Opportunity scholarships worth $8,000 apiece would provide educational stability and choice for the state’s foster care children by paying for private school tuition and transportation and other costs. The program can be administered at no additional cost to taxpayers and in partnership with state services, says Dan Lips, the study’s author, and at a lower cost than the average per-pupil cost in the state and in Baltimore city public schools.

Evidence suggests that Maryland’s per-pupil spending is enough for students to attend many private schools. Lips cites a 2003 Cato Institute survey of private schools in five metropolitan areas that found median private school tuition to be less than $5,000 with Catholic schools ranging between $4,000 and $7,000.

The institute received a $25,000 grant from the Milton and Rose D. Friedman Foundation to promote school choice for the state’s foster children. “MPPI’s work in Maryland could become a model used all across the country,” said Robert C. Enlow, executive director of the foundation. “There are over 500,000 foster care children in the United States and for most the current educational system is not working. Educational options would go a long way to help these children transition into adulthood.”

“Children in foster care face so many challenges — in life and in the classroom,” Lips said. “Giving foster children school choice will help ensure they get the quality education they need to succeed in life. Lawmakers across the country should follow Arizona’s lead in providing foster children with the best opportunities possible.”

The Maryland State Teachers Association sees any voucher initiative as a diversion of funds from the public school systems to private schools. The union overlooks the fact that voucher programs reallocate per-pupil spending for a student who, by choice, attends a different school. Also, voucher programs around the country can be used for both public and private schools of choice.

Those tax dollars allocated for one child are still spent, but at a school that best benefits that child. Anyone who argues that an at-risk student must remain at the public school in his or her district does not have that child’s best interest in mind. In many cases, a student might attend a neighborhood school that falls short of testing results required by No Child Left Behind. Or, a foster child who frequently changes residences must also change schools, sometimes in the middle of the school year.

According to Lips, 30 percent to 40 percent of foster care children are also in special-education programs. This type of voucher program would allow a student with a difficult and disrupted childhood to at least gain the advantage of a stable education and the chance to build relationships with friends and teachers.

Baltimore City schoolchildren sorely need some educational alternatives to what is being offered in the public school system. Foster care children in particular suffer greater instability than the average student. Around the state, foster children are an at-risk population and would benefit greatly from a consistent education. Maryland should take Arizona’s lead and provide educational opportunities to foster care children.

Alison Lake is managing editor at The Maryland Public Policy Institute. She can be contacted at alake@mdpolicy.org. Examiner