Category: Education
Should students return to the classroom in the fall? Not an easy decision
@BryanRenbaum Legislators, parents, and teachers are struggling with whether students should...
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Former Maryland congressman calls for Prince George’s County to change name of James Ryder Randall Elementary School
@BryanRenbaum Former Maryland Rep. Albert Wynn said he is in favor of changing the name of James...
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Record funding, but legislators want more for schools and search for ways to fund it
State spending on schools is at record levels — as it is every year — but legislators are looking for ways to pay for a package of education reforms that will cost billions more.
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Accountability must be key element in increased money for schools
As battle lines harden over how much reform of public schools in Maryland will cost and who will pay for it, the argument has become just about money, and not the scores of moving parts in a comprehensive proposal that would drastically change education here. Lost in arguing about the billions more the changes will cost state and local taxpayers is the key fifth part of the recommendations from the Kirwan Commission on Innovation and Excellence in Education (p.122). It spells out in detail how a new super oversight board will hold the school systems accountable for how the money is spent.
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Howard school redistricting plan hurts poor students
Howard County superintendent Michael Martirano proposed a school redistricting plan that hurts poor children by removing them from “Title I” schools where federally-funded programs help children from low-income families.
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Md. Inspector General for education: A junkyard dog that can’t bite
In Maryland, compromise provisions of the law “The Blueprint for Maryland’s Future” establishing (among other things) an independent Inspector General (IG) for Education, have created a weak auditing office—a tired, toothless canine. The new IG will be statutorily much weaker than his or her counterparts within the U.S. GAO, federal IG offices, Maryland’s Office of Legislative Audits (OLA), and IGs in the state’s executive-branch agencies.
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Opinion: Bootleggers, Baptists, and Howard’s school redistricting
The prevailing media narrative surrounding redistricting is a Manichean frame pitting social justice advocates fighting for equity (however ill-defined they use the term) against wealthy parents who do not want their children moved out of their community schools. However, there is another framework at play, one that explains the real coalitions and motivations at play: Bootleggers and Baptists, a theory developed by a Clemson University economist.
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Analysis: Moving students around in Howard County is not enough to achieve equity
Children from lower-income families are concentrated in Columbia’s older neighborhoods and the Route 1 corridor because that’s where their parents can afford to live. Achieving equity in education for these students requires the additional resources laid out by the Kirwan Commision on Innovation and Excellence in Education. Simply moving them to higher performing schools, as the superintendent has proposed, is not enough.
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Opinion: In Howard Co., moving students for ‘socioeconomic integration’ makes no sense
Del. Trent Kittleman, R-9A Howard County, the grandmother of six students in Howard County public schools, questions Superintendent Michael Martirano plan to move 7,400 students to relieve overcrowding but also to achieve “socioeconomic integration.” Kittleman says the moves will harm many children.
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Opinion: Kirwan plan is a union cash grab; taxpayers get the tab
The Kirwan Commission’s real aim is hiking teacher pay by $3 billion a year, and it is why the state teachers’ unions are so strongly backing it – more teacher pay. Kirwan aims at “making teacher salaries more competitive with other professions.”
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Opinion: What students from low-income homes really need
Instead of spending close to $3 million dollars as that is the projected transportation cost associated with Dr. Martirano’s proposal, a prudent way to spend this money would be educating school staff about trauma. No curriculum or instruction provided by the best Howard County teachers will succeed if a student is under chronic stress.
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Opinion: Moving kids is no shortcut to educational equity
Psychiatrist Shobhit Negi writes that the recommended area adjustment plan for Howard County schools is a shortcut approach to a larger issue that our society faces. It is analogous to applying a Band-Aid over a wound while letting it bleed internally. His concerns are related to the biological and psychological ramifications associated with implementation of the superintendent’s recommendation.
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