Maryland Senate Republican Slate
Minority Whip Nancy Jacobs Leads Charter School Reform
One of the leading charter schools in Maryland, the KIPP Ujima Village Academy in Baltimore City, has been struggling to stay open because the state law requires teacher's union oversight for charter school faculty. That's right - an urban charter school that is a model program for advancing student achievement may close because the teacher's union drives up the alternative school's costs of doing business.
As described in our prior post (click here), the charter school legislation proposed by Governor Robert L. Ehrlich, Jr., was emasculated by Democrats in the General Assembly because of the stranglehold of the teacher's union on state education policy. Now Maryland finds itself ineligible for President Barack Obama's "Race to the Top" competitive education grants because the state's charter school laws fail to contain basic provisions that would allow charter schools to thrive and offer successful alternatives to the failing public schools in urban areas.
Obama's Secretary of Education Arne Duncan visited the KIPP Ujima Village Academy last November. He brought with him charter school education advocates Newt Gingrich and Al Sharpton to highlight the bipartisan nature of the federal charter school initiatives. But in Maryland, the very nature of the charter school laws stifle the establishment and growth of these schools because the state law make these initiatives cost prohibitive.
A recent Baltimore Sun article states that "Maryland could stand to gain as much as $250 million in Race to the Top funds from the U.S. Department of Education, which this year is awarding money to states with what it considers the most forward-thinking policies." So far, Maryland is not on that federal list of "forward-thinking" public school systems.
The Baltimore Sun also notes that Minority Whip Nancy Jacobs is a leader in the state's efforts to improve Maryland's charter school laws:
"In the General Assembly, state Sen. Nancy Jacobs has drafted two bills to address some, but not all, of the key issues in charter reform: One bill would make charter schools eligible for capital funding; and the other would allow charter school teachers to opt out of their local unions. In the fall, KIPP Ujima Village Academy, a high-performing Baltimore charter, was forced to cut its staff and school hours after a dispute with the teachers union over pay."
"With the economic times we're in, I think it would be very unfortunate if Maryland didn't look at this as opportunity for education reform and to bring money into our schools," said Jacobs, a Harford County Republican. "The charter schools, the greater majority I've heard about, are doing an outstanding job - doing it cheaper than public schools. There's $250 million out there that would go a long way in helping. It would be a shame to miss out on it."
To view the entire Baltimore Sun story, click here.
Super Bowl Governors
We have not seen it mentioned on any sports or news programs, but we think it is significant that both of the teams in today's Super Bowl are from states with Republican Governors.
We offer our congratulations to Governor Mitch Daniels of Indiana and Governor Bobby Jindal of Louisana.
Of course, Daniels made Maryland the butt of budget jokes in January. When Governor Martin O'Malley started trash talking that the Indiana Governor was "scared" to make a bet, Daniels adroitly responded that "We're not betting money because I don't think Maryland's check would clear." Daniels obvious reference to O'Malley's budget mismanagement and over $2 billion dollar deficit made headlines with sports junkies for several days.
Happy Birthday Ronald Reagan
Today would be President Ronald Reagan's 99th birthday. In honor of this occasion, we post a reading list about Reaganomics with the hope that Democrat leaders in state government will discover tax cuts as an avenue to spur economic growth in Maryland and lead the state out of the recession.
Unfortunately, Maryland has pursued the opposite course. As the state was entering a severe economic recession, General Assembly Democrats allowed Governor Martin O'Malley to foist the most historic, massive tax increase on our citizens.
The Future for Robert A. Rohrbaugh
With the sentencing of Baltimore City Mayor Sheila Dixon now concluded, the citizens of Maryland should offer a sincere expression of gratitude to State Prosecutor Robert A. Rohrbaugh.
Over the past three years, Rohrbaugh has been demonized and vilified. Baltimore politicians characterized his investigations as trivial and accused him of pursuing a political vendetta. Loud cries were raised for him to drop his Baltimore City corruption cases leaving the distinct impression that he should be removed from the State Prosecutor’s position.
In a rare but thoughtful move, Judge Dennis Sweeney felt compelled to issue a statement at the sentencing hearing for Mayor Dixon. Every citizen should read what the judge who presided over the case believes with regard to the facts versus the castigation that the prosecutor and the jury received during and after the trial (for the complete statement, click here)
O'Malley's "Edge of the Cliff" Speech
A bit of "inside baseball" occurrred during Governor Martin O'Malley's state of the state address. Towards the end of the speech, O'Malley denied that Maryland was poised at the "edge of the cliff."
Outside of Annapolis, it seemed like an odd comment that came out of nowhere. To State House insiders, it was a direct reference to legislative staff that have described O'Malley's four years of budget management as placing the state on the "edge of a cliff."
The budgetary "edge of a cliff" symbolism is this: for four years, the guiding principle of O'Malley's budget policy has been robbing Peter to pay Paul. So strewn on the cliff behind him are the four years worth of one-time transfers, fund swaps and "found money."
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