A Tale of Two States – Florida Chooses Students, Maryland Chooses Bureaucrats

There’s a cartoon floating around that says more than a thousand education policy reports ever could. On one side is sunny Florida, kids smiling, backpacks on, a proud mom leading her children toward a sign that reads “School Choice.” On the other side? Gloomy, gray Maryland—dreary skies, frowning children, and a stone-faced bureaucrat standing guard under a sign that bluntly says “No School Choice.”

As someone who’s spent more time in PTA meetings and school board hearings than most career politicians spend reading legislation, I can tell you: that cartoon isn’t satire—it’s reality.

Florida Gets It

Let’s start with what Florida is doing right. This year, the Sunshine State hit an impressive 89.7% high school graduation rate.¹ Not only that, fourth-grade students scored an average of 243 in reading, outperforming the national average and leaving states like Maryland in the dust.²

How did they do it? Simple. School choice. Parents in Florida aren’t stuck sending their kids to a failing public school based on their zip code. They have options—charter schools, private schools funded by vouchers, virtual academies, and open enrollment policies. And guess what? It works.

Florida now operates over 730 charter schools with a 20.79% increase in charter enrollment over the last five years.³ That’s not just school reform—it’s a parent-powered revolution.

Maryland? Not So Much

Now let’s turn to Maryland—my home state and the land of great crab cakes and terrible education policy.

Our graduation rate? 85.8% and slipping.⁴ Our fourth-grade reading score? 234, below the national average.⁵ And in Baltimore City—brace yourself—only 10% of fourth graders can read proficiently.⁶ That’s not a statistic; that’s an educational disaster.

And yet, the powers that be in Annapolis continue to smother any meaningful education reform. Maryland has a measly 48 charter schools—nearly all crammed into Baltimore—and no statewide school choice program. No vouchers. No education savings accounts. Nothing.

Worse, they defend the status quo with a straight face while families beg for better.

The Bureaucratic Blob Is Winning

In Maryland, it’s not the students or the parents who come first. It’s the system. The unions. The bureaucrats. We spend more than $17,300 per student in public schools, yet our outcomes are declining.⁷ Where does all that money go? Into an ever-growing forest of administrative staff. Between 2000 and 2020, while student enrollment stayed relatively flat, the number of school administrators nationwide grew by 95%. Maryland’s numbers mirror that national trend.

In Florida, the money follows the child. In Maryland, it vanishes into the system.

This Is a Civil Rights Issue

Let me be clear: School choice is a civil rights issue. No child should be trapped in a failing school simply because their parents can’t afford to move to a better neighborhood. Every child—whether they live in Potomac or West Baltimore—deserves access to a high-quality education.

Florida has shown us what’s possible when you prioritize students over systems. Maryland has shown us what happens when you do the opposite.

Final Thought: That Cartoon Wasn’t a Joke

Look again at that cartoon. The smiling mom in Florida, walking her children to the school of her choice, with opportunity shining above them. On the other side, a cold, gray Maryland with children staring at closed doors, watched over by a man in a suit who looks more like a DMV director than someone entrusted with your child’s future.

That’s not just a drawing. It’s the defining education debate of our time.

Maryland doesn’t need more meetings. It needs more choices. We need a governor, a legislature, and school boards that will fight for families—not for union endorsements. Let’s stop funding systems and start funding students.

And let’s bring some sunshine to the Old Line State.

—
Carol Hughes is a Maryland-based education advocate and mother of three who believes every child deserves a future, not a bureaucratic excuse. Contact Carol Hughes at Carol.Hughes@mcgopclub.com

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Footnotes

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Footnotes

1. Florida Department of Education. “Florida’s Graduation Rate Continues to Climb.” ↩
2. Nation’s Report Card, 2024. Florida State Profile – Reading. ↩
3. Florida Charter School Alliance. “Charter School Enrollment Growth.” ↩
4. Maryland State Department of Education. “Graduation and Dropout Rates 2023.” ↩
5. Nation’s Report Card, 2024. Maryland State Profile – Reading. ↩
6. Maryland Public Policy Institute. “Better Off Truant?” ↩
7. U.S. Census Bureau. “Public Education Finances 2023.” ↩

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Additional Details

Florida vs. Maryland Public Education: A Tale of Two States

As school choice and educational outcomes dominate national discussions, a sharp contrast emerges between Florida and Maryland—two states with very different approaches to education reform. Florida has embraced charter schools, vouchers, and parental empowerment. Maryland, by contrast, maintains a traditional model with limited charter availability and virtually no school choice programs. The results speak for themselves.

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High School Graduation Rates

• Florida achieved a record-high graduation rate of 89.7% in the 2023–24 academic year, driven in part by increased access to charter schools and private school scholarships¹.
• Maryland, meanwhile, reported a graduation rate of 85.8%, with officials attributing recent declines to learning disruptions during the COVID-19 pandemic².

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Academic Proficiency: Reading and Math

According to the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), known as the “Nation’s Report Card”:

• Florida fourth graders scored an average of 243 in reading, significantly above the national average³.
• Maryland fourth graders scored 234, below the national average, with Baltimore City public schools showing only 10% reading proficiency in fourth grade and 15% in eighth grade⁴⁵.

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Dropout Rates

• Florida reported a dropout rate of just 2.8%, marking a continued decline and signaling improved student retention and engagement⁶.
• In contrast, Baltimore County Public Schools in Maryland had a 10.14% dropout rate in 2024, although it did show slight improvement from the previous year⁷.

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Charter Schools and School Choice Access

• Florida has over 730 charter schools, serving nearly 400,000 students, with enrollment increasing by 20.79% over the last five years⁸. Parents also have access to state-funded scholarship programs such as the Family Empowerment Scholarship and the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship, giving them true educational freedom⁹.
• Maryland operates just 48 charter schools statewide, serving fewer than 24,000 students, and offers no statewide voucher or education savings account (ESA) programs¹⁰¹¹.

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Infographic: Key Education Metrics

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Conclusion: Choice and Outcomes Go Hand in Hand

Florida’s aggressive support for school choice correlates with higher graduation rates, lower dropout rates, and stronger student performance. Maryland’s more centralized, union-driven education model has struggled to yield the same results. When students and parents are empowered to choose, schools are compelled to improve—or risk losing funding. It’s a simple principle: fund students, not systems.

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Footnotes and Sources

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Would you like a printable version or a PowerPoint-ready format of this comparison?

Footnotes

1. Florida Department of Education. “Graduation Rate Climbs to 89.7%.” FLDOE ↩
2. Maryland State Department of Education. “Graduation and Dropout Rates 2023.” MSDE ↩
3. NAEP 2024 State Profiles – Florida. Nation’s Report Card ↩
4. NAEP 2024 State Profiles – Maryland. Nation’s Report Card ↩
5. Maryland Public Policy Institute. “Better Off Truant?” MDPolicy.org ↩
6. Florida DOE. “2022-23 Cohort Dropout Rate Report.” FLDOE PDF ↩
7. Baltimore County Public Schools 2024 Update. BCPS ↩
8. Florida Charter School Alliance. “Charter School Enrollment Growth.” FLCharterSchool.org ↩
9. Step Up for Students. “Florida School Choice Options.” StepUpForStudents.org ↩
10. Maryland Public Charter Schools Directory (2023). MarylandPublicSchools.org ↩
11. EdChoice. “Maryland School Choice Programs.” EdChoice ↩

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