After billions in additional spending and two sets of missed academic targets, parents need answers, not another celebration of “modest progress.”
Maryland’s education leaders want credit for establishing ambitious goals. Fine. Ambitious goals are better than low expectations.
But goals are supposed to mean something.
When a child receives a report card, parents do not get to erase the grade, lower the passing score, and announce that everything is moving in the right direction. Yet that seems uncomfortably close to what Maryland is doing with the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future.
2024, state education officials defined clear academic targets for 2026. The goal was for 62 percent of students in grades three through eight to display proficiency in English language arts and 46 percent in mathematics. Numbers don’t lie: “Blueprint” has failed, spectacularly.
Those targets were later lowered to 57 percent in English and 37 percent in math.
Maryland still missed them.
According to results presented by Project Baltimore, only 50.2 percent of students tested proficient in English language arts. In mathematics, the figure was a miserable 27.1 percent. Nearly three out of every four students tested were not proficient in math.
That is not a rounding error. It is not a public relations problem. It is an educational emergency.
Governor Wes Moore says he is not concerned because Maryland is making slow progress. State Superintendent Dr. Carey Wright argues that leaders should set high goals and high standards.
They are correct about the importance of high standards. They lose parents in suggesting that falling considerably short of those standards should not cause concern.
Of course it should cause concern.
Concern does not mean panic. It does not mean blaming teachers, many of whom enter their classrooms every morning determined to help children succeed. It means taking the results seriously enough to ask what is working, what is failing, and what must change. The problem isn’t teachers; the problem is Blueprint and Annapolis politicians who want to use schools for experimentation, posing as teaching reading, writing, and arithmetic.
Maryland taxpayers have increased annual education funding by nearly $1.5 billion, according to the Project Baltimore report, largely because of the Blueprint. That is real money collected from real families. Every dollar devoted to an ineffective program is a dollar unavailable for classroom instruction, tutoring, special education, school safety, teacher support, or tax relief for families already struggling with Maryland’s cost of living.
The Blueprint was not marketed as an experiment in spending. It was presented as a transformation of public education. Transformations should produce measurable results.
Project Baltimore contacted all 188 members of the Maryland General Assembly and asked whether the missed goals warranted legislative hearings or a special session. Only 12 reportedly submitted written responses.
That silence may be the most revealing number in the entire story. Democratic legislators voted for the policies. They approve the funding. They represent the parents whose children are falling behind and the taxpayers paying the bills. Answering basic questions about performance is not an unreasonable demand. It is their responsibility.
Lawmakers who did respond called for hearings. An assessment of the Blueprint’s costs and benefits, which is needed. They are right. A public hearing is not an attack on public education. Honest oversight protects public education by identifying waste, measuring outcomes, and directing resources toward programs that actually help students. We must take an honest look at the multibillion-dollar abomination called Blueprint. If it’s not working, why keep funding it?
Lawmakers should be asking direct questions. Ask the unpleasant questions, and don’t look at this through the prism of partisanship! Lawmakers were sent to Annapolis to represent their constituents, not their political party.
The first targets lowered? Why was that done? Which Blueprint initiatives have produced measurable improvements? Which has not? Is it time to scrap Blueprint?
Annapolis suffers from too little political competition and far too much institutional complacency. This results from over 100 years of One Party Rule in Annapolis. Those in charge in Annapolis clearly lack a diversity of views.
Parents should not accept the false choice between supporting teachers and insisting on accountability. We can do both. We should do both.
Maryland’s children have only one opportunity to receive a proper education. A student who cannot read proficiently today cannot wait patiently for a ten-year spending plan to produce results. A child struggling with basic mathematics does not need another press conference regarding progress. That child needs help now.
Set high goals—fund proven solutions. Support good teachers. Publish the results. Correct failures quickly.
And when Maryland misses even its lowered targets, do not tell parents there is no reason for concern.
Tell them the truth. Then tell them what will change.
Endnotes
- Project Baltimore, “Maryland Public Schools Have Not Met Any of the Scholastic Targets Set by the State”
https://www.facebook.com/chris.papst.7/videos/2150482282564984/ - FOX45 Project Baltimore, “Lawmakers React as Maryland Students Miss Education Goals”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Djloq8D3AgM - FOX45 Project Baltimore, “Maryland Schools Spend Billions More, Miss Scholastic Targets”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzh9ZDMpkyQ - Maryland General Assembly, House Bill 1300, Blueprint for Maryland’s Future
https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2020RS/bills/hb/hb1300E.pdf - Accountability and Implementation Board, Blueprint for Maryland’s Future
https://aib.maryland.gov/Pages/default.aspx - Maryland State Department of Education, Maryland Report Card
https://reportcard.msde.maryland.gov/
Carol Hughes writes on education, government accountability, and state policy for Direct Line News.
Direct Line News is a Maryland-based free-access publication committed to the Republican reform tradition.
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