President Donald Trump called out low math schools at Baltimore public schools on March 20. “In Baltimore, 40% of the high schools have zero students who can do basic mathematics. Not even the very simplest of mathematics.” The president noted that “Students perform worse today than when the department opened” in 1979, referring to the Department of Education’s creation.
“After 45 years, the United States spends more money by far on education than any other country,” Trump continued, adding that the funding per pupil was especially high considering the poor results. [i]
By most accounts, the President’s Baltimore numbers come from Baltimore’s WBFF Fox45 Project Baltimore investigations. Over the years, the station has repeatedly cut through official efforts to shield the school system’s performance data.
Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott’s double-talk social media response tries to obscure and deflect the city’s school’s performance: “Here is some math for those who are all of a sudden mathematicians. Baltimore City math scores increased 5x the rate of statewide math scores last year. Yet, we aren’t celebrating because we have much more work to do. Maybe the administration should help instead of treating the Department of Education like the WWE Royal Rumble.”[ii]
Excuse me Mayor, I assume you are not celebrating because the results remain terrible, and the 5X improvement reflects the very, very low starting base used to begin a comparison.
As the Baltimore Banner reports, “the Algebra I test administered in the spring of 2023…[a]round 5,000 of them took the test, and fewer than 3% of them passed, according to data shared by the district.”
Yet the Baltimore Banner’s Data Editor Ryan Little tries mightily to minimize the school system’s failure.[iii] His snarky article questions the need for Algebra 1 proficiency at all, posing the flip question, “Can you pass a similar test?” He discusses how Maryland students underperformed on state math tests and how Banner subscribers struggled with a similar test.
However, Algebra proficiency is an essential academic building block. According to the College Board, taking algebra and geometry in high school is essential for success on admission tests and in college-level math courses. They recommend enrolling in these subjects early to allow time for advanced science and math courses, which demonstrate readiness for higher-level work. Most colleges expect students to complete at least three years of high school math.[iv]
According to Bill Gates:
“[F]or students who fail Algebra 1, the door to opportunity often closes. Students who don’t complete Algebra 1 have just a one in five chance of graduating from high school. This is a statistic that particularly affects students who are Black, Latino, English learners, or experiencing poverty, putting them at a disadvantage for future careers and higher earnings.”[v]
For those arguing that Baltimore City Public Schools suffer from underfunding, such as the teachers union, the actual numbers are inconvenient. Baltimore’s schools spend approximately $22,424 per student annually, one of the highest amounts in America for large school systems. Indeed, this is the highest per-pupil funding for any jurisdiction in Maryland. [vi]
In contrast, Queen Anne’s County’s per-student spending in Maryland was 26% less, at $16,640. The Catholic high schools in the Archdiocese of Baltimore that charge traditional tuition reported an average tuition of $19,098.[vii][viii]
Here’s a more detailed breakdown:
Budget: Baltimore City Schools has a $1.7 billion budget to educate 75,811 students.
Federal Funding: Baltimore City Public Schools received 15.2% of its 2021-22 funding from federal sources, the highest among Maryland’s 10 largest school districts. The district received $3,705 per student from federal sources.
The Baltimore Mayor’s and the Baltimore Banner’s low expectations are neither in Baltimore’s nor its students’ interest. Their willingness to excuse their school system’s underperformance recalls President George W. Bush’s remarks about the ‘soft bigotry of low expectations:’
“We must challenge a system that simply shuffles children through grade to grade, without determining whether they can read, write, and add and subtract. It’s a system — see, I like to call it this: We need to challenge the soft bigotry of low expectations. If you have low expectations, you’re going to get lousy results. We must not tolerate a system that gives up on people.”[ix]
Good advice for Baltimore
[i] https://www.cbsnews.com/baltimore/news/baltimore-schools-low-math-scores-president-donald-trump/#:~:text=%22In%20Baltimore%2C%2040%25%20of,expressed%20disappointment%20with%20his%20message.
[ii] https://www.wmar2news.com/local/mayor-brandon-scott-responds-after-president-trump-blasted-baltimore-math-scores
[iii][iii] https://www.thebaltimorebanner.com/education/k-12-schools/trump-education-department-baltimore-math-LL2J6JSO6FGDBOW65KQDQCRRAI/
[iv] https://learn.org/articles/math_requirements_college.html
[v] https://www.gatesnotes.com/helping-students-succeed-in-algebra
[vi] https://dls.maryland.gov/pubs/prod/NoPblTabPDF/2024PubSchoolFundingFY24PerPupil.pdf
[vii] https://catholicreview.org/tuition-at-catholic-high-schools-in-baltimore-archdiocese-significantly-lower-than-other-area-private-schools/
[viii] https://catholicreview.org/tuition-is-competitive-in-catholic-high-schools/
[ix] https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2006/07/20060720.html
Direct Line News is a Maryland-based free-access publication committed to the Republican reform tradition.
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