We can review the big picture with education in Maryland by just looking at the bills now moving through this session.
Senate Bill 110----Qualified Zone Academy Bonds by our Great Leader----Mike Miller. Not a man of vision---he just does what the rich guys tell him to do.
This is a Federal program passed by Clinton in 1997 that said----'we want to make excuses to get corporations tied to public schools and education policy so we are going to pretend that this is a progressive way to fund public education. We are going to give tax credits to corporations and bond business to Wall Street if they partner with a public school in a way that has them telling parents and students what their schools are going to teach and how they will operate'. This is the Zone Academy Bond policy now going full force after a decade and a half of crumbling schools and underfunded education budgets. Why now?
BECAUSE THE BOND MARKET IS GOING TO CRASH AND MARYLAND ASSEMBLY AND BALTIMORE POLS HAVE BEEN TOLD BY JOHNS HOPKINS THAT BALTIMORE NEEDS TO BE LEVERAGED TO THE GILLS WITH BOND DEBT IN ORDER TO BE PUSHED INTO BANKRUPTCY.
It appears that Maryland Assembly is doing to Baltimore what was done during the subprime mortgage fraud-----they know the crash is coming and they are loading on the bad debt just as was done in 2006 and 2007 with the subprime mortgage fraud. The economic crash will make all these bond deals fail and default. Senate Bill 110 is the Federal bond market-----
Bond Binge Pushing Leverage Toward Financial Crisis Peak
by Charles Mead 11:56 AM EDT
August 28, 2013 Bloomberg Financials
A Bond Market Collapse Is Imminent As Junk-bond ETF Short-interest Soars And Mutual Fund Giants Began Turning Down People Hoping To Invest In Funds That Buy Junk Bonds
Submitted by IWB, on December 2nd, 2012
Read more at http://investmentwatchblog.com
So, on top of Association of Baltimore Grantmakers funneling 'donations' from corporations that allow those corporations to write public policy wherever they want-----outsourcing all public school functions to private non-profits funded and appointed Directors by these corporate 'donations' that are then written off of corporate taxes------you know you are dealing with a corporation when they use the term HUMAN CAPITAL. Alonzo fired all of the Baltimore public school teachers because they were bad---not that the schools were so underfunded and resourced as to not allow for achievement and now they are rehiring many because new HUMAN CAPITAL do not do well in city schools.
My organization Citizens Oversight Maryland was not allowed to join ABAG---you have to be invited!
Focus on City Schools: Human Capital Office 3/18/2015
All ABAG members are invited to join us for our monthly Focus on City Schools meeting. On March 18th, we will hear about the district's efforts to attract and retain high-quality teachers, principals, and staff. Our speaker will be Lisa Grillo, Human Capital Officer for Baltimore City Public Schools.
Mike Miller and the Maryland Assembly are going to send in more corporations to partner for more tax credits tied with more bond leverage to tell our public schools what they need to teach.
NONE OF THIS IS NECESSARY-----CLINTON NEO-LIBERALS AND BUSH NEO-CONS SIMPLY THINK TRANS PACIFIC TRADE PACT IS ALREADY IN PLACE AND GLOBAL CORPORATE TRIBUNALS HAVING CORPORATIONS WRITE ALL PUBLIC POLICY WHILE SUPER-SIZING CORPORATE PROFITS WITH ALL THIS SUBSIDY IS FULL SPEED AHEAD.
Education policy in Maryland is so closed to public discussion that security guards pull parents out for trying to shout a word about policy!
Let's get rid of those lunchroom ladies------we can get a national corporation to do it cheaper!
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There is not an avenue in K-12 in Baltimore that is not being outsourced. Parents have absolutely no say and if they even think of protesting----school choice will make sure the lottery does not choose that 'uncooperative family again!!!
WE DON'T COMPLAIN OR PROTEST IN BALTIMORE BECAUSE WE MAY LOSE OUR JOBS OR OUR ABILITY TO ATTEND A SCHOOL IN OUR OWN COMMUNITY!
Hopkins is simply creating vocational tracks leading to employment in what will be mostly Hopkins owned businesses in Baltimore. They will test the child, track the child, and the child may get a job.
THIS IS THE ENVIRONMENT BEING CREATED BY BALTIMORE NEO-CONSERVATIVE POLITICIANS RUNNING AS DEMOCRATS. Remember, none of this is legal as it violates every Equal Protection law in the Constitution.
Below you see the push for what was the goal from the start ----to bring national charter chains into Maryland and especially Baltimore. The article below makes it seem parents are lined up to attend charters but it doesn't say that is because of the massive closing of city public schools in communities. Parents are being pushed to get their children into the nearest schools. I do not hear from any parent that these charters are better or more desirable and the rankings for Baltimore charters had most failing or low-performing.
THIS IS TOWARDS WHAT BALTIMORE'S MARYLAND ASSEMBLY POLS ARE WORKING. THIS IS JOHNS HOPKINS' EDUCATION POLICY
AND IT IS VERY, VERY, VERY BAD.
Below you see Keiffer Mitchell, grandson of Clarence the civil rights leader that fought for Equal Protection education and housing now leading in dismantling public education altogether.
New effort underway to change Maryland charter schools law
By Liz Bowie The Baltimore Sun contact the reporter
Should charter schools expand in Maryland? New effort underway to improve climate for charter schools in state. Abell Foundation says charter operators won't come to state. Maryland should recruit successful charter schools to the state and consider granting them greater autonomy and control over teacher contracts, according to a newly released study by the Abell Foundation, a Baltimore nonprofit that researches education issues.
Charter school advocates say Maryland's law stifles growth of the charter movement, and the Abell Foundation report, to be released Tuesday, found state policies foster an unwelcome environment. A dozen years after a 2003 Maryland law allowed the creation of charter schools, just 47 operate statewide, with 18,000 students enrolled.
"It seems to me that the state should be asking, 'Are these entities producing better results with similar children?' If they are, then they should be recruited to Maryland," Abell's President Robert Embry said.
Maryland schools move toward online testing but obstacles remain Gov.-elect Larry Hogan has signaled he would advocate changing the charter law. Last week he named as senior adviser Keiffer Mitchell, a prominent Baltimore Democrat, in part to focus on giving more students access to charters. State legislative leaders also have said they are willing to look at ways to make it easier to open and operate charters.
The Abell Foundation report provides support for that effort, noting that charter organizations such as KIPP Public Charters or Uncommon Schools appear to have been successful in educating low-income minority students. Uncommon operates 42 city schools in Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York, and none in Maryland. KIPP operates 162 schools in 20 states, and two in Baltimore.
The majority of Maryland's charter schools are in Baltimore. In the last school year, 11,800 students, or nearly 14 percent of total city school enrollment, went to charters.
lRelated Breaking newsHogan says he'll push for charter schoolsSee all related8 But even in charter-friendly Baltimore, said City Neighbors Charter School leader Bobbi Macdonald, its three schools are constantly chafing under rules that limit their ability to innovate. When school officials asked for freedom to decide how to evaluate teachers, for example, they were told to comply with the city's rules.
In Frederick County, Tom Neumark and a group of families fought for five years to open a charter school focused on providing an education steeped in the classics. At every turn, it seemed to them, the county school board put up obstacles to the school's opening.
The Maryland law "grudgingly allows the creation of charter schools," Neumark said. "We are not asking that it be easier. It has to be fair and reasonable."
In interviews with Abell, large charter operators said restrictions in the Maryland law would discourage them from starting new schools, though the researchers cautioned that some of those operators have not looked extensively at the state's law.
Maryland slips from first to third in national education ranking For efficiencies, charter operators tend to cluster a number of schools in one city or state, thus giving more students easy access. But most of the operators in Maryland have just one school.
Embry, who spoke recently with Hogan about charter schools, said he hopes the report will spark a conversation about how charters can better serve the state.
That conversation is likely to be lively, as teacher unions and many local school boards have opposed changes to the law in the past.
Charter schools are publicly funded, independently run schools. As they currently operate in Maryland, only local school systems can approve the opening of a charter school. The districts must fund the schools, which is sometimes viewed as draining money away from public schools.
Charters are open to any student in the school district where they are located. If too many students apply, they are chosen through a lottery.
cComments
- @chahughes private doesn't equal better. in fact private allows the school to take kids out that they don't feel like accommodating. Whether its behavior or a learning disability AC21014 at 8:16 AM February 26, 2015
Maryland charter operators have said they want more control over teacher contracts. Under the 2003 law, charter teachers are part of the local bargaining unit, and all schools must abide by a contract that is negotiated between the school system and the teachers union.
The state law also requires charter teachers to pay dues to the union — a requirement that exists in few other states.
The Abell report highlights KIPP, whose Baltimore schools are on Greenspring Avenue. The first KIPP Baltimore school has consistently beaten scores of other city schools on the Maryland School Assessments, and at times scored as well as some of the highest performing suburban schools in math.
KIPP Baltimore's schools serve 1,450 students, but school officials said they might have opened more schools in a different climate. Kate Mehr, executive director of KIPP Baltimore, said the nonprofit moved into Washington just a year before Baltimore. It has 15 schools there with 4,500 students there, and it is continuing to grow.
Mehr said the Baltimore schools have been hampered by the city's union contract, which gave the best teachers big pay increases. Mehr said her school has 30 model teachers, and the union contract increased salaries $350,000 over the past several years while school revenue remained flat.
According to the Abell report, charter operators would want more autonomy before moving to Maryland. In particular, they don't want restrictions on whom they can hire and fire and certain certification requirements for teachers, the report said.
Mehr and Macdonald at City Neighbors said they are happy to have charter school teachers be part of the bargaining unit, but they want the ability to negotiate contract details directly with the union.
Per-pupil funding for charter schools also has been an issue. Frederick Classical Charter School believes it should get a greater share of funding and filed a lawsuit claiming it should get a portion of the school system's transportation budget, although its students are driven to school by their parents. If they win, Neumark said, the school would get an additional $150,000 a year.
Attempts to change the law in the past have gone nowhere. While local school boards have been open to tweaking technical issues in the law, they oppose an overhaul.
The Maryland Association of Boards of Education "does not see a need to revamp or amend the state law to facilitate successful charter schools," said John Woolums, director of governmental relations for the group.
The association and unions say the constraints that charter advocates point to as weaknesses in the law have actually been its strengths.
"We support charter schools as public schools of choice and incubators of innovation," Woolums said, adding that "local boards, as charter authorizers, are essential to ensuring both fiscal and student performance accountability."
While some other states with lax controls have seen examples of waste and poor academic results, most of Maryland's charters have had good results or results equivalent to other schools in a locality.
An investigation by the Detroit Free Press last year found Michigan spends $1 billion on charters with little transparency in how the money is spent. Most of the schools don't perform better than the regular public schools.
Charter schools have been popular with parents. Many of Baltimore's 31 charter schools have waiting lists. Macdonald said about 1,000 students are waiting to get into one of three City Neighbors schools.
Frederick Classical Charter could have filled its school twice when it opened in the fall of 2013, and the Baltimore Montessori Public Charter has about 1,000 students hoping for a spot.