September 12th, 2013
Category: Budget, Efficiency in Government, Employment/Labor Law/Racial Preferences, Fiscal, State & Municipal Services/Privatization, State and Local Politics, Taxation/Budget/Economic Policy, Welfare and Other Social
Maryland has, just, preserved its AAA bond rating, though with a negative outlook from Moody’s. Moody’s has issued a publication reporting that Maryland is one of the ten worst states in terms of the burden of pension debt, Maryland’s pension obligations being almost exactly equal to one year’s gross revenues, 99.5% of […]
August 8th, 2013
Category: Education
Solving Maryland’s Teacher Staffing Crisis: A Comparative Analysis of Teacher Certification in Maryland and Other States The Calvert Institute for Policy Research 8 West Hamilton Street Baltimore, Maryland 21201 info@calvertinstitute.org Christopher P. Ryan June 2013 Table of Contents Executive Summary Introduction Maryland Teacher Certification Background and Status Quo Difficulties Inherent to Discussions of Traditional and […]
July 16th, 2013
Category: Education
The Calvert Institute for Policy Research Solving Maryland’s Teacher Staffing Crisis: A Comparative Analysis of Teacher Certification in Maryland and Other States June 2013 Executive Summary Maryland’s public schools consistently suffer from shortages of qualified teachers, especially in science, math, technology, foreign language, special education, and English for […]
June 15th, 2013
Category: Judiciary and Legal Issues
Justice Delayed in Maryland By James B. Astrachan, George W. Liebmann, and Henry R. Lord The upcoming retirement next month of Chief Judge Robert M. Bell of the Maryland Court of Appeals is a critical event, the first transition in the leadership of Maryland’s courts in nearly 20 years. A matter of central importance for […]
May 3rd, 2013
Category: Education
Solving Maryland’s Teacher Staffing Crisis: A Comparative Analysis of Teacher Certification in Maryland and Other States The Calvert Institute for Policy Research 8 West Hamilton Street Baltimore, Maryland 21201 Christopher P. Ryan […]
March 11th, 2013
Category: Budget, Corporate Welfare, Efficiency in Government, Fiscal, State and Local Politics, Urban Affairs
Mismanaged Maryland Despite talk of reforms and budget cuts, Annapolis dabbles in excessive borrowing, noncompetitive projects and risky investments By George Liebmann6:00 a.m. EDT, March 11, 2013 There is a sharp disconnect between the image and reality of the O’Malley administration’s fiscal policies. The image features pension reforms, reduced structural deficits, […]
November 18th, 2012
Category: Culture Wars, Judiciary and Legal Issues, State and Local Politics
Captain of the Black Sox One of the more curious and notable decisions rendered by the Maryland Court of Appeals in recent years is its short opinion in Ports v. Cowan, 426 Md.435 (2012) holding that Maryland, notwithstanding that it had an as yet unrepealed statute and public policy declaring marriage to be between […]
November 18th, 2012
Category: Economic Regulation, Job Training, Regulation, State and Local Politics
Free Enterprise, Maryland Style Nearly fifty years ago, the present writer served as counsel to the Maryland Home Improvement Commission, an administrative agency which had just been immortalized in Barry Levinson’s The Tin Men. The agency then functioned under a statute that was more a self-certification than licensing statute. To obtain a license required […]
November 18th, 2012
Category: Education, Efficiency in Government, State and Local Politics
Maryland’s Protective Tariff Against Teachers In 2011, Maryland colleges produced 2897 graduates from state-approved teacher education programs, out of 28701 new Maryland college graduates (Maryland Higher Education Report, 2011, p.17). Barely 10% of Maryland’s college graduates are thus eligible for regular certification as teachers in Maryland’s public schools. The regulations governing approved teacher education […]
November 18th, 2012
Category: Education, Efficiency in Government, State and Local Politics
Strangled in its Cradle Morality, it is said, is what you do when no one is looking. To assess the morality of the O’Malley administration and its favored clients, the teachers’ unions, it is appropriate to look at an obscure enactment, passed and signed ‘under the radar screen’, Chapter 288 of the Acts of 2012. […]