Maryland has no legislation authorizing charter schools, nothwithstanding the fact that the charter-school movement is one whose time has undoubtedly come. Regardless of Maryland’s tardiness, there are currently 787 charter schools serving students in 23 states and the District of Columbia.1 One inhibiting factor is that the powerful Maryland State Teachers’ Association is, at best, […]
About the Author George W. Liebmann, J.D. George W. Liebmann is a practicing lawyer in Baltimore City. He is the author of two books, The Little Platoons: Sub-Local Governments in Modern History (Praeger, 1995) and The Gallows in the Grove: Civil Society in American Law (Praeger, 1997). He has also authored numerous articles on constitutional […]
About the Author Kantayhanee Whitt is currently an assistant program manager with a Baltimore-based non-profit enterprise that provides training and technical assistance to organizations and institutions involved in community development. She received her master of arts degree in policy studies at the Johns Hopkins University in 1997. In 1995, she received her bachelor of science […]
Despite recent self-congratulation due to Maryland’s declining crime rate over 1997, the fact remains that this state compares most unfavorably. According to FBI violent crime data taken from the Census Bureau’s Statistical Abstract of the United States for 1996, in 1990 Marylanders experienced 919 violent crimes per 100,000 state residents. This made the Free State […]
We continue our series of interviews with the major contenders in the 1998 gubernatorial race. In this issue, we talk with Ellen Sauerbrey, the Republican gubernatorial nominee in 1994 and the former minority leader in the Maryland House of Delegates. Calvert Question. What accomplishments were you most proud of as minority leader in the House […]
One of the easiest ways to ignite a fire storm among a group of inner-city educators is to ask them how best to challenge students. Educators from the slums of Baltimore to the barrios of Los Angeles have cried out that their children cannot achieve unless we reform “the system.” There have been calls for […]
Though it looks as though Governor Glendening’s plans for a middle-class education entitlement will be dashed this legislative session, we are disturbed to note that some legislators are committed to further “study” of the government-provided scholarship issue. From the point of view of fiscal responsibility, this is a scheme with nothing to recommend it. Deep-six […]
At a recent symposium hosted by United Citizens for Maryland’s Future,1 state education Superintendent Nancy S. Grasmick rhetorically asked, “Should any student, by accident of where he lives, have to attend a failing school?” Having solicited the requisite negative nods from the audience, Dr. Grasmick went on to describe how the Maryland School Performance Assessment […]
The year is 2002. Maryland is flourishing, with robust economic growth – well above the 1.5 percent anemic growth of the mid-l980s. Businesses are moving to Maryland and expanding by the score. Small businesses are appearing all over to fill the niches vacated by retreating big government and merging companies. Location consultants brag about Maryland. […]
The nay-saying has started. Opponents of tax cuts have deluged the General Assembly with dire warnings about the consequences of trimming taxes. So let us put Maryland’s fiscal situation in perspective. It is hardly as though Annapolis has been on a diet over our readers’ lifetimes. Adjusted for inflation, state expenditure was $1.7 billion back […]