A “State Child Health Insurance Program,” called the S-CHIP, was included in the 1997 federal budget. This assistance program provides states with federal funds to extend coverage and services to uninsured, low-income children. It appropriates specific sums for each of fiscal years 1998 through 2007, which the states can obtain through a matching process similar […]
Serious school reform is no longer a train that can be stopped. The groundswell of public opinion is on the side of reformers. Certainly, there are bureaucratic and special-interest obstacles to be cleared. But the people have spoken. They want more say over the education of their youngsters. A bill currently before the Maryland General […]
Analysis of Census Bureau and other statistical data from this decade reveals that Maryland’s public schools are relatively under utilized, at least in comparison to many other states. as shown in the table, in 1994, only 15 states saw a smaller proportion of school-aged children enrolled in the public schools. That year 89.5 percent of […]
Last year, Frederick F. Siegel, a history professor at New York’s Cooper Union for the Arts and Sciences, released a somewhat pessimistic book on the fate of America’s cities, The Future Once Happened Here.1 During one of his recent visits to Maryland, the Calvert Institute conducted a lengthy interview with Siegel. In particular, the institute […]
The Baltimore Academy of Excellence (BAE) is located on the 4200 block of Belair Road in Baltimore, next to Herring Run Park.1 It was founded by Jacqui Gough (see photo 1) almost three years ago, supported by the Greater Grace World Outreach, a nationwide, nondenominational church that places great emphasis on urban outreach projects. Though […]
In the winter 1998 issue of this journal, Robert C. Embry, Jr., president of Baltimore’s Abell Foundation, asked in a letter to the editor, “A graduated voucher [system] would certainly reduce the public cost of existing private school students – but would it be enough to keep or attract the middle class?”1 In part, the […]
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, […]
Last July, the Calvert Institute published a Calvert Issue Brief by Baltimore attorney George Liebmann. Called “The Agreement: How Federal, State and Union Regulations Are Destroying Public Education in Maryland,”1 the study included the first analysis of all 24 teachers’ union contracts currently operative in this state. A summary of the report is reproduced below. […]
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 […]