Action Alert: HB 14 would alter the structure of the Baltimore City school board. Hear BCF's Danista Hunte recap her testimony at the February 2 House Ways & Means Committee hearing on the legislation.  

The bill is now slated for discussion by the Baltimore City delegation on Friday, February 10. Contact the Baltimore City delegates before then to stand with BCF in opposing the legislation.

HB 14 would create two elected positions on the Baltimore Board of School Commissioners, which currently comprises appointed members. BCF opposes this effort because of the successes made under the current school board structure.

Under the current school board, Baltimore’s public schools have experienced: increased public Pre-Kindergarten slots; improved student support services; better oversight of special education services; expansion of career and technology education programs; and new rigor in alternative education programs.

BCF supports greater family and community involvement and leadership in Baltimore’s public schools. Yet no compelling national evidence exists to support the notion that a partially or fully elected school board or mayoral control of schools would accomplish this worthy goal, nor that they would improve the educational outcomes of students. Given the current board’s success, there is no reason to change its structure now.

Over 100 Baltimore City public schools are badly in need of renovation, and the city and state currently lack the money to repair them. In these schools, students face a lack of heat in the winter, no air conditioning in the summer, broken water fountains, stuck windows, and crumbling classrooms. The educational and health consequences are severe. The estimated cost to modernize Baltimore’s school facilities is $2.8 billion – which, in tough budget times, is far more than the city and state can afford with traditional resources.

BCF supports alternative public-private financing mechanisms, such as bond sales, to generate the necessary revenue to educate our students in the facilities they deserve. A proposal under consideration by the state legislature and the city would create a so-called “63-20” bond to raise the money needed to improve our school buildings.

• For City Schools, A Promising Vision – a January 2012 Sun editorial urging the General Assembly to support Dr. Alonso's school infrastructure financing proposal.
• A Big Build for City Schools – an October 2011 op-ed in the Sun by BCF President Tom Wilcox and State Del. Heather Mizeur.
• One Chance for City Schools – a November 2011 Sun editorial that urges the Mayor to consider school infrastructure financing options advocated by Transform Baltimore.
• Transform Baltimore – a financing plan to renovate and modernize all Baltimore City public school buildings in eight years.
• 63-20 Bond Program – a slideshow by Redbridge Development Partners, LLC.

When parents and families are actively involved with their local schools, students fare better and the schools are more responsive to family, community, and student needs. In Baltimore City, there are many ways that family members can become engaged with schools, including parent-teacher organizations, school-family councils, advisory teams, and other networks. However, these opportunities for engagement tend to be fragmented and vary greatly in quality from school to school.

BCF hosts discussions with City Schools, Baltimore City school board members, parent advocates, education reformers, legislators, and others to improve the ways that schools communicate and connect with parents and family members.

One means of ensuring that parents are able to stay actively involved in their children’s academic success is by allowing them to take time off from their jobs to attend parent-teacher meetings. Under current state law, employers are not required to allow parents paid time off for this purpose.

BCF supports legislation under consideration by the Maryland General Assembly in 2012 that would require employers to permit parents to take paid time off for parent-teacher meetings, given proper notice to their employers.

Students in low-income communities start school knowing on average one-third as many words as their peers from more affluent families, which can place them at a great disadvantage for the rest of their lives. Studies have indicated that 85% to 90% of brain development occurs before the age of five. As a result, parents, early care providers and prekindergarten teachers in low-income communities are the first line of defense against the education achievement gap. Expanding prekindergarten access to more low-income families is a step in the right direction.

BCF supports a bill in the Maryland legislature that would use the state’s Education Trust Fund to finance expanded pre-K access for all children in the state.

High-performing teachers and principals have a huge impact on students’ academic achievement. Research demonstrates that good teaching is the single most important factor in student learning, and that low-income students are less likely to have highly effective teachers than their wealthier peers. Yet under current law, seniority is much more of a factor than performance in determining public school teacher promotions, transfers, and layoffs.

BCF supports a bill under consideration in the 2012 legislative session that would make teachers’ performance more of a determining factor in transfers, promotions, and layoffs, thus ensuring that our children are receiving the highest-quality instruction possible.