That was before lengthy school closures put students further behind.

In 2021, the City of Baltimore reported that 65% of middle school students and half of elementary school students are failing in at least one class. Also, there may be many more students failing the course than reported. In June, the Maryland Board of Education revealed that from 2016 to 2020 he had more than 12,000 failing grades changed to passing grades.

All of this adds up, and students who attend public schools in Baltimore City are more likely to fail at least one class than if they do well in math or English.

Is the problem a lack of resources?

Baltimore City spends more than most districts in Maryland and other large school districts across the country. The state government reported that the Baltimore City school earned him more than $17,000 per student in 2019. Last year, the Census Bureau reported that schools in Baltimore City spent about $16,000 per child.

Project Baltimore projects that the city’s schools will spend $21,000 per student this year.

Since the pandemic began, BCPS has received nearly $700 million in federal emergency educational assistance. Maryland has spent only 22% of the federal elementary and secondary school emergency relief fund to date, so this funding could grow. $2.3 billion remains unused.

Given the track record of Baltimore City’s public school districts, it’s time to rethink whether children’s lives would be better off if they had direct access to some of the school’s funding.

For example, parents may share $21,000 of annual public school spending with their child’s share to pay for school tuition, tutoring, home schooling, or to transfer and pay for transportation to a better public school. can be received as By funding students and not BCPS, parents have the power to demand safe, quality learning environments for their children. If a child was struggling, they could pay for tutoring and enroll him in another school.

The state of Maryland and the city of Baltimore can also provide emergency federal education funding directly to students in Baltimore’s public schools who are suffering from extended school closures. For example, approximately $700 million awarded to BCPS to date is worth approximately $9,000 per student to pay for tutoring, summer schools, and academic enrichment to recover learning losses from the pandemic. could have funded education savings accounts for

Defenders of the status quo may argue that the city cannot afford to transfer funds from the BCPS budget to students and parents. But at this point, can the City of Baltimore really continue to hope that a school district that has failed generations of children will finally improve?

In 1996, then-Baltimore mayor Kurt Schmoke said, “I want every parent in Baltimore to have the option of taking their children out of poorly run schools and putting them in schools they believe will give them a better education.” It’s time to give

he was right Unfortunately, city and state officials ignored the mayor’s recommendations.

In a quarter of a century, one can only imagine how the city of Baltimore would be different if all children had the power to attend the school of their parents’ choice.

In 2022, children should not be assigned to attend schools in districts where they must exceed the odds to succeed. The kids of Baltimore City deserve better. They deserve the opportunity to control the allocation of education funding so that they can receive quality education.