Remember when Maryland schools were ranked number one in the nation for five years in a row?

As it turns out, the ranking had a lot more to do with how much Maryland spent on schools and factors other than student performance, which lagged many other states. Gov. O’Malley, who was in office to bask in the glow of the accolades, never talked about this fact. I did at the time and the Kirwan Commission – tasked with building a roadmap for world class public schools in the state— admitted it in its preliminary report released in January. (A final one is supposed to be released by the end of the year.) Many members were “surprised” by the poor performance of the state’s public school students.

Really? Data from the Maryland Higher Education Commission show that a majority of students entering public colleges need to take remedial classes. The most recent data from 2015-2016 show that 72 percent of students entering community college and 20 percent of those entering a four-year public institution need to pay for classes in college that they should have needed to graduate from high school. In 2000, the percentage was about the same. As noted, this lack of learning has been happening for a long time – and getting worse since landmark 2002 Thornton legislation (officially and inaptly known as the Bridge to Excellence in Public Schools Act) that pumped an extra $3.8 billion into state public schools. For perspective, nationally, about one-third of all first-year undergraduates need to take a remedial class; and 40 percent of students entering community colleges.

Worse, poor and minority students in need of the most help have been falling farther behind their white peers during that time frame.

READ FULL ARTICLE HERE