Baltimore's Kids Deserve Better from Elected Officials: City Schools Are Devastatingly and Inequitably Underfunded, yet Politicians on Both Sides Are Clinging to the Myth of Mismanagement and Accountability - Entrepreneur Generations

In the days since I wrote my last entry, I had the awesome opportunity to engage in tremendous learning experiences with my students.

Eighty of our 12th graders attended a showing of the acclaimed Oscar-nominated documentary I Am Not Your Negro at The Charles Theater, and, afterwards, engaged in a thought-provoking 90-minute talkback with the President of The National James Baldwin Literary Society.

Many of our drama sophomores participated in the 2nd Annual All-City Shakespeare festival at the Chesapeake Shakespeare Company, where students from schools all around the city dynamically performed Shakespeare monologues and scenes.

And my freshmen classes discussed, in socratic seminar format, issues revolving around the awesome novel In the Time of the Butterflies. After our school's budget meeting, one mother took me aside to tell me her student had never read a book with a female heroine before.

The above examples are just my group of 150 students over the last few days; however, all over the school system, students are doing amazing things every day. But in the evenings, we must attend budget meetings, sit-ins, and protests to understand and advocate for our schools. This is the frightening and gut-wrenching juxtaposition in Baltimore City Schools right now. We see our students doing tremendous things, learning important life skills, and having indelible experiences, yet outside and unjust forces threaten to alter their worlds for years.

One element of the budget shortfall -- and how I want to thrust this entry -- is how it has become clear to anyone who studies the issue is that the budget crisis in Baltimore City Schools is not a result of mismanagement by the district.

You wouldn't know that by the attitudes expressed by politicians in this maddening article. State Senate President Mike Miller -- a Democrat! -- says this about Dr. Sonja Santelises, Baltimore Schools' CEO, "Before the General Assembly is going to come up with more funds, she's going to have to demonstrate to the chief executive and the budget committees ... what adjustments she's making."

Can adjustments be made? I'm sure, as in any large organization. But this blame-the-district narrative shouldn't have been anywhere near the gist of his comments. Instead, what Miller should demonstrate is a cursory understanding of how inequitable the funding formula for Baltimore City Schools is. He has the resource: on Nov. 30, the independent agency APA Consulting prepared a "Final Report of the Study of Adequacy of Funding for Education in Maryland." The link is here. The independent study found that Baltimore City Schools are under-funded by the state by $358 million. That means that if the state had a fair funding formula (read more about that in my last blog post here) and that if our crumbling infrastructure and extreme student needs were accounted for, as well as the poverty of our city's residents, then our current $130 million budget deficit should be a surplus.

And to any employee or student of Baltimore City Public Schools, this makes so much more sense. Hearing that we will have severe cuts when we are already teaching and learning on a shoestring doesn't make any sense, and this report reveals why. After all, our class sizes are already high and our resources are already low.

Miller's comment was disappointing, but Senate Minority Leader J.B. Jennings' comments at the end of the article were infuriating. He said it would be "tough" for lawmakers to approve more money for city schools: "You want to hold the city accountable, but you don't want to penalize the children." Jennings' finger-wagging tone completely ignores the independent report and imagines an alternative reality where this budget crisis is because Baltimore City Schools have mismanaged their money. They haven't. North Avenue -- city schools headquarters -- is mostly a ghost town every time I've visited it, with so many layoffs in recent years.

What we need to collectively shout from the tops of every row house in Baltimore -- and, indeed, every corner of the state of Maryland -- is that kids in Baltimore deserve equitable and fair funding. Miller and Jennings don't get it. Simply put, Baltimore City Public Schools are grossly unfunded.

At our school, the school's budget meeting on Tuesday night revealed devastating cuts: the loss of 16 teaching positions (more than 20% of the staff), the cancellation of many elective classes, cuts to important and useful technology, elimination of hall monitors, a significant increase in class sizes. This is consistent with cuts in other schools I've heard. It's gut-wrenching to imagine how this impact the students.

One rumor I heard was that Baltimore City Headquarters had conversations about cutting things like all spring sports this year, because the budget situation is so dire. That did not happen, but there is no telling what might happen next year to hundreds of necessary programs.

If you're not enraged and horrified by this all, you're not paying attention. Let's get angry and create change!

Baltimore Kids matter. We have to make it known.

Action items:
All MD residents can call the state house at 410-947-3901 and tell them you believe all Maryland public schools should receive equitable funding. Mention the independent report and the $385 million gap that Baltimore City Schools deserve!

City residents should call the mayor's office at 410-396-3835 and demand emergency funds for this crisis. She should be pressured to convene all business owners who have benefitted from TIFs to make up the cuts that their tax breaks helped create. She needs to be talking about the inequitable state funding formula! Read this for more.

Rally on Annapolis is on Thursday, Feb. 23rd. Baltimore Education Coalition will have a lot more about that.

Baltimore City deserves $386 million more, including much more from city than it currently gets.

Independent Report confirming that Baltimore City Schools deserve $358 million more in funding from state.

If Catherine Pugh needs some reminding that she ran on education issues, this should help.

from Epiphany in Baltimore http://ift.tt/2lYtwq6 Baltimore's Kids Deserve Better from Elected Officials: City Schools Are Devastatingly and Inequitably Underfunded, yet Politicians on Both Sides Are Clinging to the Myth of Mismanagement and Accountability - Entrepreneur Generations

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