Maryland lawmakers have taken action after a series of Project Baltimore reports exposed alarmingly low math scores in many Baltimore City and Baltimore County schools.
Delegates Kathy Szeliga and Ryan Nawrocki are both republicans representing Baltimore County.
“We need to demand better,” said Szeliga.
“We have a big, big problem,” Nawrocki told Project Baltimore.
They say, in the final days of this year’s Maryland legislative session, lawmakers in Annapolis took significant action to hold public schools accountable.
“Seeing 23 failing schools in Baltimore City with zero kids, zero kids proficient in math, was horrifying,” said Szeliga.
Project Baltimore also reported on another seven schools in Baltimore County that had zero students test proficient in math last year. Included in that list were high schools like Pikesville and Chesapeake.
“Deeply concerning,” Nawrocki told Project Baltimore. “So, we are beyond the point of kind of just talking about doing things. We actually need to do things now at this point.”
After seeing those Fox45 News reports on math proficiencies, Nawrocki and Szeliga, wrote letters to Baltimore County Public Schools and state education leaders asking for specific plans to improve math scores. They also wanted to know how persistently underperforming schools will be held accountable. The Delegates say the answers they received were not good enough.
“We can't just keep hearing, ‘Oh, we're going to get better. Oh, we're doing these lofty things.’ But in the end, if students don't achieve better, what will happen to the school?” Szeliga told Project Baltimore.
Nawrocki and Szeliga reached out to Delegate Ben Barnes, a Democrat from Prince George’s County who chairs the Appropriations Committee. Together, the three lawmakers added language into the state’s budget demanding that the Maryland State Department of Education addresses math scores, not just in Baltimore City and Baltimore County, but throughout all of Maryland. Math proficiencies statewide, for third through eighth graders, are down 11 percent from 33 percent to 22 percent from 2019 to 2022.
The language in the budget that passed last week mandates that MSDE submit a report, by July 1, “outlining the State’s plan to address math proficiency.” The language says, “It is the intent of the General Assembly that the plan be implemented in the 2023-2024 school year and include specific accountability measures that would be put into effect should individual local education agencies or individual schools fail to improve math proficiency scores within two academic years.” If MSDE fails to comply with this measure, it stands to lose $50,000 in funding.
When asked about the significance of $50,000 in a $63 billion budget, Nawrocki replied, “It's not a big dollar figure. However, I think what it is about is the fact that it's 180 legislators, the House and the Senate, saying we want to see a plan on this.”
Szeliga added that, “It just brings the weight of we want an answer. You know, we're not just asking nicely. We're telling you that we need to see this information.”
Delegate Barnes told Project Baltimore in a statement, “We all share the goal of math proficiency and want the department to focus on this. Declines in test scores and overall student achievement is a national trend that Maryland is addressing head-on.”
“It's a win for anyone that wants to make sure that kids aren't doomed to failing schools, frankly,” Nawrocki told Project Baltimore. “It's the entire legislature saying this is unacceptable.”
