A Civics Lesson from Theory to Practice
Three Social Studies Teachers Take a Look at Charters, Vouchers, and Funding
Civics, social studies, and government teachers see theory and action collide every day in the news.
For this General Assembly session, we’ve asked teachers from across the state to share their insights into MSEA’s legislative priorities and how they fit into their own views of their classroom and practice.
Let’s first take a look at MSEA’s Educators’ Agenda — a platform that supports students, schools, teachers, support professionals, and communities. It’s an agenda that Betty Weller, MSEA’s president, says takes a short and long view of what’s ahead for public education in Maryland.
“Unlike both President Trump and Governor Hogan,” Weller says, “we believe strongly that a privatized approach weakens public schools by shifting taxpayer dollars to private schools and for-profit charter schools and away from improving our existing neighborhood public schools.”
“Instead,” Weller continues, “we should be making investments in strategies that are proven in closing achievement gaps — like universal pre-K and addressing the causes and consequences of students and families living in poverty. We have opportunities with the upcoming implementation of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) and the promise of the Kirwan Commission to achieve these goals.”
“This is a critical time for public education in Maryland,” says Sean Johnson, MSEA’s director of political and legislative affairs. “As we implement the new ESSA law and revise how we measure success in schools, our legislators and education stakeholders are simultaneously having their first serious conversation about school funding in 15 years through the Kirwan Commission.”
National experts have studied our public schools and found $3 billion in unmet needs annually, due to increased enrollment of low-income students, English language learners, and students receiving special education services, as well as raised standards for student success. The outcome of these two conversations over the next 18 months will set the tone for public education in Maryland for the next decade or more.
“We’re pursuing a comprehensive Educators’ Agenda to protect our schools and make sure that the promise of a high-quality public school education is available to all students,” says Johnson.
Here are some agenda highlights:
• Ensure full funding for K-12 education as required by law for FY2018 and future years
• Eliminate Gov. Hogan’s BOOST private school voucher program
• Protect accountability measures, collective bargaining, and local control in Maryland’s charter school law
• Limit all mandated standardized testing to 2% of instructional time
Read more about MSEA’s Educators’ Agenda here.
Nancy Crosby, Social Studies and Women’s History Teacher — The Problem with Vouchers
We asked Calvert County educator Nancy Crosby — a social studies and women’s history teacher at Patuxent High School — what it means to the public’s constitutional right in Maryland “to a thorough and efficient public school system,” when dollars that could improve it are funneled to private schools. Does this mean you only get the education that you can pay for?
Here’s some background: Whether they are being proposed by President Trump or Governor Hogan, vouchers are a failed far right-wing idea that shift taxpayer dollars from public to private and parochial schools. When we have such massive unmet needs in our public schools, now estimated by national experts to be upwards of $3 billion, any dollar dedicated to private schools — whether it’s $5 million, $10 million, or $1 — keeps us from meeting those needs.
President Trump wants to shift $20 billion from low-income Title I schools to private school vouchers; Gov. Hogan wants to double the BOOST program that provides private school vouchers to families. Last year, in its first year of operation, 78% of voucher recipients were already enrolled in private schools. While Trump and Hogan hypocritically argue that these vouchers are for public school students, in reality they are subsidizing private schools with taxpayer dollars. MSEA believes the failed BOOST voucher program should be eliminated.
Nancy: Governor Hogan might not be a billionaire like Betsy DeVos, but he’s not poor, either. The governor should try to learn about the lives of the poorest kids in our Title I schools before he proposes reducing their funds.
BOOST is, plain and simple, stealing from the poor to give to the rich. We know that we need to even the playing field for students from poor homes and communities who can’t pay for SAT prep courses, who can’t travel to gain cultural knowledge, and who may not have eaten over the weekend. Our community schools are already making efforts to address these issues. Shifting precious dollars away from public schools to support private schools will make it harder for us to implement programs to improve equity and outcomes for all. The BOOST voucher plan is undemocratic and it must end.
Our government has a public means to education — the public school system. Vouchers are a fundamentally different approach. Public schools are full of kids with unmet needs. Public schools are the best investment for the future of our communities and our states. Research shows that private schools do not out-perform public. Whether they are being proposed by President Trump or Governor Hogan, vouchers are a failed far right-wing idea that shift taxpayer dollars from public to private and parochial schools.
When we have such massive unmet needs in our public schools, now estimated by national experts to be upwards of $3 billion, any dollar dedicated to private schools — whether it’s $5 million, $10 million, or $1 — keeps us from meeting those needs.
President Trump wants to shift $20 billion from low-income Title I schools to private school vouchers; Gov. Hogan wants to double the BOOST program that provides private school vouchers to families. Last year, in its first year of operation, 78% of voucher recipients were already enrolled in private schools. While Trump and Hogan hypocritically argue that these vouchers are for public school students, in reality they are subsidizing private schools with taxpayer dollars. MSEA believes the failed BOOST voucher program should be eliminated.
Josh Cramer, World History Teacher — The Charter School Issue
MSEA supports public charter schools that find innovative ways to help our students succeed — that’s what they were originally in- tended to do. We worked with the General Assembly in 2015 to stop Gov. Hogan’s leg- islation to lower Maryland’s high standards for charter school quality and accountability, and then helped pass a more responsible bill that truly encourages charter school success. It’s time to move on and prioritize education issues that affect all students — ensuring full funding, reducing standardized testing, and closing opportunity gaps.
Josh Cramer is a social studies and history teacher at Smithsburg High School in Washington County. ActionLine asked him how he would explain to his students how weak charter school laws (like the one Gov. Hogan proposed in 2015) are an affront to our democratic principles and historic right to a public education.
Josh: In 2015, there were 848,166 K-12 students attending public schools in Maryland. By 2025 it is projected that we’ll have 898,790 students. Currently, 18,000 students attend one of the state’s 50 charter schools. Gov Hogan and President Trump’s Department of Education Secretary nominee Betsy DeVos have been outspoken proponents of expanding the number and the role of charter schools.
Public schools were designed with the intention that everyone would have a say in how they operate. Voters get to elect those that serve on their local board of education. This is important, not only because board of education members hire the superintendent and approve curriculum and textbooks, but because they also set monetary priorities. Since the board of education is a publicly elected body, any stakeholder is welcome to attend board meetings, make public comments, and campaign for preferred candidates. All of these activities help to promote a healthy democracy and encourage discussion, debate, and participation in the process.
Charter schools suggest that they offer “school choice,” a term that sounds democratic, but the practices of charter schools limit the democratic process by which public education has historically operated.
Charters in other states typically work independent of public school boards and ask of their stakeholders to trust them to do the right thing. Charter school advocates claim that by working independently of an elected school board they provide teachers and administrators with the independence they need to meet the needs of their students. This claim needs to be examined critically.
Nate Smarick, U.S. History Teacher — Funding, the Perennial Question
Gov. Hogan’s first two years have been defined by cuts to public services combined with Maryland families seeing far less income growth than our neighbors in other states. The governor’s cuts of $93 million have resulted in larger class sizes and slashed programs. Educators are urging legislators to protect full funding for public schools and an increased investment in school facilities that cuts deeper into our $4.5 billion backlog.
Until the Kirwan Commission develops a new funding formula that improves funding adequacy and equity, we need to do all we can under the current law and formula to support our students.
Nate Smarick is a social studies teacher at Oakdale High School in Frederick County. ActionLine asked him about funding and how it impacts his students and classroom.
Nate: A month ago, if we had gotten a 10 percent increase in funding, I would have hoped it would be enough money to get Chromebooks for all of our students. How- ever, it was recently announced that our school has been approved for that. Now, I would say it should fund new teacher lap- tops because many of us are working with nine-year-old laptops that have a lot of problems, which leads to wasted time and missed opportunities in the classroom.
Funding matters to the students to keep current with books and technology. Regarding textbooks, I teach an elective, U.S. History, 1945-Present. I have two choices of approved textbooks — and they’re both from the 1990s.
Funding matters to teachers in Frederick County for pay to retain good teachers. Just last year, two of my colleagues who are friends left my high school for higher salaries in Montgomery County. Another colleague left for Washington County for dramatically smaller class sizes for the subjects she teaches.
Low teacher pay with increasing class sizes are bad for morale.
I don’t feel there is enough funding to serve my students. I would like to expand the dual enrollment options within the social studies department (I currently teach Frederick Community College’s History 202) and offer History 201 but I have been told that there’s not enough money for books.
It is important that educators advocate for ourselves because if we don’t, who will? Funding for our schools is important: students need computers and books, class sizes need to be manageable, and teacher pay needs to be competitive.