Usually, my post headline isn’t the same as the article headline, but in this case it very nearly is.
After another State of the Union address which promised more education spending, behold what you get for a $1.6 billion budget with $21,000 in per student spending.
The Maryland State Department of Education recently released the 2022 state test results known as MCAP, Maryland Comprehensive Assessment Program.
Baltimore City’s math scores were the lowest in the state. Just 7% of third through eighth graders tested proficient in math, which means 93% could not do math at grade level.
But that’s not all. WBFF combed through the scores at all 150 City Schools where the state math test was given. In 23 Baltimore City schools, there were zero students who tested proficient in math.
Among the list of 23 schools, there are 10 high schools, eight elementary schools, three middle/high schools and two elementary/middle schools.
Exactly 2,000 students, in total, took the state math test at these schools. Not one could do math at grade level.
It’s also important to note that another 20 Baltimore City Schools had just one or two students test proficient in math.
I blame systemic racism.
Governor Wes Moore is black, Mayor Brandon Scott is black, as are 10 out of 14 city council members, as is “Dr.” Sonja Santelises who heads the school system, but if the black Memphis cops can be evidence of systemic racism, why not?
The answer is always to spend more money. Here’s what Baltimore is spending.
Baltimore City Schools will be spending about $21,000 per student this year, thanks to a massive education funding increase. Maryland lawmakers passed the bill, known as Kirwan, two years ago. Now that funding is kicking in, the question is whether more taxpayer money will result in better student outcomes.
For this coming school year, City Schools’ budget has ballooned to $1,620,788,542. That’s nearly $230 million more than the previous year’s budget of $1,393,777,695. It amounts to about a 16 percent increase. Enrollment in City Schools is going down and has been for years. So, that’s a lot more money for fewer students.
And worse results, but maybe if we spend $1.6 billion per student, he’ll finally be able to get a passing grade.
Nah.
“We’re not living up to our potential,” said Jovani Patterson, a Baltimore resident who made headlines in Jan. 2022, when he filed a lawsuit against Baltimore City Schools. The suit claims the district is failing to educate students and, in the process, misusing taxpayer funds. “We, the taxpayer, are funding our own demise,” Patterson said at the time.
Well, yeah. Isn’t that the whole purpose of postmodern government?
“My immediate reaction is, take your kids out of these schools,” said Patterson.
Sure, we could actually create alternatives to a failed public school system that exists only to provide employment for Democrat activists and their union does by legalizing vouchers and we could deal with the fact that no amount of education is going to magically compensate for broken families and cultures. But let’s blame systemic racism instead and get rid of grades and standards as the educational-industrial complex is busy doing.
Gov. Moore’s office did not respond, but City Schools did send WBFF a statement with steps it’s taking to improve math scores, including professional development for teachers, summer learning and an extended learning period at the end of the day.
The statement said, in part, “We’re confident these instructional strategies will help us regain the momentum and progress we experienced before the pandemic.”
Those are solutions for below-average grades. They’re not the answer to schools that have completely failed. Moore is likely smart enough to know that’s nonsense and so does any serious educator. They’re just keeping the scam going.
And it is a scam.
Here in Oregon we have the lowest scores for reading and mathematics in the country according to a recent study (bottom five).
Naturally, the teacher’s unions ally with the Democrats in the state to control educational outcomes. Teachers are getting more benefits, but students are failing. Republicans have nothing to say about the educational structure in Oregon and teachers unions will not donate to them.
Democrats completely control Oregon and are 100% responsible for Oregon students failing.
I thought Oregon would do better
A bunch of nothings going nowhere except to get vaccinated.I think that’s signed pretty well signed for them.
^^^^ the incoherent nonsense of a limey wanker that forgot to take his adderall ^^^^
How many of these idiots do we have do deal with until you realise where you are? Apparently many.
My first thought was, if they can’t understand math, how are they going to understand economics?
And lots of other subjects. Lots of tangents go off from that starting point.
My next thought was, we had a better education in the 1950s, when locals controlled the schools. Why not just eliminate the national Dept. of Education, or whatever it is called?
Not that the 1950s are so special. My Mom once showed me some of her math homeworks from the late 1930s or early 1940s. Mind-bogglingly hard problems. I was surprised she could solve them. Of course, her Dad was chief civil engineer for San Francisco, so maybe he gave her some help. He may have been the first one who got me interested in math, with some nice little books of math curiosities and such.
Yes, my father gave me his Matriculation papers( old style tests in U.K. around age 10) from the 1930s. He was an engineer and I had to read the questions several times….
Good video on illiteracy. USA is slowly sinking into illiteracy. I often notice that when reading history of even recent centuries, how widespread illiteracy is.
More money will not result in better student outcomes. There is no motivation to learn so why try. The rare students that do try and excel are social rejected by there peers. which is very very powerful influence. You know, books are for Whitey.
“Baltimore City Public Schools have been plagued with scandal Inspector General report revealed that more than 12,500 grades were changed (that we know of) from failing to passing”
Which resulted in this by the Inspector General:
“There has been a misunderstanding regarding the reason for the amount of grade changes and there was no criminal wrongdoing found .”
Misunderstanding Huh ? No criminal wrongdoing Huh ? Leftist lie to even when they are caught in the act.
The problem is social at the student level and the the problem is criminal at the admisnistrati0n level.
Are you telling me renaming schools and highways, making MLK a holiday, dedicating an entire month to black history, affirmative action, racial quota’s, black only graduations and dorms, CRT, BLM, hasn’t raised the test scores of students in Baltimore?
Professional development for teachers?! I guess someone forgot to teach these teachers any math! How can the uneducated teach?
Being stupid and uneducated is part of their culcha.
Cant find their own Home Town on a map of their state but they can still let them out of School to take part in some Stop Climate Change Protest maybe that’s the trouble way too many liberal politics and liberal revionists education
All of the money in the world spent o education does not solve the root cause which is dysfunctional families
exactly
Someone said “take your kids out of these schools”.
Parents should investigate carefully the schools they send their kids to.. Listen to what the kids say about their schools, and pull them out if there is trouble. Don’t expect the school to improve, get the kids out before it is too late.
Oh, one more point, in case people don’t realize how bad the situation is. The black kids can graduate while literally being unable to add or subtract small numbers (like single digit numbers, 7 + 8 for example). I had students like that.