Calling education the next step in the civil rights movement, hundreds of Baltimore students are planning to take to the streets today to demand a $1 billion commitment to the city schools from the gubernatorial candidates.

Students are calling their campaign “Freedom Fall 2006,” modeled after Freedom Summer 1964, when thousands of civil rights activists descended on Mississippi to assert the right of disenfranchised blacks to vote. (more…)

For starters, anytime I hear of a major school system demanding more money, I automatically become suspicious. This is due to the fact that this country spends more per student that other countries who are outperforming our kids in just about every major subject. Secondly, any initiative demanding more funding that has the backing of teacher unions will in no doubt spell trouble for taxpayers and parents who want to see a measurable return on their “investment”. Thirdly, in the Baltimore situation, according to an article in the Baltimore Sun…

“Charter schools are publicly funded but operate independently under contracts with local school boards.

Maryland has 24 charter schools, 17 of them in Baltimore.

The city spends the equivalent of about $11,000 per child in its regular public schools.

Charter schools in the city receive $5,859 per child in cash and the rest in services that the school system provides, such as special education and food.” (more…)

Fourthly, according to a study conducted back in 2004, roughly 35% of Baltimore city public school teachers send their own children to private school. If the system clearly does not work for their own children, why should the children of other tax payers be denied the same opportunity?

While charter schools may not be the silver bullet for the educational crisis in Baltimore, charter schools in general do have an established track record of turning out better prepared students FOR LESS and with MORE accountability. If I was a parent in the Baltimore school district, the first thing I would want to know is how well has the already millions of dollars that have already been allocated to the school board (again, $11,000 per student) been managed.

Below are some links that I have gathered from around the net that relate to this issue.

–>Ed Brown (Parent and Taxpayer residing in the Baltimore area) has been tracking this situation for a while. Start here.

–>Fund Fracas (Baltimore City schools vs. Charter schools)

–>Maryland Acts to Take Over Failing Baltimore Schools

–>“Overcrowded classrooms. Outmoded buildings. Substandard plumbing and sanitation. These are phrases used by the Baltimore Sun when describing the Baltimore City Public schools.

In 1948.”

–>Maryland Embarrassment

–>A School Voucher Program for Baltimore City (good read–pdf)