Alvin Thornton?s last name has become synonymous in Annapolis with the aid program that will pump $4.3 billion into Maryland public schools next year.
Thornton told The Examiner Thursday that it is “premature” to conclude that the infusionof money is not being spent to help the neediest students, as some advocates for disadvantaged children have charged. But he said another commission, like the one he chaired, will evaluate Thornton comprehensively, especially since fiscal 2008 culminates the five years of increases in education funding his panel recommended.
Much has changed in the five years since his commission made its final report on school aid. The No Child Left Behind Act has been fully implemented, and state testing has been completely revised in response to that law. Thornton?s recommendations were based on performance under the earlier testing system.
The state needs to take a new look at funding and accountability, Thornton said.
“It is very important for that evaluation to take place,” Thornton said, “otherwise it will have been an isolated response” to funding needs, subject to the same kind “political unpredictability” of previous funding formulas.
Thornton, a Prince George?s County resident who is associate provost and professor at Howard University, said he?s been following the debate about the education funding, including the report by Advocates for Children and Youth. That group said that while the Thornton formula included an additional $491 million for at-risk students, aid to those students has been reduced.
That charge brought sharp denials from state and local school officials, and even senators from jurisdictions getting the most aid. The bottom line is that student test scores are improving in every jurisdiction, they said.
“The locals may need to be examined in terms of how the money is spent,” Thornton said. He worries that Thornton aid may simply be supplanting local money being used for something else.
State School Superintendent Nancy Grasmick and Sen. Patrick Hogan emphasized the master plans for improvement that school systems had to submit are key components of Thornton aid,and Thornton agreed.
“Was the state using the master plans effectively enough?” Thornton said.
Grasmick already has hired an outside consultant to report on the effectiveness of Thornton aid.
