After health care, the second-largest chunk of the state budget goes to kindergarten to 12th-grade education: $6.2 billion.
The key difference with almost all the other departments is that the governor has no direct control over the agencies that spend the education money ? the state and local school boards, school superintendents, and the university and college boards. “The state Department of Education is unlike any other department in state government,” said June Streckfus, one of three co-chairs of Gov. Martin O?Malley?s transition workgroup.
“That was part of the challenge. Where does the responsibility fall?” said Streckfus, who is executive director of the Maryland Business Roundtable for Education.
The governor appoints the members of the state board for staggered terms of four years and they appoint the state superintendent of schools, currently Nancy Grasmick.
“The appointments to the state board are very important,” Streckfus said. And the report recommends the diverse expertise O?Malley should look for in naming new board members.
The work group did urge O?Malley to “establish a ?signature? campaign that bespeaks his commitment to ensure that all students are well-prepared for success at every level of their education.”
This refers to what Streckfus called “Ready for the next step,” making sure that students are prepared for the transition to kindergarten, sixth, ninth and 12th grades. “Signature” means that it?s “comprehensive in nature and not some small pop-up program,” Streckfus said. Despite the diffusion of responsibility, “the populace believes that the governor needs to play a major role in education.”
The work group strongly recommended that O?Malley sit down with the congressional delegation to examine all the areas of the federal No Child Left Behind Act as it comes up for reauthorization. The work group also supported continuing the Bridge to Excellence funding for education commonly known as Thornton aid that will funnel $4.3 billion into local schools in fiscal year 2008.
Alvin Thornton, the Howard University professor who chaired the commission recommending the increased aid five year ago, and co-chair of the O?Malley work group told The Examiner last week that the “locals may need to be examined in terms of how the money is spent,” Thornton and the work group worried that the counties may be using the increased aid to replace local funding.
