Baltimore City mayoral candidate Keiffer Mitchell Jr. claims heholds “Real Plans to Improve our Schools.” That?s good, because fake ones would be bad. But beyond the silly political rhetoric, how real are they?
Not very. He released the first part of a supposed two-part plan to overhaul the city?s public schools earlier this week. (You can find the plan at www.keiffermitchell.com.) Maybe he is trying to build drama by holding off on the second half. But the first seven points do not warrant excitement for their descendants.
Missing from the list is the only reform worthy of being called real: Expanding school choice.
Choice makes it possible for parents to pick schools that best meet their children?s educational needs, whether it be a public, private or a parochial school. And it makes possible places like Kipp Ujima Village Academy, a public charter middle school with the best math scores in the state. The autonomy that allows Kipp to offer extended school days, innovative curriculum and to hold students to high standards does not exist in traditional public schools. Mitchell calls for principals to win more authority over their schools. That is a start, but it is not enough.
Evidence shows children who get the choice to leave Baltimore?s public schools through the privately funded Children?s Scholarship Fund thrive. A March study of the low-income students receiving scholarships to attend private and parochial schools in the region shows that less than one-tenth earned “needs improvement” in all academic areas. The vast majority of students earned “prepared” and “excellent” marks in math, language arts, science and social studies. As of last year, 533 students received CSF scholarships. Think what could happen if the 82,381 enrolled in city schools could move to schools they and their parents chose.
Students could leave the 11 chronically failing schools in the city and start learning skills to help them become productive citizens. And all students in the system could start to learn. Less than half of all public high school students in Baltimore City passed the state?s High School Assessment tests in English, Biology and algebra in 2006 and only 54 percent passed the government test. While test and grade performance are not the same, obviously something is working right for the scholarship children.
If public schools are so committed to excellence they should have nothing to fear from choice. Mitchell and all his rivals, including Mayor Sheila Dixon, must lobby for school choice throughout their campaigns and make it a priority if elected. It is the only choice for real improvement.
