Maryland needs BOAST

Originally published in the Frederick News-Post

By Marta Hummel Mossburg
Published on Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Educating children usually ranks behind paying off the teachers union in Maryland for political support. Read More »

Why Maryland Doesn't Need Universal Preschool

By Dan Lips
Published on Monday, March 01, 2010
Governor Martin O'Malley's "Maryland's Preschool for All Business Plan," created in December 2009, intends to "outline the direction for implementing the [universal preschool] program during the second decade of the 2000s." The initiative, like many liberal initiatives of its kind, is based on the assumption of a "multiplier effect" -- that universal preschool will better prepare young students for grades K-12 and provide such spillover benefits as reduced grade retention, special education enrollments, teen pregnancy, and criminal arrests, while increasing high school graduation and employment rates. Read More »

State teachers union will bust budgets if legislation passes

Originally published in the Washington Examiner

By Marta Hummel Mossburg
Published on Tuesday, January 12, 2010
You have to give the Maryland teachers union credit for its chutzpah. It is like a teenager who tells her parents she needs their credit card to buy school supplies and then drives to Neiman Marcus.The only problem: The credit card the union wants to abuse is the one paid for by every state taxpayer. Read More »

Must unions always block innovation in public schools?

Originally published in the Washington Examiner

By Marta Hummel Mossburg
Published on Friday, July 24, 2009
Isn't it ironic? When Andres Alonso moved to Baltimore City two years ago to turn around a failing public school system, the Baltimore Teachers Union fought him over practically everything except which color tie he should wear. Read More »

Teachers As Entrepreneurs

By Tom Neumark
Published on Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Currently, most teachers in the state of Maryland are employed by a local Board of Education and are direct employees of the school system. However, a better arrangement is possible. What if all Maryland schools districts could hire employees under their existing union-negotiated agreements and could also sign contracts with education companies, individual teachers, and other unions? This paper examines how this approach would work, the policy changes needed to enable teacher entrepreneurship, and the potential benefits, and also answers the common arguments for a single, union-negotiated contract. Read More »