The high cost of high school dropouts

Our view: Maryland loses millions of dollars a year when kids leave school without graduating

By Baltimore Sun Editorial Board
Published on Sunday, September 21, 2008
Last year, about 27,000 Maryland high school students dropped out of school before graduating. That was nearly a quarter of the state's Class of 2007, and Marylanders pay dearly for it. A study by the Maryland Public Policy Institute estimates that each class of high school dropouts costs the state about $50 million every year in lost tax revenues, higher Medicaid costs and the expenses of incarceration - dropouts are twice as likely as graduates to spend time in jail. Kids who drop out shortchange not only their own chances for success but also those of everyone around them.

Maryland Think Tank Comments on Maryland Senate Vote for Scholarship Tax Credit

Published on Thursday, March 27, 2008
Rockville, MD - March 27, 2008- On March 26, Maryland's Senate gave preliminary approval to a bill that would encourage businesses to sponsor scholarships at private schools. Modeled after a similar program in Pennsylvania, the Maryland plan would provide tax credits to businesses that make scholarship contributions. The program would open up more opportunities for working families to send their children to schools of their choice.

School’s in, but many parents turn outside for better education

Originally published in the Baltimore Examiner

By Alison Lake
Published on Wednesday, August 22, 2007
BALTIMORE - A wall will eventually sag or crumble if too many blocks are missing. The same thing can happen to a child’s education when he or she lacks too many skills. Because so many taxpayer-funded schools are not providing adequate instruction to children, parents must look elsewhere to help fill the gaps. This situation drives growth in the supplemental education market every year. The demand stems both from federal requirements and parents. No Child Left Behind requires that Title I schools not meeting Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) provide tutoring to needy students. In spite of the NCLB mandate, many more children need supplemental education than receive it. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) said states and school districts need to vastly improve how they advertise tutoring information to parents in an August 2006 report. Contracting and services mismanagement, for example, led to only 19 percent of eligible students in the 2004-2005 school year receiving extra help. In 2007, 2.3 million students were eligible for services. Many issues can contribute to students not using services, including living in rural or dangerous areas without many tutor choices, a lack of information about them and language barriers.

Editorial: Give foster children a fighting chance

Originally published in the Baltimore Examiner

Published on Friday, June 29, 2007
BALTIMORE - For many Maryland children, the only disruption they face in their schooling is fun: Summer break. For foster children, disruption is a way of life. And it severely limits their chances of developing into productive citizens and good parents. Fate does not have to dictate the outcomes of 10,000 foster children in the state, about 7,000 in Baltimore City, however. The General Assembly can lessen the number of disruptions by giving them school vouchers. Vouchers will not solve all of their problems, but they can give some of the most vulnerable children stability in an area that can greatly determine their success later in life.

Maryland Public Policy Institute Scholar to Testify on Educational Opportunities for Foster Care Children

Published on Monday, June 18, 2007
GERMANTOWN, MD - June 18, 2007—Maryland Public Policy Institute Visiting Senior Fellow Dan Lips will testify before the Subcommittee on Income Security and Family Support of the Committee on Ways and Means on Tuesday, June 19, 2007, at 1:00 p.m. in room B-318 Rayburn House Office Building in Washington, DC. The Subcommittee is holding hearings on disconnected and disadvantaged youth, and the Maryland Public Policy Institute has been a leading advocate in promoting educational opportunities for foster care children.

Fixing Baltimore's education crisis

Originally published in the Baltimore Examiner

By Christopher B. Summers
Published on Tuesday, May 15, 2007
BALTIMORE - In 1999, the Children's Scholarship Fund announced it would provide private-school scholarships to low-income families across the country. In Baltimore, 46,000 families applied for scholarships - approximately 44 percent of the eligible student population. Since the number of available scholarships was scarce, only 430 lucky students received scholarships that year. Where are those thousands of children? Most likely many dropped out of high school before graduation. According to one recent study in Education Week, the graduation rate in Baltimore City's public schools could be as low as 39 percent - one of the lowest among major cities in the country.

School Choice Options for Maryland

Education Tax Credits and the BOAST Tax Credit Proposal

Edited by Alison Lake
Published on Monday, March 12, 2007
In the 2007 Maryland state legislative session, a bipartisan coalition of legislators has introduced the Building Opportunities for All Students and Teachers, or BOAST tax credit proposal. This initiative is modeled after a similar tax credit program in Pennsylvania that has strong bipartisan support there. The legislation (Senate Bill 265) is sponsored by State Senator James E. DeGrange, Sr., a Democrat from District 32 (Anne Arundel County) and 17 co-sponsors. In the House of Delegates, the bill is sponsored by Delegate James E. Proctor Jr., a Democrat from District 27A (Calvert and Prince George’s counties) and 57 co-sponsors.The BOAST tax credit proposal would provide up to $25 million in partial tax credits to Maryland businesses that make contributions to support education. Specifically, the bill would allow businesses to make up to $15 million in contributions to non-profit organizations that fund tuition scholarships to non-public schools. Businesses would also be allowed to contribute up to $10 million to organizations that fund initiatives to improve public education. Businesses participating in the BOAST tax credit program would be able to receive a partial tax credit (worth 75 percent of the donation) for qualifying contributions.

ANNAPOLIS TO CONSIDER K-12 SCHOLARSHIPS FOR FOSTER CHILDREN

Legislation follows Maryland Public Policy Institute Proposal

Published on Tuesday, February 13, 2007
Delegate Nancy Stocksdale (R-Carroll County) recently filed legislation in the Maryland General Assembly to provide K–12 tuition scholarships to children in foster care.    The legislation follows a policy proposal formulated in 2005 by Maryland Public Policy Institute (MPPI) senior fellow Dan Lips. Lips’ proposal led to MPPI’s receiving the Innovation Grant Award from the Milton & Rose D. Friedman Foundation, the education philosophy organization, in 2006. That same year, Arizona adopted Lips’ proposal.

Building partnerships

Originally published in the Baltimore Sun

By Cindy Mumby
Published on Friday, January 19, 2007
When Harford County's newest school was conceived, it was expected to cost $40 million. But when the Patterson Mill Middle/High School complex finally opens its doors this fall, the final price tag will be closer to $60 million. What happened? School facilities take an inordinate amount of time and money to build, not just in Harford County but throughout Maryland, in part because the system relies on government processes to do what private industry can do in less time and at a fraction of the cost. Owning and operating school buildings distracts school systems from their core mission of educating students. Public/private partnerships get school systems out of the building and real estate business by allowing them to lease space from private firms that build, manage and maintain school sites. Under this approach, school systems and building companies can each focus on what they do best, saving substantial time and money.

Report: Teacher pensions don’t hinder recruitment

But the Maryland State Teachers Association calls the report 'sloppy' and 'untimely'

By Alan Brody, Staff Writer, The Gazette
Published on Friday, December 15, 2006
ANNAPOLIS — Maryland’s teacher pension system, labeled one of the worst in the nation by union activists before the state legislature passed a $120 million enhancement plan this year, has not hampered recruitment and retention efforts, according to a report issued this week by a conservative-leaning think tank. ‘‘Increased state spending on defined benefit pension plans like Maryland’s is unlikely to be a cost-efficient way to staff classrooms with qualified teachers,” wrote Michael Podgursky, an economics professor at the University of Missouri who wrote the study jointly released by the Maryland Public Policy Institute in Germantown and the Abell Foundation in Baltimore.