Transforming Maryland Education

For me, the underlying cause of all problems in the state of Maryland comes down to the destructive, ineffective education of children, which has such a disastrous effect on their future progress and success as productive members of society. So, as a candidate for the Maryland State Senate, my campaign is addressing this fundamental issue by proposing a total transformation of the whole operation of state public education.

The problem of Maryland public education can’t be solved within its current operational framework. It’s just too full of costly, wasteful spending, centralized control, and a total lack of accountability for meaningful results of academic achievement and successful student outcomes.

So how has the Maryland General Assembly proposed to solve this problem? In fact, it’s been just to throw more money at it, without making any fundamental changes to its basic operation. For example, the current education budget gobbles up a whopping 40% of the whole state budget, while the Democrat majority General Assembly keeps funding it more. Recently, Fox News 5 in Baltimore (Chris Papst, March 2025) reported that in 2017, Maryland spent $7.7 billion tax dollars on K-12 education. And by 2024, that number had spiked to $11.4 billion – a 48% increase. So what is there to show for all that increased spending?

Data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NEAP), a program that measures student achievement in various subjects across the United States, tells the story in its recent report at NationalReportCard.gov (nces.ed.gov). In that report, it shows that since 2021, despite massive new spending for education in the state,  Maryland test scores in 4^th grade Reading have not significantly differed from the national average, which in 2024 showed that only 31% of students were proficient or advanced in that subject. In fact, before 2021, with lower levels of funding, Maryland NEAP Reading scores were at times actually much higher than the national average. At the same time, NEAP 8^th grade Math scores for Maryland students have actually shown significantly below level outcomes in 2022 and 2024.

Compare Maryland spending for education with other states. NEA (National Education Association) reports that Maryland has $22,000 per-pupil spending in education, one of the highest levels of spending in the nation. However, states with much lower per-pupil spending have shown significantly better student outcomes. For example, Florida spends only about $15,000 per-pupil on education, and yet consistently scores significantly above the national level in 4^th grade Reading. And Idaho, with only $13,000 per-pupil funding, the lowest level of funding in the whole nation, consistently scores significantly above the national average in 8^th grade Math.

And look at education spending in nearby District of Columbia! Despite the highest per-pupil education spending of the entire nation, at $35,000 per-pupil, student outcome is below the national average score in 4^th grade Reading, and almost dead last in 8^th grade Math.

As a long time leader in the field of innovative teaching in the private sector, I would have all public schools follow an ungraded approach of individualized self-directed learning in a mixed age setting with teachers trained in the skill of observing children in their own free, self-directed learning. But since this type of scientific teaching would not be agreeable to all, the best way to solve the problem of the present public system is to return the whole field of education to the free market economy. This would establish real freedom of choice, competition and accountability for each parent, student, school, and educator to work out on their own.

Win or lose the election, just raising the issue of transforming education in this way will help to bring this vital issue into wider public debate. And this alone is an important first step to ultimately restore the original purpose of education to help children acquire the basic skills and confidence to function as responsible, self-reliant citizens in a truly free, self-governing society.

In the Maryland General Assembly, I would certainly introduce and work for passage of specific legislation to transform Maryland education in this way, by repealing compulsory school attendance, and providing parents with real choice through a variety of alternatives to the conventional public school placement. For example, lift burdensome restrictions on tutoring, home school, and other forms of private education. In addition, revise the charter school legislation to give more control to parents with greater latitude for the hiring of staff. These specific legislative proposals are set forth here below.