The Maryland system of public education is full of wasteful spending, lack of accountability and an absence of meaningful value and quality in academic achievement and successful student outcomes. The current education budget gobbles up some 40% of the whole state budget, while the Democrat majority General Assembly in 2018 set in motion even more spending in 2021 under a “Blueprint” legislation that requires ever increasing burdens on Maryland taxpayers.
More money is the typical Democrat majority General Assembly answer to poor public school performance, because it has totally failed to improve student outcome. For example, Fox News 5 in Baltimore (Chris Papst, March 2025) reported that in 2017, Maryland spent $7.7 billion tax dollars on K-12 education. By 2024, that number had spiked to $11.4 billion – a 48% increase. As to student outcome in that period, in 2017, Maryland’s average SAT score was 1063, slightly above the national average of 1060. But by 2024, Maryland’s average SAT score was down to 1000 – which is now below the national average of 1024.
The failure of “more money” to education is also borne out by the NEAP date given by the NationalReportCard.gov (nces.ed.gov). For example, since 2021, despite increased education spending, Maryland test scores in 4th grade Reading have not significantly differed from the national average. In fact, before 2021, Maryland NEAP Reading scores were at times significantly higher than the national average. And at the same time, NEAP 8th grade Math scores have actually shown significantly below level outcomes in 2022 and 2024.
While NEA reports that Maryland has $22,000 per-pupil spending in education, one of the highest levels of spending in the nation, states with much lower per-pupil spending have shown significantly better student outcome. For example, Florida spends only about $15,000 per-pupil on education, and yet consistently scores significantly above the national level in 4th grade Reading. And Idaho, with $13,000 per-pupil funding, the lowest level of funding in the whole nation, consistently scores significantly above the national average in 8th grade Math.
Look also at 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 of 4th grade Reading, and almost dead last in 8th grade Math.
In my campaign, I’m calling for a total transformation of Maryland public education, which will return the whole field of education to parent choice and competition in the free market economy. The details of my plan for this transformation are set forth at the article I wrote a few years ago, and is located at the website for “Citizens for a Better Prince George’s County” (https://pgcitizens.com/better-alternatives-to-kirwan-tax-increase-for-maryland-public-education/.
In the Maryland General Assembly, I would 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 for an alternative to the conventional public school placement, through non-government means such as set forth in the proposals indicated below.
Freedom from government regulation for certain private schools
Freedom from government regulation for certain private teacher education programs
Exception from government education controls for certain specialized schools
More freedom for Maryland charter schools
Repeal Compulsory School Attendance
