Governor Larry Hogan has an op-ed in the Sun today, “The economic engine of Maryland,” in which he lays out his plans for Baltimore City, perhaps responding to criticism, fueled by his canceling the Red Line and cutting city education funding, that he isn’t concerned about Baltimore. “Over the next several months, my administration will announce a series of innovative ideas that have the potential to deliver real change,” he wrote, before promising plans to address vacants, jobs, transportation and education.
On the education front, he wrote, among other things, “I will continue to advocate for creative new approaches, like Bard High School Early College, and the amazing work in our terrific public charter schools and parochial schools that serve disadvantaged students.” We were happy to see Hogan praise the OSI-supported Bard School, which gives students the chance to earn both a high school diploma and an associates degree in four years, but a little concerned that readers would assume Bard is a charter school, which it is not. The governor has made expanding charter schools in Maryland a priority, trying to change the state’s unique laws to entice more private charter operators. But Bard is a contract school, not a charter, meaning it can specify that 50 percent of its students are first-generation college students. Nonetheless, we join the governor in praising the Bard School and other innovative approaches to education.