Quality Education

Finding new options for urban education Baltimore spends more than $10,000 per student each year on education. For Kalman R. Hettleman to suggest that even more money is needed is preposterous ("Don't deny state's kids a quality education," Opinion Commentary, Oct. 28). The level of funding is adequate, and children around the globe receive a quality education for much less money. As a society, we need to accept that far too many children grow up in dangerous and violent communities, with uncaring parents numbed by generations of welfare dependency, and that this has had an enormous negative effect on public education.

No one would disagree that all children should receive a quality education, and that our state and nation depend on it for a competitive work force and cohesive citizenry. Yet that isn't happening, despite the fact that such an education in Maryland is a constitutional right - as well as a matter of self-interest and moral principle. Worse, at the special session of the General Assembly that starts today - called by Gov. Martin O'Malley to deal with the state's fiscal problems - the state may be on the path to backtrack on this right and the progress achieved over the past decade.

Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. said he wants to pay teachers based on the performance of their students, and Mayor Martin O'Malley proposed huge bonuses for principals who agree to serve in troubled schools, as both candidates for governor clashed again yesterday over how best to educate the state's children, the dominant issue of this year's campaign. Ehrlich, speaking before the State Board of Education in Baltimore, also unveiled a plan to improve the quality of principals, promising to put $1.6 million in his next budget for a school administrator leadership academy.

COLLEGE PARK -- It's beautiful down here, if you can afford it. On a lovely sunlit morning, students at this University of Maryland campus walk to class as though barely staggered by the record-breaking tuition hikes of the Ehrlich years, and they live in dormitories whose fees have risen to resemble hotel bills. All of this makes it particularly striking to see banners strung proudly in numerous locations here. The banners proclaim: "Graduates more African-American students than any other Top 20 public university."

THURSDAY Citizens Advisory Committee The Countywide Citizens Advisory Committee will discuss a survey about the school calendar at 7 p.m. in the school board's chambers in the Dr. Carol Sheffey Parham Building, 2644 Riva Road, Annapolis. 410-222-5414. Commission on Quality Education The Governor's Commission on Quality Education will hold a regional public hearing at 7 p.m. at Largo High School, 505 Largo Road, Upper Marlboro. This will be the last of seven public hearings held throughout the state.

Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele is scheduled to visit two schools in Prince George's County -- Marlton Elementary School in Upper Marlboro on Wednesday and Nicholas Orem Middle School in Hyattsville on Thursday -- to discuss the Governor's Commission on Quality Education in Maryland. As commission chair, Steele visits schools across the state, collecting information for the panel's work and meeting with educators, parents, administrators, students and community leaders. Steele plans to visit at least one school in every county, as well as in Baltimore City, to complete his review.

Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele is scheduled to visit Annapolis Area Christian School on Thursday to discuss the Governor's Commission on Quality Education in Maryland. As commission chair, Steele visits schools across the state, collecting information for the panel's work and meeting with educators, parents, administrators, students and community leaders. Steele has visited 12 districts so far and plans to visit at least one school in every county, as well as in Baltimore City, to complete his review.

Schrader appointed to governor's panel on quality education State Sen. Sandra B. Schrader, a Howard Republican, has been appointed to serve on the Governor's Commission on Quality Education in Maryland. Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. signed an executive order last month creating the commission, and Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele was named its chairman. The commission includes four subcommittees: Teacher/Principal Accountability and Growth; Schools and Community Linkages; Global Best -- Practices in Education; and School Readiness and Early Childhood Programs.