Schmoke

An election year can do wonders in focusing the mind of a public official. For Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke, the state of the city's schools looms as no small issue in the coming campaign. That is his own doing, simply because he had the courage when he first ran for the office to stake the success of his mayoralty on improvements in the quality of Baltimore's public schools.Although the past year has brought some rays of hope -- scores in many areas have stopped dropping and are showing slight improvements -- there are still daunting problems.

THE SCHMOKE administration -- with a helping hand from the American Civil Liberties Union -- is preparing to sue the state for additional funding for Baltimore's troubled school system.Depending upon when the suit is filed, it could have unintended adverse effects on the gubernatorial campaign of Prince George's County Executive Parris Glendening in his home territory in of the Washington suburbs.Mr. Schmoke's office has told the Washington law firm of Hogan & Hartson to put the city's complaint into final form.

Kurt L. Schmoke's moment of glory will come tomorrow night when he introduces former President Jimmy Carter to the Democratic National Convention. To the political junkies in Maryland and beyond, the message is clear: the Baltimore mayor is a man to watch.The election campaign may further heighten the profile of Mr. Schmoke. As one of the few black elected officials joining the Bill Clinton bandwagon early on, he campaigned for the Democratic nominee not only in Maryland but in such pivotal states as New York and Pennsylvania.

When William Donald Schaefer was the mayor of Baltimore, he created an extralegal structure of decision-making that ultimately became known as the "shadow government." It consisted of a small group of handpicked "trustees" who set up a system of quasi-governmental corporations to circumvent the requirements of the City Charter and then kept them bankrolled through a secret loan fund.During the past eight years, the Schmoke administration has developed its own shadow government: the law firm of Shapiro and Olander.

Angered by city school Superintendent Richard C. Hunter's refusal to go gracefully, Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke today sharply criticized the man he hand-picked 2 1/2 years ago to revive Baltimore's ailing school system.Any improvements in city schools during the superintendent's tenure, Schmoke said today, came "in spite of Dr. Hunter, not because of him."The mayor made his comments after recommending that the Board of School Commissioners not offer Hunter a new contract. Hunter's current $125,000-a-year contract expires July 31, 1991.

As decisive as it was, Kurt L. Schmoke's victory in yesterday's Democratic primary must have had a bitter-sweet quality for the two-term Baltimore mayor. Sweet because a victory is always joyous and a majority of Baltimore voters reaffirmed their faith in him. Bitter because so many citizens had expressed misgivings about his eight years of leadership that they made City Council President Mary Pat Clarke a credible contender who threatened the mayor's shoo-in status.We congratulate Mr. Schmoke on his nomination.

Baltimore Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke has raised a stunning $1,596,881 to win re-election.Mr. Schmoke has spent $1,258,855 -- including $351,413.23 for fund-raisers and $230,333 to pay his campaign staff, according to the mayor's two-volume finance report filed yesterday.In contrast, the all-volunteer effort of former Mayor Clarence H. "Du" Burns has raised $118,802.Nearly all of it, however, has been spent by Mr. Burns to try and win back his City Hall office, according to Mr. Burns' report.And, with only three weeks left in the Democratic primary race, Mr. Schmoke has $338,026 left, compared with $8,617.

Baltimore Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke has given city officials a month to decide whether to renovate the old Eastern High School or demolish the dilapidated building.The vacant school, which has a multimillion-dollar asbestos problem, needs at least $16 million to be converted into a teacher training and research center, Mr. Schmoke said yesterday.Part of the building would be turned into a specialized middle school if the city comes up with the money and a strategy for a overhauling the building.

In 1987 Kurt L. Schmoke entered office as Baltimore's first elected black mayor on a platform to reform a troubled school system, reclaim abandoned, boarded-up houses and aggressively fight crime in the city while holding the line on taxes.Four years later, schools, housing, crime and taxes are still the paramount issues confronting Baltimore city. Mayor Schmoke's record in all these areas has been somewhat mixed: While there have been important successes he can point to, there have also been major setbacks.

Do we detect a whiff of political positioning in Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke's decision not to sue the state over inadequate school funds? Is Mr. Schmoke edging ever-closer to running for governor? Or do these smoke signals indicate the mayor simply wants to cut the best deal for Baltimore City on increased state support for city schools?Both options might be part of the mayor's strategy. By shelving the lawsuit, Mr. Schmoke clears the deck of a potential hazard to his gubernatorial ambitions. When the mayor said last year he wanted the courts to order the state to spend more money on poor school districts, he generated tremendous animus in influential Montgomery County, the state's biggest and wealthiest subdivision.