School Cuts More Likely to Harm Students of Color

November 18, 2015 by Benjamin Orr in Blog, Budget and Tax, Education

Gov. Larry Hogan’s continued refusal to release available education funding is disproportionately hurting students of color throughout Maryland, putting those students at further disadvantage because they are more likely to attend schools that don’t have all the resources they need to help students succeed.

A quick history lesson: In the last budget battle, Governor Hogan cut Geographic Cost of Education Index (GCEI) funding in half. The GCEI helps schools in high-cost parts of the state pay for the additional expense  of educating students. The legislature set aside the $68.1 million needed to restore this cut, but it can’t force the governor to spend the money. Governor Hogan continues to refuse to release the funds to local schools, even though state revenues are coming in at a rate that exceeds what was expected.  However, the budget doesn’t allow him to use the funds for anything else, so they’re just sitting in the state’s bank account.

There are 13 schoMinority students school fundingol districts where students are experiencing such effects as larger class sizes and less individualized instruction time this school year due to this loss of funding: Anne Arundel, Baltimore City, Baltimore County, Calvert, Carroll, Charles, Frederick, Howard, Kent, Montgomery, Prince George’s, Queen Anne’s, and St. Mary’s.

Those 13 districts are home to 92.1 percent of all minority students in Maryland. Just four districts make up more than 70 percent of all minority enrollment in Maryland schools: Prince George’s County (23.4%), Montgomery County (20.1%), Baltimore City (15.2%), and Baltimore County (12%).

Because the costliest places to educate students are also some of our most populous jurisdictions, they also account for 75.4 percent of all white students.

What this means is that if you are a minority student in Maryland you have a 22 percent higher chance of receiving a lower quality education than your white counterparts because of the governor’s cuts to school funding. If you are Black, your chances of being in an affected district are 92.6 percent. If you’re Hispanic, your chances of being affected are almost another percentage point higher.

If Governor Hogan doesn’t yield to common sense and release this money, class sizes will continue to increase and fewer students will get the quality education our economy depends on.