The latest news from Maryland’s classrooms may look promising at first glance, but a closer look paints a far more urgent picture. While academic gains have been real, the pace of change has been far too slow and notably uneven.
Consider Baltimore, where fewer than one in three students read at grade level and multiple schools don’t have a single child doing math at grade level. Statewide, barely half of all students read at grade level, and for Black, Latino and special needs children, the numbers fall even lower. At less than a point of progress a year, Maryland is failing to close achievement gaps fast enough for thousands of kids. There is a way to speed things up and reach those kids now at no cost to the state: it takes just one decision from Governor Wes Moore.
Starting in January 2027, the new Federal Scholarship Tax Credit allows Americans to take up to $1,700 of the federal taxes they already pay and redirect those dollars to non-profits that support K-12 students. The tax credit dollars can pay for tutoring, technology, transportation and special-education services for public school students. Under this program, a Baltimore student falling behind in math gets a tutor. A Rockville child with dyslexia reaches a specialist her district can’t staff. A Cumberland teenager earns college credits his school is too small to offer.