Baltimore’s academic year is almost at an end, and while members of the state’s teacher union are surely patting themselves on the back, the parents and students have much less to celebrate.
A shockingly low proportion of Baltimore’s high school seniors will graduate this year, despite the Maryland State Education Association’s (MSEA) claim “to elevate the quality of public education for all students.” The union’s track record over the past decade tells a different story, one that places a premium on funding and ideology over student success.
Financially, the MSEA has never been stronger. A review by Fox45’s Project Baltimore shows that over the last 10 years, the union’s revenue surged by 34%, reaching a record $26.5 million in 2022, most of it from dues paid by teachers. That same year, the union’s federal non-profit filings show, the state union spent over $509,000 on travel expenses.
This hike in revenues may sound like a boon for education. But a decade ago, Maryland students were national leaders in fourth-grade reading and above the national average in math scores. By 2022, they fell below the national averages in these subjects, with reading scores dropping by 20 points. How did a union, so rich in resources, preside over such a steep drop?
The union’s entanglement with special interests, including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, suggests it puts ideological agendas over genuine educational achievement. An extreme example of this is the approach of EquitableMath.org, funded by the Gates Foundation, which claims that when teachers equate incorrect answers with “wrongness,” they reinforce “paternalism” and “white supremacy.”
Kali Fontanilla, a Black former public school teacher and a colleague of mine, condemns this “correct-answers-are-racist madness” because it harms students already deficient in the math they need to succeed. Bill Gates became rich thanks to computer science, a discipline entirely dependent on accurate math. Why, Fontanilla asks, should anyone want to deprive Black children of the same potential future success?
In addition, the union’s influence has often stymied reforms that could introduce much-needed accountability into the system. This resistance to change benefits the union and its partners, even as Baltimore’s students, year after year, remain trapped in a system that fails to equip them for success.
Some will argue that unions like the MSEA advocate for teachers’ rights, which ultimately leads to better educational outcomes. Yet when the success of the union’s finances diverges so starkly from the success of the students it claims to serve, it becomes clear the union’s actions have perpetuated a cycle of educational dysfunction.
The plight of Baltimore’s students is a cautionary tale of what can happen when educational policy is ruled by the powerful few at the expense of the many: Everyone loses — most of all, the students they claim to serve.
Baltimore parents should demand more from those who help mold the city’s young minds. The status quo must change.
Scott Walter (@capitalresearch) is president of Capital Research Center in Washington, D.C.
