Democratic lawmakers and a Republican governor aligned to support a private school choice program in Maryland.
A 10-year, bipartisan push for private school choice in Maryland culminated this week in the creation of a $5 million plan for vouchers.
If the state spending plan is approved by Gov. Larry Hogan (who backed a school choice plan in his own budget proposal), Maryland will become the 24th state in the nation to offer statewide private school choice.
It's been a long time coming. Some lawmakers in the state have backed tax credit scholarship plans for years. At one point, they won public backing from former Democratic Gov. (and presidential contender) Martin O'Malley.
The Washington Post reports that holdouts in the state House softened their opposition this year, after a push by key Democrats who wanted to expand opportunities for children in Baltimore.
The Catholic Reporter covered their push for a tax credit scholarship program, which intensified last month.
The lead sponsor of the education credit in the House of Delegates, Del. Antonio Hayes, a Democrat representing Baltimore City, said that passing the credit was a matter of justice.
“The greatest justice we can provide the young people of Maryland is an opportunity for a quality education,” he said.
The final plan, agreed to this week in a budget conference and passed by both houses of the state Assembly, would create a voucher program instead. The Broadening Options and Opportunities for Students Today, or BOOST, program would fund private-school scholarships for low-income students, administered by the state Department of Education. (The name comes from a legislative proposal by another Baltimore City Democrat, Del. Keith Haynes.)
Betsy DeVos, chairman of the American Federation for Children, greeted the development in a statement.
“Maryland has now joined the movement spreading across the country that embraces school choice and offers options to students who do not have the means to access a quality education,” she sad.
