Monday's announcement that federal oversight of Baltimore City's special education programs will be ending within two years was rightly hailed by civic and educational leaders as a major milestone. It is a testament to how far the city school system has come recently and a reminder of how dysfunctional it was for most of the 26 years the lawsuit has been in effect.
As recently as eight years ago, the judge overseeing the case threatened to throw the city schools CEO in jail for her failures, and six years ago, state Superintendent Nancy Grasmick was floating the idea of a complete takeover of the system. Now, though, advocates are pointing to rapid increases in special education students' academic performance and to the disappearance of the historic animosity between the system and those who were pursuing the lawsuit.
But city schools CEO Andres Alonso was right to point out that the end of oversight is something to be proud of but not an accomplishment to rest on. Special education students are improving, but their performance on standardized tests would still be scandalous in virtually any other jurisdiction in the state. The end of the lawsuit will remove a burden the district has long faced in reporting requirements and paperwork, and Monday's announcement can only be seen as a victory if the energy that went into coping with the lawsuit for all these years went instead into continuing and improving the progress Baltimore's special education students have made.