The budget and educational policies proposed by Gov. Larry Hogan's administration are out of step with the demographic changes taking place across the state in Maryland public schools.
The Maryland Equity Project a research and policy center located in the College of Education at the University of Maryland, recently completed an analysis of trends in public school enrollment in Maryland over the past two decades. We found increasing diversity in state schools that suggests we need to rethink our education policies and priorities.
Why do these trends matter and what do they mean for public policy in Maryland? Having good information on public school enrollment trends is important for making informed public and educational decisions. Knowing which racial/ethnic groups are increasing, for example, can direct policymakers to the kinds of resources and programs that are needed to educate a diverse student population. Understanding how low-income students are distributed across a district can alert educators and policymakers to the social and academic challenges these students face.
With both a state and district focus, our study examines how the racial and socioeconomic composition of public school enrollment is changing and identifies where these changes are taking place. It includes a number of measures to show how segregation — by both race and income — is also changing.
Here's what we found:
•Public school enrollment is growing, but growth varies across the state. Those counties with growing student enrollment are more likely to be in the central portion of the state — and to have growing minority student enrollments. Districts with declining enrollments are in eastern and western Maryland, and they show little growth in minority students.
•Public school enrollment is becoming more diverse. Tracking demographic changes between 1990 and 2010, the public schools have shown a steady decline in the share of enrollment that is white and continued growth in minority students. Minority enrollment accounted for 56 percent of students in 2010.
•Public school enrollment is becoming poorer. In 2010, 40 percent of students were from low-income families. This is almost double what it was 20 years ago, when 22.4 percent of students were low-income. Every school district in Maryland saw an increase in the percentage of low-income students. We found no evidence that poverty decreased as the 2008 recession receded.
As the schools become more diverse, they have also become more segregated by race and income. And students are much more likely to attend schools with concentrated poverty than in the past. We also found that poor and minority students are more likely to attend high-poverty public schools than their non-poor peers.
High concentrations of school poverty are associated with lower student achievement, regardless of an individual student's family income.
Many of the problems associated with poor academic achievement can be linked to schools that are segregated by race and income. In addition, high levels of school-wide poverty — or concentrated poverty — create additional challenges for school systems and the students they serve.
This brings me back to the budget cuts proposed by Governor Hogan. One issue is simple fairness. There are winners and losers in the Hogan plan, with no relationship between the level of cuts and school district need.
Other proposals, such as expanding charter schools, are unlikely to provide the opportunities needed to educate a diverse student population. Maryland has been wise to move slowly on expanding charter schools since there is little evidence that charters outperform the public schools, particularly when educating diverse students — the very population Maryland now has.
As important as maintaining adequate and equitable funding for education is, our schools alone cannot close racial or economic achievement gaps in a substantial, consistent and sustainable manner.
Policies aimed at the social and economic disadvantages of students and their families and collaboration across policy sectors will also be required if all students are to have the opportunities they need to be successful.
Gail Sunderman is director of the Maryland Equity Project (mdequity.org) in the College of Education within the University of Maryland. Her email is gsunderm@umd.edu.