蜜桃影视

At the forefront is state Board of Education President Andrew Smarick, a federal education official under President George W. Bush who has spent much of his career on school reform. (Smarick has also published essays with 蜜桃影视.) At the board鈥檚 , Smarick called for a larger emphasis on fixing low-performing schools and suggested that lawmakers expand the voucher program and create new charter schools. That conversation is expected to resume Tuesday, when the board reconvenes for its January meeting.

The push comes amid a heated debate over the voucher program, which the state teachers union and local officials contend pulls money away from traditional public schools.

Unusual for a traditionally Democratic state, the Maryland school board is dominated by appointees of a Republican, Gov. Larry Hogan. These include Smarick and Chester Finn, a former assistant secretary of education under President Ronald Reagan and president emeritus of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, a conservative think tank.

Finn has recommended that Maryland establish a state-run recovery school district, similar to the one created in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, for the lowest-performing schools.

鈥淲e鈥檙e really thrilled to see some of the state leaders talking about providing real solutions for these thousands of Maryland families who are trapped in schools that, quite frankly, just don鈥檛 prepare children for college and career readiness,鈥� said Jenese Jones, deputy director at MarylandCAN, an education-reform advocacy group.

Last year,聽 a $5 million private-school voucher program as part of the state鈥檚 $42 billion operating budget 鈥� a surprising move for a Democratic-controlled legislature. For about a decade, state lawmakers, including Democrats, have pushed for an education tax-credit program totaling up to $50 million. In the governor鈥檚聽 for fiscal year 2018, released last week, overall K-12 spending would grow to a record $6.4 billion and the voucher program would increase to $7 million as part of a plan to double the program鈥檚 funding over three years.

In the program鈥檚 first year, however, the students who benefited from the vouchers have become a flashpoint.

Of the more than聽 through the program this school year, about 1,900 were already enrolled in private schools. The program 鈥渕erely subsidizes private schools with taxpayer dollars that could be going to public schools,鈥� Sean Johnson, the Maryland State Education Association鈥檚 legislative director, told The Baltimore Sun.

In Baltimore, school officials say to the voucher program this year. The drop in students, and the attendant loss in school funding, came as the city district faces a聽. Hogan鈥檚 proposed budget includes in school funding for Baltimore.

But Jones said vouchers allow low-income families to escape the 鈥渋njustices鈥� of low-performing schools. Although a final state plan for ESSA isn鈥檛 due to federal education officials until the fall, she said early proposals are 鈥渄efinitely looking to be a strong and bold change for the state.鈥�

See more coverage of .