Commentary

Tutoring is a textbook example of how sometimes a lot of money for public schools does not pay off as advertised. That’s true so far for investments in tutoring nationwide, triggered by the pandemic. And it’s true in Maryland although there is potential for speedy improvement. Tutoring is universally recognized as the most effective way to prevent and remediate learning deficits. School systems nationwide are on track to spend around $3.6 billion this year and next on tutoring.

The reverberations from the COVID-19 pandemic continue to echo through our world, in ways great and small, obvious and obscure. The news this week that nearly a third of the schools in Frederick County received fewer stars in recent state ratings than they received before the pandemic was one more reminder that we as a community and as a nation will be dealing with the aftereffects of the pandemic for a long, long time.

As we mark Disability Awareness Month, it is an optimal time to reaffirm and amplify our commitment to providing exceptional special education services and supports. There has been much community discussion recently, including media coverage about special education services in Howard County. I am immensely proud of the progress we have made in serving our students receiving special education services and in building a culture and climate of meaningful inclusion in our schools.

The battle over land in Harford County is not merely about saving trees, though it has all the markings of a classic conflict between developers and conservationists often seen in Maryland. The battle this time is about more than that. It’s about what we expect as modern consumers versus what we want as inhabitants of this coughing, wheezing planet.

With his announcement this week that Maryland will soon be formally adopting the “Advanced Clean Cars II” regulations first launched by California, mandating that 100% of cars and trucks sold in the state by 2035 be electric vehicles, Gov. Wes Moore has set an ambitious course. There’s simply no question that any serious effort to upgrade Maryland’s air quality, let alone reduce its greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change, must navigate this road.

Seven years ago, a student lingered in my classroom after school. Seventeen and already shouldering an adult’s burdens — buying food for younger siblings, paying the electric bill — he’d made a choice he regretted. A crew of hustlers near his block had talked him into working as a lookout. They were neighborhood guys, and he was cool with them. He could’ve declined. So I said the obvious thing: “You won’t be able to help anyone if you’re locked up or worse.”

The future of horse racing in Maryland in general, and the fate of the Preakness Stakes in particular, hangs in the balance. The deal announced in October 2019 and approved by the General Assembly in 2020 to renovate both Pimlico and Laurel Park racecourses and keep the Preakness in Baltimore is in deep trouble. And there are no cheap or easy alternatives.