Lawmakers Vote to Block Md. Schools Takeover

But Baltimore officials said the state board had ignored efforts underway to reshape the city's secondary schools. They also noted that test scores have risen in elementary schools and that graduation rates have improved. And they said State Superintendent of Schools Nancy S. Grasmick and the state board had not consulted with them.

The city's arguments drove fast legislative action to halt state intervention. The Senate passed the measure on a vote of 30 to 17, followed soon after by a House vote of 100 to 34. Both margins indicated the measure, with solid Democratic support, had enough backing to override an expected Ehrlich veto.

Few lawmakers defended the performance of the state-targeted schools.

Senate Minority Whip Andrew P. Harris (R-Baltimore County) pointed to Thurgood Marshall Middle School. Only 4.3 percent of its students last year were proficient in math.

"You could fit them in a large phone booth!" Harris shouted. "It should be a large auditorium."

Sen. Nathaniel J. McFadden (D-Baltimore), a leader of the effort to block state intervention, conceded that in many schools, the track records are "abysmal."

"I admit to you I am not pleased, and the system is not pleased with the performance," McFadden said.

In the House, delegates expressed outrage at state education officials they said had acted unilaterally.

"It could be Prince George's County next, who knows?" said Del. Melony G. Griffith (D-Prince George's).

Del. Norman H. Conway (D-Wicomico) said, "If it were my county, I'd bust a gut."

Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley, a Democratic candidate for governor, said he was "heartened" by the legislature's action. But Ehrlich spokesman Henry Fawell criticized the legislature's "apparent disregard for state and federal law."

The fallout for the state board, which is bipartisan and includes members appointed by both Democratic and Republican governors, is unclear.

Board President Edward L. Root (Cumberland) said the clash had implications for schools statewide. "Any time you take away the authority of the state board, you're weakening the educational system of the state of Maryland, and worse, you're putting kids in jeopardy," Root said. "The kids are in the middle."

The stakes are mounting. By 2009, Maryland will require students to pass graduation tests. Many in Baltimore and elsewhere are failing them. "States are going to have to decide how seriously they are committed to ensuring that all students get a quality education," said Ross Wiener of the Education Trust in Washington. "That's what Maryland is confronting right now."