STATE POLITICS
O'Malley, Ehrlich Battling Over More Than Baltimore Schools
Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley, left, and Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. are battling over the state's proposed seizure of struggling schools.
(Sarah L. Voisin - Twp)
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Friday, April 7, 2006
The subject on the floor of the Maryland Senate was Baltimore schools, but the subtext, quite clearly, was this year's race for governor.
Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley, who is seeking the Democratic nomination, watched from the gallery last week as lawmakers below muscled legislation through to block the state's seizure of some of his city's most troubled schools.
Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. (R), whose office was just down the hall, later said he would "proudly" veto legislation designed to stop it -- a move expected today.
That has set off a renewed round of lobbying behind the scenes, with both O'Malley and Ehrlich trying to influence an override vote that will come by Monday, the final day of a rancor-filled legislative session.
However the high-stakes drama plays out, it has brought to the fore two questions certain to reverberate throughout the 2006 governor's race: How bad are Baltimore's schools? And who is responsible for making them better?
"I think the fact that O'Malley is running for governor is going to put a focus on this entire issue, the failure of the schools, in a way it's never been done before," said Carol Hirschburg, a Republican political consultant.
The conclusions drawn by voters will most directly affect O'Malley, who has trumpeted rising test scores among the district's younger grades and an upward trend in high school graduation rates as evidence of his city's progress.
But any successes -- and failures -- could also be laid at the feet of the state government, which nine years ago forged a new relationship with Baltimore that gave the governor joint control of the school board and pumped millions of additional dollars into the system.
O'Malley said that many challenges remain but said last week's action by lawmakers was a vote of confidence in the schools' direction. "We're making some pretty substantial progress in a school system that had not seen progress for a long time," he said.
Montgomery County Executive Douglas M. Duncan, seeking to gain traction in the Democratic primary, said neither the city nor the state has done enough for the 85,000-student system. "Everyone's hung up on control, but it should be about commitment, and I don't see that from Ehrlich or O'Malley," Duncan said.
Last week's debate in the General Assembly exposed the underbelly of a system in which student performance at some middle and high schools was characterized as "abysmal" and "unacceptable," even by lawmakers who sided with O'Malley. At Frederick Douglas High, one of the schools targeted by the state, 4.8 percent passed an assessment test on algebra, and 1.4 percent passed one on biology.
O'Malley said the debate offered a skewed picture of the district. It is, for instance, also home to three of the state's 10 highest-performing high schools.
