Public policy lifecycle and implementation processes

Maryland Charter Schools

Proponents of charter schools insist that they are the solution to America's educational woes and many state legislatures have begun to agree with that assessment. In Maryland, charter schools have become a viable alternative to the public school system which is seen as a lumbering anachronism, no longer able to educate or motivate. This is especially true in Baltimore where the schools are in dire need of reform. But the implementation of a charter school system did not come easily and there is still substantial opposition to the charter schools, mostly from public school educators. The Public Policy Lifecycle of Maryland's charter schools has been a very interesting one.

Problem Definition

While Maryland has continued to make great strides in its educational system, like many states the performance of its graduating students has been subpar. Even among those who attend college there are notable problems. At Baltimore City Community College, 80% of incoming students take remedial classes to go over what they should have already learned in high school (Mossburg, 2011). Similar numbers abound in the community colleges of the state. These are the kinds of statistics that made the state legislature first take notice of the issue of charter schools. Once this problem was clearly articulated and all agreed changes would need to be made, work was begun to either change existing public education policy or write a new policy all together.

Agenda Setting

The idea of public charter schools had been a popular topic among education reform advocates for some time, so it was only natural that Maryland legislators would begin to focus on this issue, letting others in the country lay the public relations groundwork for them. It did not take long for the agenda to be set with school choice as the obvious panacea to the problem. The charter schools themselves were quickly brought into the fold and the new or amended policies could be discussed.

Policy Adoption

A Task Force on Public Charter Schools was created by the state legislature and it convened in 1998. But it was not until 2003 that the Public Charter School Act was passed and signed into law (Maryland Charter School Network, 2011). Along the way, many proposals died in either the House or Senate, illustrating the challenges facing anyone who tries to amend deeply ingrained policies. Even though there was substantial support in both houses for the legislation, small differences kept the bills from clearing one house or the other on many separate occasions. The final bill passed into law allows new or existing schools to become public charter schools. It also names the local board of education as the authorizer of charter schools and mandates that they receive funding commensurate to public schools (Maryland State Department of Education, 2011).

Implementation

With this law in place, final implementation of the policy could begin. In this case, that meant that public charter schools began taking student applications. Today, the number of public charter schools in Maryland has reached 51 (Maryland State Department of Education, 2011). As more states in the country also adopt charter school legislation, opposition to the schools should eventually wane. But there is still a vocal faction of dissenters who would like to see the charter schools dissolved and that makes it difficult for them to continue expanding their presence in the state. There is also a limited amount of funds to go around for all the schools; they are all fighting for the same dollars. However, it must be said that the charter schools appear to have become a permanent fixture on Maryland's educational scene.