News & Commentary

1. The Heart of the Matter: EquityPutting equity into practice means that state resources must support students and districts impacted by opportunity gaps, achievement lags, and chronic underfunding.Members of the Workgroup must weave equity into every stage of the decision-making process, and students must be at the center of each consideration. This means the state must properly count students so that the Workgroup can design the formula to correctly provide the additional resources that each district needs. Additionally, accountability for the ways the state supports its successful implementation and specific measures for the range of equity factors (i.e. teacher retention practices targeting diverse representation, etc.) is a must. 2. The Richest Counties Are Still Getting the Most Education FundingAccording to Department of Legislative Services (DLS) and the Kirwan Commission’s own analysis, Maryland has a regressive education funding formula. The Maryland Center for Economic Policy found that more than half of students of color in Maryland attend underfunded schools, while the same is true for only 8% of white students. Rich counties receive more education funding than counties with low wealth despite "wealth equalization” measures in the formula. The ability of wealthy districts to contribute more local dollars to their school systems, beyond what is required by st

By the Sanchez Family

During the height of the protests against the John Hopkins University private police force, many brave students and community members resisted peacefully on campus against a new force that represented a real, unaccountable threat, especially to students and community members of color.

Over 150 years ago, on what is now called Juneteenth, we celebrate the arrival of Major General Gordon Granger and his soldiers at Galveston, Texas, who finally brought news that the Civil War was over and enslaved Black people were free. Their freedom came more than two years after President Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation.

To understand how thousands of children were separated from their families under the Trump administration, we need take a look at what has happened through the years.

For this Asian Pacific Islander Heritage Month, let us take time to remember that the policies of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) also affect Asian and Pacific Islanders in America. For one ACLU of Maryland client, ICE’s actions have been downright destructive to his family and his life. Mr. Lin is an undocumented immigrant from China married to a naturalized U.S. citizen, Ms. Lin, and is legally allowed to apply for his Green Card.

Sometimes racism is subtle. That was not the case with the inflammatory and offensive tweet dehumanizing black children posted by the Fraternal Order of Police last weekend.

“No Justice. No Peace. No Private Police,” was a chant that rang through the Charles Village and Waverly neighborhoods last Wednesday. On the 300th “West Wednesday,” John Hopkins University students and community members gathered together to rally against JHU’s planned private police force and contracts to train employees of the U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement. While dozens of campus security watched ominously from the sidelines, people marched peacefully in the streets and then rallied inside JHU’s administration building.