ANNAPOLIS, Md. — On a cold Monday night a group of Baltimore City Public Schools students marched in Annapolis.
The “Our schools, our rules rally” that ended outside of the state treasury office was in support of the Kirwan Commissions plan.
The Kirwan Commission was created to figure out how much money public schools around the state need and how to spend it wisely.
In October, it recommended a $4 billion increase statewide by the year 2030.
Governor Larry Hogan has not supported this plan because of the potential tax hikes that would come with it.
Jonothan Gray is a senior at Bard High School Early College, and a student rights activist for the Baltimore Algebra Project.
“We can’t change any of our problems if we don’t better education, it’s not a secret anymore,” said Gray. “Young people know it, teachers know it, everybody knows it. What people are out here fighting for, what needs to happen, is that has to transfer over into policy.”
40 percent of Maryland High School students who graduate are college and career ready.
“When people are under educated it’s because they already have a mindset of not being educated or not being correctly educated,” said Daijah Hill, a Polytechnic High School Alum.
Antwain Jordan is getting his master’s degree—after graduating from Lake Clifton High school in 2015.
Jordan is still a member of the Baltimore Algebra Project in support of the students and because he knows firsthand the struggle to succeed when you're the product of the broken city school system.
“Students are out here still fighting for the same equity issues, funding issues when it really shouldn’t even be up for discussion,” Jordan said.
The plan to pay for the school funding will be discussed throughout the 2020 legislative session.
