School choice can solve school discipline in Maryland | GUEST COMMENTARY

If your child isn’t learning in their public school, then what are your options? If your child is unsafe while in school, then what are parents to do? To be clear, Maryland’s public schools serve many children well. But, there are far too many children locked in failed schools and in some cases, dangerous schools.  This raises the question: If you fear for your life while in school and if you aren’t learning, then are you really free? Time and again, administrators, teachers and students are threatened by disruptive, angry and dangerous students. Indeed, there is a systemic problem with school discipline in Maryland.

But, there is a solution: school choice.

House Bill 1027 allows students in failing schools to attend a private, parochial or public school. How about those violent and disruptive students who make learning impossible for everyone else?  H.B. 1027 allows those students to attend a Military Boarding School anywhere in the United States. The governor of Maryland, Wes Moore, attended Valley Forge Military Academy. Wes Moore writes in his autobiography, “The Other Wes Moore,” that his mother enrolled him in a military boarding school after he began to hang out with the wrong crowd.  Moore’s mother knew that her son required discipline and structure.  The governor credits this intervention with saving his life.

This raises the question: Why isn’t the same opportunity afforded to similarly affected children in Maryland?  After all, H.B. 1027 provides teachers and administrators a meaningful tool to offer parents. Moreover, school choice expands equality for children in failing schools by improving their opportunity to succeed in another learning environment. It is uniquely American to offer children an opportunity for a better life, and an appropriate education is the answer. To be clear, an appropriate education is one in which children are actually learning. Some students learn best in small environments.  Others thrive in public school, and others at home.

Many students lack discipline and wreak havoc in the classroom and beyond.  Last year, an 11-year-old was picked up by police in connection with more than a dozen carjackings. Recently, a 15-year-old rapist was placed in Patterson High School in Baltimore.  Stories of out-of-control children are becoming all too common. So, why are we continuing to tolerate a system that puts children on a path to incarceration?  Why not have another option for all children? There is no doubt that many teachers and administrators would support a military boarding school option. The key to success is to engage the child early and intervene swiftly.

Put simply: A community with no grocery stores is a food desert. A community plagued with lawlessness and fentanyl is an opportunity desert.  Likewise, a community with no learning is an education desert. It’s time to break the cycle.

H.B. 1027 provides a useful tool for administrators, teachers and parents. It’ll save lives — just like it changed the life of Maryland’s governor, Wes Moore.

Del. Mark N. Fisher, a Republican, represents Calvert County and can be reached at mark.fisher@house.state.md.us. He grew up in Baltimore Highlands and attended Baltimore Highlands Elementary School, Lansdowne Middle School and Lansdowne High School.