An Open Letter to Governor Larry Hogan

July 2015

The Honorable Lawrence J. Hogan, Jr.
Governor of Maryland
100 State Circle
Annapolis, MD 21401

Dear Governor Hogan:

Thank you for your dedicated service to Maryland’s citizenry. I was saddened to hear of your recent health diagnoses but hope and trust that all will be well. Please know that my family and I pray for you and yours and wish you an expeditious journey through treatment. You are a positive spirit and actionable example for all Marylanders. Thank you for all that you do.

As a multi-generational Marylander, the state has long been my home. Several generations of Bonsals have contributed to and benefitted from Maryland’s culture and economy: my great-grandfather was a Baltimore coffee importer; my grandfather was a renowned horse trainer; my father brought venture capital and job creation to the region. My purpose has been in education and entrepreneurship; I work to make a difference for the Millennial and grow the region’s startup community, particularly in edtech.

A privileged product of educational choice via Baltimore’s mature independent school network, it was not until immersion in public land-grant and private R1 teacher preparation programs in New Hampshire and Tennessee, respectively, that I was truly exposed to public K-12 education. On the front end of that mission, I was determined to become a public school educator. My perspective changed when time in the trenches via practica, field research, and student teaching placements allowed me to discern the uneven standards and accountability across varied public school systems and how lackluster options often pertained to students, parents, and employees of said systems.

As I completed a Master of Education with corresponding licensure in the early 1990s, the school choice movement was just beginning; I knew very little of the nascent trend but was curious. I had been honed to teach in public schools and interviewed in several K-12 systems in Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Maryland but felt uncomfortable not being able to teach, coach, and advise students and families akin to my own experience. Weren’t all schools and teachers supposed to empower the whole child, build on strengths from varying modalities and interests? I pivoted my search to pursue independent school positions and ultimately joined the faculties of Quaker, Judeo-Christian, and Episcopal K-12 schools in Delaware, Virginia and Maryland, respectively. Parallel to my professional pathway in independent schools in the 1990s, educational equity made great strides.

The history of U.S. charter schooling is best explained by experts, co-navigated with organizations that have the value-added data chops, networks, and scar tissue to induce change as situations warrant. As I am told you are aware, The Center for Education Reform (CER) was founded in 1993 as a pioneering DC-based nonprofit, the first of its kind to actively advocate for and inform on behalf of educational equity across the U.S. Twenty-two years later, as Chairman, I am proud of the work we do. In 2015, CER cites that DC, Minnesota, Indiana, Michigan, and Arizona are the top five ‘governing bodies’ for charter schools based on the following key metrics: 1) number of independent authorizers, 2) density of allowed schools by cap, 3) operational autonomy and effectiveness, 4) funding equity, and 5) implementation effectiveness. As you know all too well, Maryland has the third worst charter law in the country.

Governor Hogan, you made a valiant effort in your first legislative session, and I enthusiastically laud you for standing up a strong but fair Charter Bill— one that was subsequently gutted by the legislature but eventually passed. It is a small first step in what we all hope is not on a slippery slope. Many constituents in Maryland will say that we have some of the best public schools in the nation. We do, but we also have some of the worst, and the bottom decile is where we must focus if we truly want to have an excellent and diverse education ecosystem. And, in full humility, we should openly acknowledge reports such as Baltimore-based Annie E. Casey Foundation’s 2015 release of its Kids Count Data Book, wherein Maryland is not even close to the top three states, nor even in the top five. But, is there a deeper reason for the dramatic divide? Where do race and socioeconomic segregation fit into the picture?

Reflecting upon recent riots in Baltimore, what is the cultural and socioeconomic difference between 1968 and 2015? What is the same? Consider Victor Hugo’s words: “He who opens a school door, closes a prison.” Annually, Maryland spends nearly three times the amount to incarcerate a person ($38,000) than to educate that same person ($14,000). Of all Maryland’s twenty four school districts, Baltimore City spends at or near the top per student, yet just 16 percent of 8th graders and 14 percent of 4th graders are proficient in reading. Nearly a half-century after local and national uprisings around the passing of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., what is the one aspect of the urban condition in Baltimore that has changed too little but can transform a person’s life and livelihood, and ultimately his or her community?

E-D-U-C-A-T-I-O-N

The good news is that Maryland’s few charter schools have already played a significant role in transforming children’s lives. Maryland charter schools outperform their public school peers in several categories: 1) ~70 percent have better reading scores for 8th grade African-American students; 2) 59 percent have better 8th grade reading outcomes for low-income students; and 3) these results occur with nearly 30 percent less funding.

Consider further some of Maryland’s historical baggage. Alongside one of the nation’s worst charter laws, Marylanders also have a state song that promotes a 19th Century, divisive spirit. Since 1939, ‘Maryland, My Maryland’ has been played or performed at the internationally-renowned Preakness Stakes and numerous other ceremonial events. Written in 1861, as noted by the adjacent image, many renditions of the song are a proud part of Confederate lore. Much has changed in Maryland since 1939, moreover 1861, much of it good, human, and equitable, but some things linger, and some things ‘dry up like a raisin in the sun’.

Governor Hogan, should a state with the nation’s #1 per capita income have an official song lauding a faction of federated states proposing decentralized economies based on slavery? Should a state that so aptly lauds Frederick Douglass and Thurgood Marshall incite racist tendencies in its official tune? Should a state praise the work of such impactful leaders as Freeman Hrabowski and Kurt Schmoke under the halo of hypocrisy each year as the world looks on at the running of the Preakness Stakes?

The above questions are embarrassing to ask, perhaps more painful to answer. Maryland is in my heart and soul, and I want nothing more than for all of its citizens to thrive. It is incredulous to me that we are unable to pass simple, fair, wholly emancipated charter school legislation and banish all public, institutional display of racism and segregation, including Confederate-leaning flags and songs as official icons of statehood. If South Carolina can get out of its own way and do the right thing, then why not Maryland? These 21st Century paradoxes are what William Faulkner called ‘the human heart in conflict with itself’. But, does a citizenry or government have a heart? I believe so. Perhaps, it is best to heed the purpose-driven voice of Harriet Tubman, an extremely courageous Marylander, who declared ‘You’ll be free or die!’

Maryland’s origins date back to the 1630s, when the Calvert family and other forthright Catholic visionaries paved the way for a startup civilization, mindful of — yet arm’s length from — the oppression of the past, determined to build a new and better future. It worked. Statehood and a new country were formed, and land was even availed for our nation’s permanent capital.

Keeping positive progress in mind, one must believe that continuous improvement and a permeable system of checks and balances are critical to a thriving citizenry, a representative republic. A healthy government, then, must serve the people, all people, not necessarily a lopsided political whimsy. When a long-controlling government system has built up and hard-wired infrastructure, people, and processes, the system too often cannot get out of its own way, cannot bear the load of decades of political wranglings to do the right thing. Unfortunately, Maryland’s one party ways have left a legacy of neglect and fiscal bloat that could take a half-generation or more to rebalance. While one party has been too heavy-handed in Annapolis over the last 80 years, the situation is ever more lopsided in Baltimore City. But, Governor, you know all this too well.

One possibility for us conflicted adults is to listen to and position Millennials at the fore. One shining example is a project partnership between the Living Classrooms Foundation and Towson University’s WTMD entitled ‘Believe in Baltimore’. It is compelling. We must envision the future for the urban Millennial — if not all of Maryland’s children — and back into revolutionary solutions.

Governor Hogan, please know how thankful I am for your steadfast service to all Marylanders. I wish you the speediest of recoveries so that together we can make the great state of Maryland even better. To do so, we must make immediate progress in educational equity, and I will do anything you ask of me to help in this endeavor.

Respectfully,

Frank A. Bonsal III
Baltimore County, Maryland