Bill to 'Marylandize' Montgomery County Students Passes Easily
On the last day of the Maryland Legislative session, lawmakers overwhelmingly approved a bipartisan bill to “Marylandize” Montgomery County children. The bill comes amid county students’ dismal performance in the most recent Maryland State Assessment. Gov. Moore is expected to sign.
The Maryland State Assessment, conducted each year by the state Department of Education, measures students’ knowledge of Maryland history, culture, and traditions of excellence. Montgomery County students performed worst in the state, scoring 39.8% compared to the statewide average 84.5%.
Bill sponsors circulated Montgomery County student responses to the most missed assessment items before yesterday’s vote. “When a third of eighth graders misidentify a Dungeness crab as a Blue crab, that’s a crisis,” said Senate President Bill Ferguson (D-Baltimore City).
Senate bill 318, the “Marylandize Montgomery County Act,” requires Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) to provide 1-hour of Maryland centric educational content for every 24 hours of general education for K-12 students. In addition, a semester-long Maryland Class must be incorporated into second, eighth and eleventh grade MCPS curriculum.
“The school assessment shows the downside to so many new cultures assimilating into Montgomery County communities and proves what we’ve known for years. I mean, when you find more curry than Old Bay on Germantown restaurant menus, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist,” said Sen. Craig J. Zucker (D).
Montgomery County officials welcomed the state’s intervention in local education. “If at the end of the day, Maryland students know Francis Scott Key wrote the Star-Spangled Banner, and more importantly to sing the ‘O’ the loudest, everyone wins,” Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich told the Montgonion.
Some county residents are less pleased with the Marylandization plan. “My daughter spent two weeks with her grandparents in Catonsville, and it took months to get her to stop calling me ‘Hon” and saying ‘warsh your hands in the zinc’,” complained Jessica Watson from Bethesda.
