Politico reported that Ben Jealous, who won the Democratic primary for governor in Maryland, is no fan of charter schools. His opponent, Republican Governor Larry Hogan, appointed zealous charter advocates to the state board of education.
The Network for Public Education Action Fund has reviewed Ben Jealous’s outstanding record and endorses him for Governor of Maryland.
The good news is that privatization has entered into the realm of public awareness. That’s the first step in stopping it.
PUBLIC SCHOOL ADVOCATE VIES FOR MARYLAND GOVERNOR: Former Vice President Joe Biden and Maryland’s biggest Democratic Party names are throwing their support behind gubernatorial candidate Ben Jealous, who won a contested primary late last month and will face incumbent Republican Gov. Larry Hogan this fall. Jealous recently told Morning Education that his family has long been involved in the “battle for educational equity.” His mother, Ann, at age 12, successfully sued a local high school in an effort to desegregate it and was part of the first class of black girls to graduate. She later became an activist and a teacher in Baltimore.
— Jealous has the backing of the state teachers union and his education platform is an easy one for traditional public school advocates to get behind. The former NAACP president wants to fund universal preschool by legalizing and taxing marijuana use and to boost teacher pay through lottery and casino funding. He also wants to tackle poverty in education through “community schools,” which would provide a host of services like “counseling, job training, meals, mentoring programs and health clinics,” according to his plan.
— Jealous’ plan doesn’t mention charter schools, which he told Morning Education have been “labs of innovation” in Maryland. But he said Hogan is “out of step with the people of Maryland in wanting to expand public charter schools.”
— While Jealous led the NAACP, the organization joined the New York City teachers union in a lawsuit against the city’s Department of Education to halt school closures and prevent charter schools from sharing buildings with public ones. In a 2011 op-ed for HuffPost, Jealous wrote that traditional public school students are being “forced into shorter playground periods than their charter school counterparts, or served lunch at 10 a.m. so that charter students can eat at noon. The inequity could not be more glaring.”
Diane Ravitch's blog 
A superior candidate in every way.
I live in MD and I am certainly going to vote for Jealous because of Hogan’s position on education issues. What I don’t hear from the Jealous camp is a plan to repeal Common Core or any plan to get rid of the awful tests PARCC, MAP, IReady etc (especially for graduation requirements). We really do have an odd situation with our Charter schools here in the state (they are public and have public governance), but that is likely because of a strong teacher’s union. The problem that MD parents are most concerned with are testing and the test prep curriculum (common core). Parents here are fleeing to private schools…sadly I am one of those parents.
Please see my comment on the earlier Pear$on question post.
As I’ve said before, it is BEYOND the time for parents & students to take to the streets: older students need to stage a national walk-out on testing days (&, yes, those dates will differ not only from state to state but even among villages, towns & cities, but it doesn’t have to be on the same days–just whatever days are testing days wherever you live). And–for younger children–parents need not only to opt them out but to WALK them out (&, yes, I know people work, but, somehow, this has to be worked out by parent groups).
Finally, retired teachers will help you! (At least, this one in ILL-Annoy will!) Parent groups: contact your local retired teachers’ associations & get it going…THIS year.
We don’t have a very big movement in our state and I believe that it is because we are in such close proximity to DC. We also do not have an opt out clause….we have to REFUSE and then fight with the school systems to exempt our children from the stupid tests. PARCC is used for graduation requirement ELA10 and ALG I. This whole area thrives on competition and “being better”. Test scores at schools drive everything here….especially real estate and the county tax rates. MD has become an absolute horrible place to live. Teachers are paid well (for the most part) and lots of money flows into PTA coffers (from our many wealthy parents) so our schools don’t look too bad. It’s hard to convince parents who believe in data, that this is wrong for children. I’m considered the parent with the” tin foil hat”….well, this parent is taking her 2nd child to private school with the rest of us tin foil hat wearing parents. I can’t afford to wait any longer and I can no longer continue to fill the gaps of the Common Core curriculum (yes, our curriculum is the test). I’m looking forward to a meaningful, well rounded curriculum that’s not driven by a test score….because the private schools don’t buy into the testing madness.