With campaign season ramping up, we’ll no doubt get an earful from various political candidates on education, always a favorite topic. So we’ll keep on the lookout for proposals that may be of particular interest to Curriculum Matters readers.
Item one: Gov. Martin O’Malley of Maryland, a Democrat seeking a second term, yesterday proposed that the state pay for students to take Advanced Placement exams.
“Our proposal represents a unique opportunity to remove the barriers to students who want to work hard and achieve,” Gov. O’Malley said at a campaign event on Tuesday, according to a story in The Baltimore Sun.
The article notes that the AP test fee is already waived for Maryland students from low-income families, so the proposal would only benefit middle-class and wealthy families. In fact, both the Baltimore City and Prince George’s County school districts already pay the cost for all students in their systems who wish to take the test, according to the Sun.
O’Malley says the proposal would cost the state $3 million in the first year.