Now's a good time to remind everyone that, over 10 years ago, the Maryland State Legislature was going to grant Baltimore City the power to tax the owners of vacant and uninhabitable properties at a higher tax rate (similar to DC) but Stephanie Rawlings-Blake told them to kill it

What is so vile about this comment is that the lobbying org for City Schools' + other MD Boards of Ed has been actively opposing legislation in Annapolis for years that would require regular mold inspections to identify + address health hazards in schools! mabe.org/wp-content/upl…

Underfunded districts in particular face strong pressure for economic efficiency to maximize what funding they do have, and so that more/all students can learn in a high quality physical environment with a plethora of course options, but... 🧵

If we continue closing more schools/community anchors in the Black Butterfly, we ensure that these areas will never secure investment because geographic areas w/out high quality schools dont grow, period. In this way, the board would be making permanent the redlining of the past.

Baltimore City Public Schools has gone from 66% district wide utilization in January of 2013 to 85% district wide utilization now (according to the SY2021 Comprehensive Educational Facilities Master Plan). THE POUND OF FLESH HAS ALREADY BEEN EXTRACTED... drive.google.com/file/d/1VB2ueq…

Student Commissioners Reform: A thread ⬇️ [1] In MD, county School Boards have a Student Commissioners (sometimes called SMOBs) that are meant to serve as the elected voice of the student body on matters of educational policy. However, there is no standard of how they're picked.

[2] Here in Baltimore, our Student Commissioner is unelected, but rather appointed by student government leaders of the Associated Student Congress of Baltimore City (of which I am Treasurer). For that reason, students generally don't know about/care about SGA elections or even what our SMOB does.

[4] It's an outrage. Students don't have any ability to speak up and have their voices heard on the Board, and the only representative we have is chosen behind closed doors and, after all that, still isn't given a fair say in the Board's operations and policies for the City.

[5] That's why SB 157 was introduced by Jill P. Carter For MD-07 - to give City Schools *two* Commissioners, fully elected, with full-fledged voting powers. The bill goes to the City Senate Delegation Friday. We need four of six votes to advance it and the School Board is pushing back.

[6] Please sign this petition that was the collaborative work of Associated Student Congress of Baltimore City, SOMOS of BCC, and Youth As Resources to show Baltimore City State Senators that students care about this issue and don't agree with the School Board on this matter. Let's get it done. bit.ly/SB-157

Contrary to statements issued by City Schools, ASCBC supports the passage of Maryland SB 157, the direct election of our Student Commissioners on North Avenue, as written. We encourage students across the City to contact their Senators before Friday's vote!

If the City Senate Delegation votes this down on Friday despite unanimous support from the youth, parents, educators, community orgs and constituents it would be outrageous and beg the questions: Who do you serve? What do you stand for?

One argument we've heard is that if a compromise was reached btwn the school board and the VOTES coalition championing the legislation THEN everyone would vote for it. This is absurd for a variety of reasons first and foremost of which is SB 157 is ALREADY A MASSIVE COMPROMISE!🧵

At the start of session and to the coalition's surprise, the school board offered amendments that would strip every aspect of the bill having to do with the student commissioners, in favor of a commitment to work with ASCBC to try and improve the various issues within the bill...

So we reached out to Associated Student Congress of Baltimore City to see if they were aligned w/ the board's proposal, as was communicated to elected officials. Turns out, they hadn't been contacted and were explicitly against the board's proposed amendments, reaffirming their support for the bill as drafted.

It's crazy watching leaders continue to exclude students from the conversation about student voting rights. THEY'RE THE ONES who Senators + the Board should be talking to, yet they continue to be talked about and often being misrepresented despite their clear written statements.

I HIGHLY recommend folks read the Associated Student Congress of Baltimore City testimony submitted on HB 433 for themselves. docs.google.com/document/d/1uP… The students, Delegate Melissa Wells, Sen. Jill P. Carter Emerita and the VOTES Coalition have all been willing to compromise, it's the board who has rejected the will of the community.

If the current + past 3 SMOBs (Ezra Horowitz, Kyree’🇩🇴, Joshua Lynn, Ashley Peńa), the Associated Student Congress Associated Student Congress of Baltimore City and every organized group of young people in City Schools support SB157, and the Baltimore City Public Schools board opposes it, then who do they represent?

A powerful reminder of the tremendous empathy, capacity, and grown-up burdens that Baltimore City Public Schools students bring into the classroom every day.