Maryland #1 in AP Success!
We continue to invest in the nation's #1 schools
In 2013, Education Week named Maryland's public schools the best in the nation for the fiftth straight year and the College Board announced that Maryland students are #1 in Advanced Placement (AP) success for seven years in a row.
In the FY2014 budget, we continue to make record investments in our schools so that our students are not only able to compete nationally, but globally as well. From the early days of our Administration, job creation--and its primary ingredient, education--has topped our agenda. Together, during recessionary times, even as we've cut more than $8 billion in state spending, we've made record investments in K-12 public schools.
Building Schools & Creating Jobs
It was just a few short years ago, that the Kopp Commission rightfully declared that we had a "crisis in school construction in our state." In 2007, our administration invested a record $400 million into school construction, so that our children can learn in state-of-the-art classrooms instead of temporary learning shacks.
With $336 million in school construction funding and upgrades for Maryland’s public schools in the FY2014 budget, the administration is committed to greening our classrooms while supporting over 8,100 jobs. Since taking office, the O'Malley-Brown administration has invested nearly $2.4 billion in building, maintaining and greening our schools.
Making College Affordable
Even in the midst of a global recession, we went four years in a row without a penny's increase in college tuition at Maryland's public universities--the only state in the country to do so. During that time, Maryland’s ranking for cost of tuition at public four-year institutions improved from 8th most expensive in the nation to 27th. Today, we're continuing that record of investment with a budget that holds tuition increases to a modest 2% while at the same time, invests in infrastructure at our institutions of higher learning--including our community colleges.
Get the Skills2Compete
More than three out of every four projected job openings in Maryland require some type of post-secondary training or education. Skills2Compete is an initiative we launched to connect Marylanders with the resources they need to gain the skills to compete in today's job market. Do you need extra training? Check out the website today.
"Job creation in an Innovation Economy, requires leveraging our most important asset: the talents, skills, ingenuity and creativity of our people."
- Governor O'Malley at Education Week's 2012 Quality Counts Conference
Accomplishments
- Maryland is the 2nd smartest state in the nation- nearly two-thirds of Marylanders have at least some college education.
- Alone among the 50 states, Maryland froze in-state tuition at our colleges and universities four years in a row and has held tuition increases to the lowest in the nation ever since.
- For the 5th year in a row, Education Week has named Maryland's public schools #1 in the nation.
- In 2012, Maryland elementary school students achieved their highest MSA scores ever in both reading and math.
- Maryland middle school students achieved their highest scores ever in math. In 2003, just 39 percent of our middle school students scored proficient in math; today, more than 76% score proficient.
- According to the College Board, Maryland students rank #1 in AP success for 7 consecutive years.
- Maryland students are graduating at a record rate, according to data from the class of 2011.
- Maryland is the first state in the nation to set specific STEM education standards.
Always Improving: Goals to Move Forward
Improve Student Achievement and School, College and Career Readiness in Maryland 25% by the end of 2015
While our schools continue to rank #1 in the nation, we know that we can always do better . Together, we've set the goal to give our students the skills they need to compete and win in the emerging global economy.
> Learn more about our goals to move Maryland's students forward.