Posted on 09/18/25
| News Source: FOX45
Baltimore, MD - Sept. 18, 2025 - Despite massive increases in taxpayer funding, many Maryland public schools are still significantly underperforming on state testing.
David Williams, for 32 years, has worked as a taxpayer watchdog. First, at Citizens Against Government Waste. And now, he’s the president of the Taxpayers Protection Alliance. And in all his decades watching how your tax dollars are spent, he says one main theme has never changed.
“A significant amount of my time has been looking at education spending,” stated Williams. “Politicians are stuck in a mindset where they think spending more money is going to produce better results. It doesn’t.”
Maryland is spending more money on public schools. In 2023, according to the Maryland State Department of Education, state and local taxpayers combined to give all 24 Mayland public school systems $12.3 billion. By 2025, that number rose to $14.3 billion – a $2 billion increase in just a couple of years.
What have taxpayers received for that money? According to state data, while funding is up 16%, graduation rates are up 1 percentage point from 86% in 2022, to 87% in 2024.
“There has to be a breaking point,” said Williams. “When is Annapolis going to say enough is enough and just spending more money is not making our kids any smarter.”
Even with the massive influx of taxpayer money, there are still many schools that are significantly underperforming according to the most recent state testing known as MCAP, the Maryland Comprehensive Assessment Program.
Project Baltimore analyzed the MCAP results and found, statewide, 23 schools did not have one student who tested proficient in math. There were another 15 schools where just one student tested proficient in math. Eight more schools had two students test proficient in math. Overall, 46 Maryland public schools had two or fewer total students test proficient in math.
“It’s shameful,” Williams remarked.
In total, at those 46 schools, about 3,300 students took the state math exams last school year. And of those students 31 scored proficient.
Where are the 46 schools located? Baltimore City has 15. Followed by Prince George’s County with nine and Baltimore County with seven.
“It is embarrassing when you have less than one percent of a student body that is testing proficient in math – especially from a state that is bragging about spending more money on education,” stated Williams.
“I'm relatively confident that we're going to see significant improvement,” said Ike Leggett, Chair of the Accountability and Implementation Board, which oversees the implementation of the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future.
In 2021, the Maryland legislature passed the Blueprint, which pumps billions of additional tax dollars into public education.
Leggett told Project Baltimore, in July, that the Blueprint’s initial rollout started off slowly due to the COVID pandemic. But he told Fox45 News the various elements of increased funding, educational structure and oversight are now in place. He expects positive results.
“If you want to have the best for our state. This is an investment on that. I don't think we have any other choice,” stated Leggett.
But Williams says, over his 32 years as a government watchdog, the money is always spent, but the schools don’t always improve.
“This has been happening for decades,” said Williams. “Common sense dictates, if you don’t see results you stop what you are doing. You don’t keep doing the same thing over and over again.”
Williams believes what would help improve education is not more money but rather school choice. He says all families should be able to choose the school their children attend, which would introduce competition into education.