Newt Gingrich: Save the Children in Baltimore

Conservative News DailyFebruary 27, 2023

We must move beyond the abstract idea of “education reform” towards the practical idea of “saving the children.”

When I first learned about the 23 Baltimore City Schools that had fewer than 2,000 math-skilled students, I felt it was time to shift my focus to education. We need to shift from the abstract idea that we should be studying mathematics. “education reform” towards the practical idea of “saving the children.”

When I was focused on the failures of Baltimore City Schools, it was despite $21,600 per pupil (the fifth-highest dollar to student spending rate in any large city school in America). It is amazing to see how a class of 20 should have $432,000 in resources.

I initially focused solely on the political-educational-bureaucratic machine in Baltimore City, which spends $1.6 billion each year. This huge system of spending and hiring dwarfs the resources available for reformers and other education providers. Baltimore City is effectively trapped in a prison of failure, mediocrity and complete lack of accountability. It is almost impossible to reform schools, no matter how poor they are. The political power of the teachers’ union cannot be ignored.

Reforming schools is not enough, as many people have pointed out to me recently. It would not save the children by itself.

An emphasis on school does not take into account the complexity of the challenges facing Baltimore City’s children.

I was thinking about the cost of saving children and I was struck by the Eisenhower Principle. When Dwight Eisenhower was asked about the difficulties he faced in World War II he replied: “Whenever I run into a problem I can’t solve, I always make it bigger. I can never solve it by trying to make it smaller, but if I make it big enough, I can begin to see the outlines of a solution.”

This principle was used by Eisenhower in World War II, and at the White House. The challenge of saving children is now the challenge to save Baltimore City’s poorest neighborhoods.

We underestimate the task of saving children. Parents often don’t care about their children’s education and are threatening them. They are also growing up in a world of crime, substance abuse, and general lawlessness.

These children are at greater risk of being subject to directed and random violence. If you leave school without any marketable skills, your chances of making a living from crime are increased. Simply living in a poor neighborhood increases the dangers of becoming a victim — if not a perpetrator.

Children living in very poor areas have few role models to help them learn useful and productive life skills. Instead, they see violence, drugs dealing, prostitution, criminals, and people living passively who are dependent on the government for food. Schools that store them in childhood, but don’t teach them anything, compound this problem.

It is shocking to see the government and institutions betraying poor children. It’s not about money. The per-student expenditures of Baltimore City Schools are enormous, as I have already mentioned. Add to that the cost of food stamps and public housing, Medicaid, as well as other government programs, which were supposedly funded by the schools. “Great Society,” The amount of money that is available is amazing. This is not a problem that can be solved by government spending. This is what we’ve done for decades: It doesn’t work.

Marvin Olasky analysed the challenge. “The Tragedy of American Compassion” Charles Murray “Losing Ground.” They proved some 40 years ago that the entire modern liberal effort to help the poor by keeping them dependent– reinforced by immediate financial subsidy — is destructive. The welfare state hinders ambition, learning how to work and achieve, as well as the difficult task of becoming independent.

Start with $21,600 per student for schools that have zero math students. The current system works great for the teachers’ association and bureaucrats because they get their pay checks every week regardless of how bad things happen. It’s a great system for bureaucrats, but a disaster for children with low incomes.

What if $21,600 were divided differently? If students attended school for 180 days per year, how would they be paid if they were paid $10 per day? Imagine if students did their homework and were paid $10 more per day. What if we offered twice-a-year $500 student bonuses to those who performed at grade level?

We would have invested $4600 in each student if they performed at 100 percent. That leaves $17,000 per student for teachers and room, electricity, administrators, and so on. In a class of 20, that would still be $340,000.

In the same way, the poorest communities are major cost centers for government spending. We should revive the President Ronald Reagan-Congressman Jack Kemp concept enterprise zones. For a decade, any investment that creates jobs for local residents will be exempt from tax. There would suddenly be a realistic expectation for jobs.

A dramatic reduction in the paperwork required to start small businesses should also be made. Graduates with recent education should be encouraged and supported to start their own businesses.

The James Q. Wilson Broken Windows Policing model, which dramatically reduced crime in New York City (Michael Bloomberg corrupted this concept into stop and frisk), should be enforced by Baltimore City. This would ensure that students are safe and encourage honest behavior instead of criminal behavior.

Teachers’ union owns the current school board. The teachers’ union is the mayor’s fear. Maryland legislature is afraid about the teachers’ Union.

It is essential that the United States Congress, and the federal government, decide that it is wrong for children to be killed in order to save the failing bureaucracy.

We won’t save the children if we don’t.