The High Cost of Maryland's Dropout Rate

By Justin P. Hauke
Published on Tuesday, September 30, 2008
The state of Maryland loses about $193 million in tax revenues each year as a result of the state's growing number of high school dropouts, according to a study released today by the Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice and the Maryland Public Policy Institute.The study documents the public costs of high school dropouts in Maryland, examining how the state's decreasing graduation rates are materially affecting the state's finances through reduced tax revenues and increased public expenditures. The study was undertaken by Friedman Fellow Justin P. Hauke, a Chicago securities analyst and former economic research analyst at the Federal Reserve Bank at St. Louis.

Study Finds Maryland Dropouts Take Huge Fiscal Toll On State Revenues, Taxpayers

Published on Tuesday, September 30, 2008
The state of Maryland loses about $193 million in tax revenues each year as a result of the state's growing number of high school dropouts, according to a study released today by the Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice and the Maryland Public Policy Institute.The study documents the public costs of high school dropouts in Maryland, examining how the state's decreasing graduation rates are materially affecting the state's finances through reduced tax revenues and increased public expenditures. The study was undertaken by Friedman Fellow Justin P. Hauke, a Chicago securities analyst and former economic research analyst at the Federal Reserve Bank at St. Louis.

A predictable budget problem

Originally published in the Baltimore Examiner

By Marc Kilmer
Published on Sunday, September 28, 2008
Less than a year after a legislative special session convened to deal with a budget deficit, Maryland once again faces financial problems. While some are expressing surprise at this turn of events, it was entirely predictable. Only willful ignorance of state budget history could lead one to be shocked at the current fiscal mess. I can say this as someone who, in both newspaper opinions and in testimony before the General Assembly, predicted that Maryland would collect lower tax revenue than expected and that spending would be higher than anticipated. I am not a psychic. I simply looked at past state spending and the experience of other states and concluded that the path taken by Gov. Martin O'Malley and the General Assembly would end in fiscal problems for the state. Unfortunately, our legislators and governor did not do the same.

O'Malley, other Md. leaders hail Shattuck's CEG deal

Originally published in the Baltimore Sun

By Laura Smitherman, Sun Reporter
Published on Friday, September 19, 2008
Two years ago, then-Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley and Constellation Energy Group chief executive Mayo A. Shattuck III were trading barbs in public and through advertising campaigns over a proposed 72 percent electricity rate increase.What a difference a market meltdown of global proportions makes.The politician and the executive appear to have come together over financial woes at Constellation, which owns Maryland's largest utility. Their offices kept in close contact as Shattuck negotiated almost nonstop over 48 hours with a potential buyer. And when Shattuck finally settled a deal to sell Constellation to MidAmerican Energy Holdings Co., they talked again.

Editorial: Maryland begs for a federal bailout

Originially published in the Washington Examiner

By Examiner Staff Writer
Published on Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Where will it end? First it was Bear Stearns, then Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Now the State of Maryland wants to get in line for a federal bailout. Maryland - so smart, so compassionate, so willing to increase taxes in order to provide a lavish smorgasbord of "free" government services - has finally hit the wall. The only surprise here is that anybody is surprised. Gov. Martin O'Malley promised all the usual special interests during his gubernatorial campaign that he would fix this and fund that. He called it "investing in our future." Members of the General Assembly were all too happy to join O'Malley's spend-athon. Now, less than a year after strapping a $1.4 billion tax hike on the backs of state residents, Maryland officials are drowning in a flood of red ink.

City seeking $190M in private financing to build new schools

Originally published in the Baltimore Business Journal

By Scott Dance, Staff Writer
Published on Friday, June 13, 2008
The Baltimore City school system needs private financing to fund $250 million in new school construction, a practice more states have turned to as building costs skyrocket and budgets stagnate. The city is hiring a financial consultant for $350,000 to look at public-private partnerships as a possibility to move forward a plan for seven to 10 new schools in the next decade. The school system is slated to get $40 million in state money and $20 million in city money for the projects, but it's not enough, leaders said.

Legislator, lobbyist: a delicate dance

Originally published in the Baltimore Sun

By Laura Smitherman, Sun Reporter
Published on Sunday, May 11, 2008
Maryland lawmaker Heather R. Mizeur shepherded a bill through the General Assembly this year to establish a new fund supporting the emerging field of nanobiotechnology. In the process, she also succeeded in securing a potential funding source for companies she had registered to represent on Capitol Hill.The Montgomery County Democratic delegate acknowledges working extensively for a nanobiotechnology company as a congressional lobbyist with the Washington law firm of Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Preston Gates Ellis, but she says she got clearance from the state legislature's ethics counsel to sponsor and vote on the legislation.That company ended its contract with the law firm around the time she introduced the bill. On matters related to other companies, she says she gave "generic advice" to colleagues and was listed as a lobbyist out of an abundance of caution.

The cost of being rich

New tax bracket for Md. millionaires becomes law

By Michael Dresser, The Baltimore Sun
Published on Wednesday, April 09, 2008
It's quite an exclusive club, Maryland's new millionaires' tax bracket. A little more than 6,000 households statewide qualify for the distinction - more than 40 percent of whom reside in Montgomery County.It's a group that includes a Fortune 500 executive in Potomac, an energy company CEO in Roland Park and wealthy retirees with bayside estates in St. Michaels. Throw in some developers in Howard County, a growing corps of black entrepreneurs in Prince George's County and certain small businesses statewide. The Ravens' star middle linebacker would appear to be among the 16 percent of the club that lives in Baltimore County, No. 2 in the state for resident millionaires.

Give consumers control over their electric bills

Originally published in the Baltimore Examiner

By Baltimore Examiner Editorial
Published on Friday, March 21, 2008
BALTIMORE - No one likes to open their Baltimore Gas & Electric Co. bill these days. The prices cause many people to gasp for air. But as Peter Van Doren of the Cato Institute and University of Maryland Baltimore County professor Timothy Brennan said at a Maryland Public Policy Institute forum Thursday, no simple solutions exist to lowering electricity prices in either a regulated market or a partially deregulated market like Maryland. We like to offer readers clear solutions. And the vast majority of the time, that means allowing the free market to work. But electricity markets may be "different" than other markets, largely because electricity must be used as it is generated. It's not a pair of jeans that can be stored in a warehouse and shipped to a store with low inventory. It must be used right away. And it can only go where lines provide it access.

Energy Administration powering up for Md.’s future

By Andy Rosen, Daily Record Business Writer
Published on Friday, March 21, 2008
ANNAPOLIS - Maryland has to be more conscious about the way it steers itself into a complicated energy future, says Malcolm D. Woolf. And the director of the Maryland Energy Administration has been thinking about exactly how to do that. Woolf, who took the helm at the agency last summer, is presiding over a change in direction for the MEA. The goal, he said, is to look more broadly at Maryland's energy system. "MEA traditionally administered narrow energy-efficiency and renewable-energy programs," said Woolf. "What I think Maryland has found is there has not been an entity that was looking out for the overall energy picture."