(BALTIMORE – April 18, 2026) – Something is wrong.
Maybe it’s just me. But as sine die — the close of Maryland’s legislative session — has come and gone, there has not been a sustained, unified response from the 188 members of the General Assembly on behalf of the Baltimore Collegiate School for Boys.
Do I have that right?
In a state where the numbers tell a troubling story — where Baltimore City is home to just 9% of Maryland’s population but accounts for roughly 40% of the people in state prisons, according to the Justice Policy Institute (January 2024) — one would expect urgency around institutions designed to change that trajectory.
Instead, the silence has been deafening.
To be fair, there have been a few who stepped forward.
Delegate N. Scott Phillips of Baltimore County spoke up. Delegate Jackie Addison said plainly, “I don’t think they should close the school.” And Baltimore City Councilwoman Odette Ramos has also been acknowledged for her support.
But beyond those voices, where is everyone else?
Maryland holds a sobering distinction: more than 70% of its prison population is Black, while Black residents make up approximately 31% of the state’s population — among the highest disparities in the nation.
These are not abstract numbers. They reflect real lives, real systems, and real consequences.
Which makes the question even more urgent:
Why isn’t there a full-court press to preserve a school focused on Black boys?
Then there’s the issue of funding — and this is where the conversation becomes even more serious.
In Opinion No. 26-03, the Maryland State Board of Education ruled that Baltimore City Public Schools used a funding methodology that did not comply with state law in its allocation to charter schools.
The Board found that the legally permitted 2% administrative fee cap was effectively exceeded, that additional costs were imposed without proper negotiation, and that the process lacked the required transparency. As a result, the State Board ordered the district to recalculate funding and engage in good-faith negotiations.
Good faith.
That matters — especially when evaluating the financial condition of a school operating under those constraints.
School leader Edwin Avent has been criticized as a poor financial manager.
But any fair assessment must also ask:
What resources was the school actually working with?
How did the funding structure shape outcomes?
And what responsibility does the system bear?
Those are not side questions. They are central.
If we cannot rally around a school built to give Black boys structure, discipline, and opportunity — particularly in a city facing well-documented disparities — then we have to ask:
What are our priorities?
Because this moment is bigger than one school.
It is about leadership.
It is about accountability.
And it is about whether silence becomes our response — once again.
Doni Glover is the founder and publisher of BMORENews.com, now in its 24th year of covering Black Baltimore, and the founder of the Joe Manns Black Wall Street Awards. He is also the host of the Emmy-nominated Doni Glover Podcast and The Doni Glover Show on WMAR-TV 2.
