In late April, a Baltimore City high school baseball team worried their season was crumbling. They asked for help from an unlikely source. But by month’s end, the team’s season was canceled anyway. On a team’s heroic efforts and the barriers they face:

For teen moms like Rylee who fell behind in class while trying to raise a baby, one family center in Baltimore has a way to help them beat the odds and get a diploma: They send their babies to free preschool in the same building. Their success rate? 89% www.thebanner.com/education/k-...

New: The United States Naval Academy is reinstating a mandate that first year female students have chin length bobs, a policy that was abandoned in 2019 in efforts to create a more inclusive environment, especially for Black plebes. www.thebanner.com/education/hi...

Under Trump, most college programs promoting diversity have shuttered. But one, at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, is thriving. My latest story looks at how the Meyerhoff program succeeded, and what other colleges can learn from it: www.thebanner.com/education/hi...

Scoop with @mercohn.bsky.social: Johns Hopkins University is laying off more than 100 employees in the Bloomberg School of Public Health, the Carey Business School and central administration. Hopkins is suffering "debilitating" decreases in federal research funding www.thebanner.com/education/hi...

And if you're wondering how and why this happened even though ICE agents have been told by the city and state to avoid schools, and ICE officials themselves have previously promised to do so, read this explainer. Detainments on school grounds are pretty rare: www.thebanner.com/education/k-...

We're doing everything we can to piece together what happened. But my incredible colleague @lesliegraystreeter.bsky.social captured why the detainment, in full view of students, was so jarring for her and her son, who attends CJR and asked for his passport www.thebanner.com/opinion/colu...

The next day, ICE finally gave their account of events, saying Jesus Acevedo Sanchez "violently resisted arrest," drove away to avoid ICE and dragged an officer. The couple's lawyer says they were taking their kids to school when ICE hit them with two cars. www.thebanner.com/education/k-...

Last week, ICE agents detained a mother and father during morning drop-off at a temporary learning space for Commodore John Rodgers Elementary/Middle School kids in far East Baltimore. The school is over 40% Hispanic and over a third of kids are learning English. www.thebanner.com/education/k-...

Last fall, an energy mogul begged Wes Moore to back his data center complex. It worked. Records offer a rare window into how a wealthy & politically connected businessman won the governor’s endorsement for his controversial foray into Maryland data centers: www.thebanner.com/community/cl...

St. John's College is consolidating its leadership structure as the small liberal arts school braces for enrollment declines and a $5 million deficit. I spoke with the new interim president about enrollment challenges, staff raises and potential layoffs: www.thebanner.com/education/hi...

Breaking: Kurt Schmoke just announced his retirement! Schmoke, who has served as president of the University of Baltimore for the last 12 years, will retire next June. Most people know Schmoke as the former mayor of Baltimore: www.thebanner.com/education/hi...

Notre Dame of Maryland University lost 35% of its student body in ten years, posted $90,000 in losses last year and is seeing its longtime president retiring. What's next for the small private college in Baltimore? www.thebanner.com/education/hi...

New: Johns Hopkins University is increasing its in-house research awards by nearly $50 million as it faces a “debilitating” lag in federal research funding. To do so, the university is cutting administrative costs by 10% and capital projects by 20%: www.thebanner.com/education/hi...

The former Baltimore teacher of the year charged last month with sexual solicitation of a minor said he was just trying to warn the (fake) teen against dangerous relationships with older men. He also insisted he thought "Aiden" was 16 - the age of consent in MD. www.thebanner.com/education/k-...

New today: Notre Dame of Maryland University has named Abagail Van Vlerah to be its 15th president, as the private Catholic college in North Baltimore confronts enrollment challenges and financial headwinds. Read more: www.thebanner.com/education/hi...

New: Loyola University Maryland is the latest college in the state to announce layoffs. The state’s second-largest private university eliminated 66 jobs this month as it works to resolve a $20 million structural deficit. Read more: www.thebanner.com/education/hi...

Bowie State University raised nearly $130 million in recent years, including $75 million from MacKenzie Scott. It’s also conducting staff layoffs + potentially laying off tenured faculty, 86% of whom voted no confidence in the president. What’s going on? www.thebanner.com/education/hi...

Morgan State University, Maryland’s largest historically Black college, is expanding its off-campus housing options after another year of record-breaking enrollment. The public research university has seen five straight years of enrollment growth. www.thebanner.com/education/hi...

from @elliew0lfe.bsky.social, a scoop in Annapolis: No Trump at Naval Academy this week, despite it being his "turn" in the rotation.

BREAKING: Annapolis has reached a tentative settlement agreement in a years-long housing discrimination lawsuit. Read more in @thebaltimorebanner.com:

New: President Trump will NOT speak at the U.S. Naval Academy's graduation ceremony this Friday, breaking tradition. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, will speak instead. The USNA made the announcement unusually late: www.thebanner.com/education/hi...

New: Two months after faculty at Anne Arundel Community College voted no confidence in their provost, Tanya Millner, she has been named the school’s interim president. www.thebanner.com/education/hi...

This is probably a good place to say that I've officially added some more work to my plate at The Banner. I now cover Baltimore City Public Schools, school choice and early childhood education. That'll include a lot of pre-K coverage this year, supported by EWA: ewa.org/members-news...

The new head of Baltimore City Public Schools is a math whiz known for using data to turn around struggling schools. But as CEO, he'll need to do a lot more than just academics while answering for controversial decisions. Is this the job that finally sticks? www.thebanner.com/education/k-...

Menopause. The once avoided conversation is now everywhere online and in the news. Women left in the dark on what’s happening to their bodies are thirsting for information. Maryland wants to ensure doctors know how to help them. www.thebanner.com/politics-pow...

New: Bowie State University will eliminate 79 jobs as the HBCU deals with its second multimillion-dollar deficit in two years. The university is facing an $18 million deficit this year after last year's $13.6 million budget shortfall. www.thebanner.com/education/hi...

A new standardized test loved by red states and Christian schools was created in Maryland. The Classic Learning Test was started by two Marylanders who felt that mainstream tests forced educators to ignore the classics, like poetry, Greek and Latin: www.thebanner.com/education/hi...

Baltimore City Public Schools has a FY27 budget and I have a breakdown of how the district will receive and spend $1.95 billion www.thebanner.com/education/k-...

Happy college graduation season! We put together a list of Maryland’s notable speakers this year for your viewing pleasure. Featuring an astronaut, a comic book writer, and a whole lot of politicians. No muppets this year! www.thebanner.com/education/hi...

After a 27% decline in first-year enrollment since 2022, Bowie State University is launching a direct admissions pipeline for Prince George's County Public Schools students. It's the latest sign that Maryland colleges are bracing for an enrollment cliff. www.thebanner.com/education/hi...

New: The University of Maryland, College Park, will eliminate up to 150 jobs and enact a hiring freeze this year as a result of reduced state funding and uncertainty about federal research funding. www.thebanner.com/education/hi...

Asian enrollment at Johns Hopkins is skyrocketing. No one can say why, @elliew0lfe.bsky.social reports. (via @thebaltimorebanner.com)

New with @mercohn.bsky.social: Johns Hopkins University officials reported 43% less federal funding for new and ongoing research last year, with losses of more than $500 million. That's after the university reported losses of $200 million in NIH cuts in 2024. www.thebanner.com/education/hi...

New: The Maryland General Assembly passed legislation this week to give thousands of non-tenure track faculty the right to form recognized unions at public universities. The bill now goes to Gov. Wes Moore's desk. Everything you need to know: www.thebanner.com/education/hi...

It’s not easy to operate a college in Hungary. So how does a small school in Maryland, which educates 3,000 students and has an endowment of under $200 million pull it off? My latest story looks at McDaniel College's satellite campus in Hungary: www.thebanner.com/education/hi...

The Johns Hopkins Carey business school is offering half priced master’s degrees for students who graduate from Maryland colleges this year. Experts say that could be a sign of trouble and dwindling enrollment of international students. Read more: www.thebanner.com/education/hi...

White nationalist Jared Taylor's talk at Salisbury University, organized by the Maryland Federation of College Republicans, is back on and now scheduled for April 29th, reports @elliew0lfe.bsky.social: www.thebanner.com/education/hi...

New: After it was postponed last month for security reasons, a talk hosted by the Maryland Federation of College Republicans featuring "godfather of the alt-right" Jared Taylor will take place at Salisbury University later this month: www.thebanner.com/education/hi...

New: Students at the University of Maryland vote this week on whether USM Regent Tom McMillen should resign. McMillen appears twice in the Epstein files, though he told me the vote is a "a Trojan horse" for the real controversy: His support of Israel. www.thebanner.com/education/hi...

After 15 years of lobbying, graduate students at two Maryland universities are the closest they’ve ever been to getting the right to unionize. But three amendments added to the bill, which they say are harmful, means they aren’t celebrating. Read: www.thebanner.com/education/hi...

De'Jonnae and her husband José live by one universal truth: Reunification is the goal. These foster parents have taken in 15 kids over 5 years, making them an outlier in a state where the number of foster parents has been declining and half tap out after just 1 year www.thebanner.com/education/ea...

After a developer's bid for a Remington dump backfired, he's thinking bigger. Seawall reached a deal this month that looks to some like a step toward a long-held Baltimore dream: to turn the banks of the beleaguered Jones Falls into a park. w @emilyopilo.bsky.social www.thebanner.com/community/cl...

Everyone knows it takes a village to raise a child. But as extended families live increasingly far apart and the cost of living rises, many parents find themselves without the help they need. So moms started building their home away from home in West Baltimore. www.thebanner.com/education/ea...

Historians, scholars and artists are working to unearth, record, preserve and share Maryland’s LGBTQ+ history— work they say is all the more urgent as the Trump administration and conservative legislatures try to roll back the rights of queer people www.thebanner.com/community/lo...

Johns Hopkins University has its eyes on D.C. The elite university just bought a second building in the nation's capital, bringing its total D.C. footprint to almost 600,000 square feet. Inside Hopkins' Bloomberg Center + the university's D.C. ambitions: www.thebanner.com/education/hi...

Breaking: Salisbury University has postponed a talk set to take place on campus Monday by white nationalist Jared Taylor due to security concerns. Taylor, a eugenist, is often called the “godfather of the alt right.” Here’s what you need to know: www.thebanner.com/education/hi...

There's a stretch of Maryland that's next to BWI and just north of Fort Meade. It holds housing, the Arundel Mills mall and has been targeted for growth and development. And it's under a complete development moratorium that seems to have come without warning. Read more in @thebaltimorebanner.com —

The @thebaltimorebanner.com and @bykowicz.bsky.social let me write a personal essay about my heartbreak over Southwest Airlines now charging for checked bags and assigning seats. It also features quips about Pilates and Agatha Christie. Read here: www.thebanner.com/opinion/colu...

Kids in the "iPad generation" have grown more reliant on screens at home and in school since the pandemic. The head of Baltimore's public schools has had enough. She introduced screen time and digital device limits, though she doesn't think they go far enough. www.thebanner.com/education/ea...