Dive Brief:

• Maryland Department of Legislative Services Office of Policy Analysis Director Warren Deschenaux says a study ordered by the state's legislature and featuring pro-charter expansion conclusions is incomplete.
• According to the study, which was contracted to the University of Baltimore's Schaefer Center for Public Policy by the Maryland State Department of Education, the state's current charter system should be expanded, with the additional creation of an Independent Chartering Board.
• Analysts for the state, however, say that incomplete data resulted in 13 of the study's 14 requirements only being partially met, while another pertaining to per-pupil funding was unmet entirely.

Dive Insight:

In Deschenaux's words, details requested by the legislature "were clearly not provided in a thorough or methodical manner." Worse yet, WBAL reports that the researchers behind the study utilized interviews and public forums with stakeholders instead of Maryland data on numerous occasions. The state's education department has thus far not commented on the matter.

Baltimore is currently home to 37 of the state's 53 current charter schools, which are part of a program launched in 2003, according to WBAL.