Governor Hogan is continuing to show that it’s possible for common sense conservative leadership to advance equality and educational standards simultaneously by making sure every citizen can receive a world-class education.
A new U.S. News and World Report ranks Maryland as the number one state for gender equality thanks to Governor Hogan’s focus on expanding opportunities. According to the report, “Maryland took the top spot in the ranking’s education category, placing first among its peers for lower gender disparities in math and reading scores for eighth graders, and third among them for four-year public college graduation rates.”
Under Governor Hogan, Maryland has record-funded K-12 education, community colleges, and HBCUs for eight years in a row, established the P-TECH program to allow high school students from underserved backgrounds achieve career training for competitive STEM jobs, and expanded the BOOST program to allow school choice.
Governor Hogan has also been a leader on expanding opportunities for women to advance in STEM and computer science. In 2018, the governor enacted the ACCESS Act to help close the gender gap in computer science education, and partnered with Girls Who Code to hold the first-ever Governor’s Coding Challenge. Since the 2014-15 school year, the state has experienced a 776% increase in the number of women who took a high-quality computer science class in a Maryland public high school. To build on this trend, earlier this year, the governor announced funding to provide universal access to Advanced Placement (AP) Computer Science in every Maryland high school.
While some on the left try to lower educational standards to advance their equality goals and others on the right fail to focus on inequities, in Maryland, Governor Hogan is showing a better path forward.