The founders of the only public boarding school in the country are making efforts to replicate their program in multiple states. This program aims to provide education to underprivileged students by taking them out of unstable home environments and placing them in a rigorous, full-time college-preparatory setting. The SEED Foundation, a non-profit organization responsible for opening the SEED School in the District of Columbia eight years ago, is now looking to establish a second school in Maryland. To do so, SEED officials are seeking approval from Maryland lawmakers and Governor Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. The foundation plans to raise funds from private sources to build the school but is requesting support from the state legislature for its annual operations, which would cost $32,000 to $35,000 per student.
If approved, the new school is likely to be built in Baltimore but will be open to students from all over Maryland. Eric Adler, a founder and managing director of the SEED Foundation, has mentioned that student selection would be done through a lottery system, similar to the school in Washington. The foundation is also considering two cities in California as potential locations for future schools, and there are plans for an additional campus in Washington. The idea of a new SEED school in Maryland has garnered bipartisan political support, with both Democrats and Republicans sponsoring the bill in the legislature. Baltimore Mayor Martin O’Malley, a Democrat, is also a strong advocate for the project. However, the expensive nature of running a boarding school still poses a challenge for some public officials.
Last year, the foundation faced opposition from certain Maryland Democrats who were against opening a SEED school as a charter school, like the one in Washington. In the current proposal, the school would be overseen by the state education department, and students attending the school would still be counted as part of their home districts for state funding purposes. According to the fiscal analysis by the Maryland Department of Legislative Services, the cost of operating a boarding school is triple that of a regular public school. Despite this high cost, Mr. Adler argues that the benefits outweigh the expenses, as the SEED School in Washington has seen all 35 of its graduates go on to college.
These impressive results have garnered the endorsement of the Maryland Department of Education. A spokesperson for the department stated that the SEED School’s innovative approach to education would be beneficial for students in Baltimore. The SEED Foundation also has plans to establish schools in Los Angeles and Oakland. A bill similar to the one in Maryland has been introduced in the California Assembly by two Democratic representatives from the Los Angeles area. Discussions are also underway with officials from Georgia and Wisconsin. The SEED School in Washington, which accommodates students grades 7-12, primarily enrolls students from the surrounding neighborhood in the southeast section of the city. Nearly all of these students are African-American. The students live in separate dormitories based on gender and follow a rigorous academic schedule of seven classes per day. In the evenings, they receive supervised study sessions and homework assistance from school staff. Upon entering SEED, many students are behind in terms of their mathematics and reading skills. Some of them come from households where they live with adults other than their parents or in single-parent households with mothers working multiple jobs. The SEED School currently has a faculty and staff of 125 members dedicated to serving its student body of 320. Mr. Adler emphasizes that the SEED School is helping students who were previously underserved by the D.C. schools and traditional school districts.