Liz Bowie
@lizbowie.bsky.social
Education reporter for The Baltimore Banner, a nonprofit news organization.
Former Baltimore Schools CEO snags top job at DC’s Council on Foreign Relations www.thebanner.com/education/k-...
Former Baltimore Schools CEO snags top job at DC think tank
Sonja Santelises wants to make classroom conversation civil again.
thebanner.com
Baltimore County officials were finally doing something about overcrowded public schools when they passed a bill in 2024 meant to restrict housing development near packed classrooms. But nearly two years later, an advisory group that would help set limits has yet to get started.
What happened to the plan to stop Baltimore County school overcrowding?
An advisory group that would help set limits has yet to get started.
buff.ly
Maryland built a unique system to keep hospital services in rural communities. Cecil County births have held steady. The population is growing. Today, the county's only birthing center closes anyway, despite community opposition. www.thebanner.com/economy/scie...
Cecil County’s only birth center is closing. Why did no one save it?
A rural hospital in Cecil County plans to stop delivering babies. The closure of its Family Birth Center poses a challenge to pregnant residents and shows the limits of the state’s hospital regulatory...
thebanner.com
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-...
On-site daycare helps close the graduation gap for Baltimore’s teen moms
Half of teen moms don’t graduate high school. Excel Academy is different.
thebanner.com
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-...
Former Baltimore teacher of the year confronted by Chris Hansen in YouTube sting
Former Baltimore teacher of the year Dennis Jutras told Chris Hansen he was trying to warn a teen in a Harford County sting operation targeting adults seeking sex with minors.
thebanner.com
Why was Montgomery County Council member Laurie-Anne Sayles in Hawaii during budget deliberations? I got the records: www.thebanner.com/politics-pow...
Before a critical budget debate, one council member flew to Hawaii
At-large member Laurie-Anne Sayles said her conference attendance benefitted the county.
thebanner.com
Dennis Jutras, who led move to increase honors and advanced academics in Baltimore schools for years, charged with sexual solicitation of a minor www.thebanner.com/education/k-...
Former Baltimore teacher of the year charged with sexual solicitation of a minor
Dennis Jutras, a longtime City Schools employee, allegedly tried to meet up with an officer posing as a high schooler.
thebanner.com
Maryland students made one of the fastest pandemic recoveries www.thebanner.com/education/k-...
Maryland students made one of the fastest pandemic recoveries
Maryland ranks 3rd for improvement in reading, and 5th in math.
thebanner.com
Candidates for Anne Arundel County Executive were receptive to the idea of a tax on secondary luxury homes, sometimes called pieds-à-terre, in the county. And if that sounds familiar, it's b/c Zohran Mamdani and Kathy Hochul have proposed such a tax in New York. Read more @thebaltimorebanner.com:
Anne Arundel executive candidates considering secondary luxury home tax
Speaking at a forum hosted by the Anne Arundel Affordable Housing Coalition on May 7, Democratic county executive candidates Allison Pickard, James Kitchin and Pete Smith said a supplemental tax on se...
thebanner.com
Our reporting on Justin Tucker won the Investigative Reporters & Editors Award for Sports Investigations:
Investigative Reporters & Editors@ire.org · 3mo agoCongratulations to the winners and finalists of the 2025 IRE Awards! Awards will be presented at the 2026 IRE Conference in National Harbor, MD on Friday, June 19, during the Awards Luncheon. Full list of winners and finalists: https://bit.ly/4cS2qfN
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-...
Baltimore City Public Schools passed a $1.95 billion budget. Here’s how the money shakes out.
A by-the-numbers look at where money is going in Baltimore’s public schools.
thebanner.com
A great day for local news! Banner parent company to buy Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, staving off newspaper’s closure www.thebanner.com/economy/bann...
Banner parent company to buy Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, staving off its closure
The Venetoulis Institute will acquire the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, converting it to a nonprofit to prevent the historic paper’s closure.
thebanner.com
When Dana Riley bought her day care building, she didn’t think anyone would associate her with the sexual abuse and shooting scandal tied to its former owners. When she couldn’t shake the distrust and doubt, she came up with a solution: 24/7 live-streamed cameras www.thebanner.com/education/ea...
How this day care rebuilt trust after a shooting and abuse scandal
The new owner of Shanteari Young’s former child care center lets parents watch classroom livestreams.
thebanner.com
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...
Baltimore’s top educator wants to end the iPad kid epidemic
Baltimore City Public Schools CEO Sonja Santelises announced strict screen time limits for kindergarten through second grade students.
thebanner.com
Montgomery County wants to ban permits for ICE facilities after seeing warehouses turned into detention centers in other parts of the state. My latest: www.thebanner.com/politics-pow...
MoCo bill would prohibit ICE building permits
The Montgomery County Council announced its latest step Monday to counter the federal campaign to deport immigrants, which has disrupted the lives of hundreds of county residents.
thebanner.com
New: Gov. Moore's admin invited a natural gas industry insider to sit in on interviews to determine the latest Public Service Commission appointees. Records show the official was the only non-government employee present for the interviews: www.thebanner.com/politics-pow...
Gas industry insider sat in on Moore administration interviews for new utility regulators
An American Gas Association employee participated in the interview process for the top leadership roles at the state’s utility regulating agency.
thebanner.com
Who will be the next speaker of the Maryland House of Delegates? Meet 10 delegates who could contend for the top job: www.thebanner.com/politics-pow...
Who could be Maryland’s next House speaker?
With Maryland House of Delegates Speaker Adrienne A. Jones resigning from her leadership post, delegates will need to elect a new leader to preside over the chamber as they face challenging issues fro...
thebanner.com
For more than a decade I’ve heard Baltimore students and parents complain about the messy and sometimes dangerous process of getting to school. And for more than a decade school leaders have ignored the problem.
Just one in 533 miles of Anne Arundel County shoreline is open to the public while taxpayers fund millions for private waterfronts. Can Maryland balance what’s best for the Chesapeake Bay with the public’s right to enjoy it? w/ @leeosanderlin.bsky.social &Alex Mann www.thebanner.com/community/cl...
The hidden cost of saving the Chesapeake Bay: millions for private waterfronts
Virtually all of the Chesapeake Bay’s shoreline is privately owned, which means taxpayer-funded waterfront improvements go to properties with limited public access.
thebanner.com
Do you ever get so overwhelmed at work you need to take a walk to clear your head? It happens to kids, too, which is why they should go outside, play and learn naturally from the world around them. Click for the cute pictures, keep reading for the brain science www.thebanner.com/education/ea...
Preschool without a building could be in Maryland’s future
Maryland is one of just a handful of states piloting licenses for outdoor, nature-based child care programs.
thebanner.com
NEW: Baltimore students told about their experiences with violence and harassment on the way to school in the state's only district without yellow bus service for middle and high schoolers. @lizbowie.bsky.social and I on what students are facing every day www.thebaltimorebanner.com/education/k-...
It’s not just late buses: Baltimore kids face serious safety risks
Baltimore students have been followed, harassed, assaulted and held up at gunpoint while crisscrossing the city on public transit to get to and from school.
thebaltimorebanner.com
Our latest on the difficulties city school students have getting to school on mass transit. No one has surveyed students to know how many of the 25,000 students who get MTA passes use them. Neither MTA or the school system collects this information. www.thebaltimorebanner.com/education/k-...
Want better school commutes? First, find out who’s riding the bus
Without data, experts say, it’s all but impossible for school officials and transit planners to find solutions for the thousands of Baltimore City kids who struggle to get to class on time every day.
thebaltimorebanner.com
Michael Martirano, who abruptly retired as superintendent of Howard County schools last year, will soon take the helm in Allegany County. www.thebaltimorebanner.com/education/k-...
Retired Howard schools chief to lead Western Maryland school district
Michael Martirano left the Howard County Public School System abruptly last year.
thebaltimorebanner.com
When we talked to MTA Administrator Holly Arnold for our "Transit Nightmare" investigation, she expressed confidence that the governor's budget would provide some relief for Baltimore's students. Read Daniel Zawodny on the budget and MTA's Sisyphean task. www.thebaltimorebanner.com/community/tr...
Can MTA’s new budget get Baltimore students to school on time?
It could mean years before as many as 25,000 Baltimore City Public Schools students see much change in their journeys to school.
thebaltimorebanner.com
Will representation change in Eastern Baltimore County? www.thebaltimorebanner.com/politics-pow...
Eastern Baltimore County is changing. Will its representation?
The Baltimore County Council is expanding from seven districts to nine in 2026, after voters approved the change last fall. What that will look like is unclear.
thebaltimorebanner.com
Super proud of the @thebaltimorebanner.com newsroom for winning an IRE award for our Key Bridge collapse coverage. At the time, we didn't even have a live blog, but we did have great journalists who know this community and what the bridge meant to it.
Investigative Reporters & Editors@ire.org · last yr.The IRE Award for Investigations Triggered by Breaking News goes to @thebaltimorebanner.com for reporting on the Key Bridge collapse. “This was a colossal effort for 24 hours, with journalists waking up in the middle of the night and working well together.” www.thebaltimorebanner.com/specials/key...
NEW: At least 19 men have now filed lawsuits that claim they were sexually abused as children while at Calvert Hall, an independent, all-boys Catholic school in Baltimore County. Read more in @thebaltimorebanner.com:
New court filings reveal total of 19 men allege sexual abuse and cover up at Calvert Hall
The number of men who say they were victims of sexual abuse at Calvert Hall College High School has grown to 19, according to lawsuits filed this week.
thebaltimorebanner.com
The U.S. Department of Education told Maryland's education leaders it won't be reimbursing up to $418 million in funds it already promised to the state, including about $305 million that was already spent. Led by @lizbowie.bsky.social www.thebaltimorebanner.com/education/k-...
Maryland schools face ‘catastrophic’ loss of $418 million in federal funds
The U.S. Department of Education told Maryland education leaders that they will not reimburse schools for $418 million in funds they had already committed to giving them.
thebaltimorebanner.com
Prince George's County was 80% white when the federal workforce was integrated. Today, PG and Charles County are America's most affluent majority-Black counties with~20% of Black workers there being federal employees. Trump's cuts now threaten generations of progress. story👇🏾
