Episode 2: Governor Wes Moore and The Truth Behind Maryland Public Schools (Transcript)

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Hello Maryland! 

It's 2023 and it's a cold January morning at the Maryland Statehouse in Annapolis. Wes Moore is being inaugurated as the first Black governor of Maryland. He places his hand over two Bibles, one owned by Frederick Douglass, a statesman, abolitionist, and Marylander, and one owned by his grandfather, the first Black minister for the Dutch Reformed Church of New York.

This is an auspicious moment. At his inauguration, he's introduced by none other than Oprah Winfrey.

And your new governor, Wes Moore! My dear friend, Oprah Winfrey. A Maryland girl at heart.

 During his speech, Governor Moore reiterates many of his campaign points, including unemployment, minimum wage, health care, education, gap years, his military service, and how Marylanders can accomplish so much if we can get through it together.

Instead, I'm asking you to believe that Maryland can be different. I'm asking you to believe that Maryland can be bold. And I'm asking you to believe that in this moment, Maryland can lead. 

The future for Maryland is promising. And with that, ladies and gentlemen, Maryland begins the era of the Governor Wes Moore administration. You're listening to the Seventh State Podcast.

We're now stepping back in the timeline to 2022. Wes Moore is still in his first campaign for governor of Maryland, and must pass the gauntlet that is the gubernatorial primaries. Here's the basic primary setup according to the Maryland State Board of Elections. The primary determines which party candidate advances to the general election.

In 2022, 11 Democrats were competing in the primary for the one spot in the general election, so it's a crowded field for Wes Moore.

One thing that I want to start with, and that's the governor race, because there are a lot of candidates vying for the state's top office. Let's take you to the Democratic side.

For comparison, at the time of this recording in 2026, there are only two Democratic candidates competing in the primary, so it's not a crowded field at all. In general, you must be a registered Democrat or registered Republican to vote in your party's primary. But here's the most important part in our story.

In a primary, a candidate does not need a majority of the vote. They only need a plurality, meaning more votes than the next guy. This means Wes Moore did not need to be the overwhelming favorite of Democratic voters statewide, and in fact, he was not, and still is not.

Well, you know, it's funny, and I tell people this all the time. When I ran for governor, I was not the Democrats' choice. The Democrats, there were like 11 people running, or whatever it was, and we had statewide elected officials, we had two Obama cabin

In 2022, for his first gubernatorial campaign, Wes Moore just needed to finish ahead of the other Democrats in a crowded primary field. And that is why the primary mattered so much. It was the real battlefield of his first campaign.

And it was critical for Wes Moore to win if he wanted to advance to the gubernatorial general elections. And once you understand that, you can see why what happens next matters so much. Because in 2022, the campaign is about to take an ugly turn.

Wes Moore was, and is, a Democratic superstar. During his career, Moore cultivated a public image that during his campaign hit several stumbling blocks, many of which still follow him today. Repeated scrutiny from major media outlets like CNN or The Washington Post or CBS raised questions about parts of his life, his ties to Baltimore, aspects of his military record, and the works of his nonprofit.

You got hit pretty hard in 2022. By your own party, it wasn't just the right. Then it was folks in the primary, Tom Perez, John King, who were coming after you. I remember there was an op-ed file dropped on your head saying, hey, you know, Moore exaggerates this, that, and everything.

These are all topics that still plague Governor Moore today. Altogether, Moore is not exactly who he presents himself to be.

And what's about to transpire is not a fight over truthfulness, but a fight over political legality. Because up until now, Wes Moore has responded to major scrutiny with diplomacy and charismatic answers.

Why didn't you set the record straight immediately after finding out you're not a Bronze Star recipient? It was an honest mistake, and not only have I owned up to it, I take responsibility for it.

Questions about the Bronze Star status, I just want to hit you on that real quick and let you kind of clear the air as to what happened. I take full accountability for an honest mistake. 

That is, until the Honest Dems dossier is released. The Honest Dems dossier is a series of tweets landing with Democratic activists, reporters, union leaders, voters, and endorsers. It spread information about his Baltimore roots, his stance on charter schools, and his work with nonprofits. And the file itself, the dossier, was sent via the email address honestmddems@gmail.com to the Maryland State Education Association, MSEA.

You guys, this is huge. You see, this is Maryland's largest professional employee organization, and one of the most influential endorsements in the state. You can understand how pivotal this endorsement is for Wes Moore if he wants to make it past the primaries and on to the general election.

More response to the Honest Dems Dossier, by filing a complaint with the Maryland State Board of Elections and with the state prosecutor's office. He explains that an unidentified party is anonymously spreading false and disparaging information. Moore's chief complaint is that the information was disseminated without a proper authority line, which breaks campaign finance laws.

Moore also responds by publishing a website called factsmd.com to explain his Baltimore roots and defend his narrative to the public. I had to use internet archiving to look it up, because today that website is an Indonesian toggle gambling site, which I found strange. But for the Honest Dems dossier, it's not what was said in the dossier, but how it was said.

So let's look at who said it. In his filed complaint, Wes Moore says this unidentified party is none other than the rival Democratic candidate, John King Jr. and his campaign. The evidence? The Baltimore City Board of Elections provided a copy of Wes Moore's voting record to a researcher on the John King Jr. campaign.

In addition, that email account was used from an IP address belonging to John King Jr.'s campaign manager. What was the result of all this? Two years later, in 2024, John King Jr. was fined a modest $2,000 for breaking campaign finance law, and the Honest Dems dossier was silenced and buried. In fact, it was so buried that when I googled the Honest Dems dossier, I couldn't find it.

It was like it was removed from the internet. I'm sharing a screenshot of Google and a screen recording of the internet archiving that only showed shots from the FaxMD site that were shared on the complaint. A similar dynamic is currently happening in Wes Moore's second run for governor.

The website nomore.org, Moore as in M-O-O-R-E, nomoore, began publishing content about Moore's policies as a governor, such as the state deficits and tax hikes. Once again, a mysterious media campaign against Wes Moore. And once again, a complaint was filed with the State Board of Elections, this time by the Maryland Democratic Party.

I want to pause and call out a couple of patterns here. First, this is not about right versus left. We're seeing these media campaigns being used by both sides of the party.

Second, there's a pattern of mysterious media campaigns going on, and Wes Moore using campaign finance laws to silence dissent. In the end, we have this modern political conundrum. Are election rules being used to protect voters' right to election fairness, truth, and accountability? Or are they being used to insulate candidates from legitimate scrutiny? As a Maryland voter, both Wes Moore's misrepresentations and the unlawful smear tactics being used are extremely and deeply troubling.

But for the Honest Dems dossier, ultimately what I can't understand is why the John King Jr. campaign would resort to those tactics in the first place. Was it to get the Maryland State Education Association endorsement? John King Jr. was the Secretary of Education during Obama. He was the Commissioner of Education in New York.

He has been a nonprofit leader and was a high school teacher. He's been an educator all his life, a teacher, a principal. He shares our commitment to preparing every child for success.

Dr. John King. He has degrees from Harvard, Yale, and Columbia, and like Wes Moore, has his own compelling overcomer story. School saved my life.

Both my parents passed away when I was a kid. My mom when I was eight, my dad when I was 12. 

John King Jr. was a candidate on the education front lines, which Wes Moore was not.

He should have been a natural fit for the education endorsement. But Wes Moore would go on to receive the endorsement in both election cycles, then and now. So why would John King Jr. perceive Wes Moore to be such a threat that smear tactics had to be used? Why would the education community endorse Wes Moore instead of the education professional? I believe the answer to that is money.

Remember, Wes Moore did not need a majority of the votes to win the primaries. He just needed a plurality. He won the Democratic primary by only 32.4%. And John King Jr., he only got 3.7%. As we continue in this story, I'm going to keep pointing out more patterns that I'm noticing.

There's a pattern with Governor Moore's ability to attract large amounts of money. This goes back to even in his career. During his time at the Deutsche Bank, Moore was part of the largest deal of his time, the Ares Deal, regarding Russian Federation Paris Club debt.

This is according to his book, The Work. For his own nonprofit, Bridge to Edu, he raised $3.1 million in seed capital. At the Robin Hood Foundation in New York, he raised a portfolio of more than $650 million in COVID relief funds.

And in his first campaign for Maryland governor, he raised more than $7.3 million, the highest amongst his competitors. Wes Moore attended the Sun Valley Billionaires Retreat, which tells me, as a Maryland voter, that either he's a billionaire, or that billionaires have a vested stake in him. Perhaps both.

Where Wes Moore goes, money goes. And this is exactly what the Maryland education system is hoping for. If you're a Marylander, then you've heard how great Maryland schools are.

And that's because in 2002, Maryland was named the best state education system in the country by quality counts. In 2016, the Kirwan Commission was created. The Kirwan Commission's initial 2018 report identified that Maryland's public education system is a long way from performing at the level of the best in the world, or even the best in the United States.

Marylanders should find the present situation unacceptable. Today is the last day the General Assembly will meet for the term. Its session ends three weeks early because of the coronavirus.

Late last night, they gave the final approval to the Kirwan Education Reform Bill. The sweeping education bill revises the state's school funding formula for the first time in nearly two decades. It calls for billions of dollars of new investment in Maryl

Meet the Blueprint for Maryland's Future Act. The Blueprint for Maryland's Future was passed by the Maryland General Assembly in 2021 to transform public education in the state into a world-class education system.

It was a multi-billion dollar investment into Maryland public education, and the Maryland State Education Association emphasized the Blueprint's commitment to build educator salaries, bolster recruitment into a newly invigorated, respected, and diverse profession. In May 2020, Governor Larry Hogan vetoed the Blueprint for Maryland's Future Act. Again in February 2021, Governor Larry Hogan vetoes the bill, and the legislature overrode it.

Essentially, it would be fiscally irresponsible to do such a large investment in the face of COVID-19. One of the largest school systems in the state, Montgomery County Public Schools, posted, “While we understand the fiscal challenges being presented by the global pandemic, we are extremely disappointed that Governor Hogan vetoed the Blueprint for Maryland's Future.” It is in the face of vetoes to the Blueprint, in February 2021, that Westmore begins politically flirting with the state of Maryland as he considers running for governor.

When Wes Moore wins the Maryland State Education Association endorsement, after the Honest Dems dossier and after the filed complaint, he goes on to win the primary, and then goes on to win the governorship, Maryland's schools ultimately get what they want, and that's money. In his first year as governor, Maryland schools receive a historic $8.8 billion in the 2023 budget. The per-pupil funding also increased by 9%.

In fiscal year 2025, more than $9 billion was allocated. And this year, more than $10 billion was proposed. Former Governor Larry Hogan is not happy with this.

In his post he writes, “Nearly five years ago, I vetoed the Blueprint for Maryland's Future because it was unaffordable and lacked a funding mechanism. Despite repeated warnings, the legislature overrode that veto.”

So in theory, this is a good bill. Better schools, better pay. Better equity, better results. It's a big promise.

Maryland's schools and the Maryland State Education Association got the funding they wanted in unprecedented amounts. Did Maryland's students, families, and teachers get the results they were hoping for?

So now, in 2026, and halfway through the Blueprint's 10-year plan, let's evaluate how the system has held up. But let's talk about outcomes.

And let's start with teacher outcomes. Remember, Maryland is America in miniature. American schools, and Maryland schools, face a really big problem of supply and demand.

A lot of demand for educators, very low supply. Issues like teacher recruitment and retention, licensures and certification, and training opportunities are all being evaluated. With funding from the Blueprint, incentive programs were promoted, like a relocation grant, grow on your own grant, teacher apprenticeships, a fee incentive program for national board certification, teacher preparation enrollment, and more.

Despite increased incentives and opportunities, only 3% of teachers are national board certified in the state of Maryland, and about 10% have conditional licensures. All of this is according to the Maryland State Department of Education Division on Educator Effectiveness. That's a mouthful.

Maryland teacher preparation enrollment is still lower than it was more than two decades ago in 2012. Attrition rates, or how many teachers leave the system, remain high post-COVID. And I find it surprising that given more training opportunities, less participation is happening.

And this shines a light on the real dilemma educators are facing. On looking through Facebook groups, social media chats, Reddit pages, and online forums, the qualitative stuff that data can't capture, major criticism is that teachers are being asked to do more. More meetings, more admin, more documentation, etc.

Just look at what Anne Arundel County in Maryland is now asking kindergarten teachers to do.

It's kind of sad we're in this situation, but we are. That's Anne Arundel County Board of Education member Joanna Bash-Tobin speaking Wednesday when the board unanimously okayed a new policy allowing principals to assign school staffers in birth-to-five p

I can only imagine that training opportunities just become more to do on top of teaching.

So now, about halfway through the blueprint, how is Maryland holding up on its promise to transform public education in the state into a world-class education system? Let's look at academic performance and the metrics.

State education officials got not one, but two different report cards that put together show Maryland is making progress, but falling far short of its goals. The two boards also got an update on blueprint education targets and heard Maryland has fallen far short of its goals in terms of academic achievement, teacher retention, and reducing chronic absenteeism.

There's also a dilemma tied to per-pupil funding. The more students are enrolled, pupils, the more funding public schools receive.

Enrollment numbers have been declining since COVID. This has been attributed to declining birth rates, which to me seems like a flimsy argument. It has also been attributed to change in migrant populations, which sounds more likely given Trump's immigration policy and Maryland's proximity to D.C. Not often mentioned is also the schooling itself and the rise of homeschooling, which has increased 50% since COVID in the state, as well as private school enrollment has increased nominally.

And even the enrollment numbers themselves require further scrutiny. Funding by enrollment, or per-pupil funding, is determined towards the start of an academic year, but of course students might drop out throughout the year, move to other states, or for any reason become unenrolled throughout an academic year. Surprisingly, the biggest category by far for unenrollment in 2024 was whereabouts unknown, and that category has grown year over year.

So essentially, funding for missing students. Taxpayers have complained about funding millions of dollars for these students. The school system is upset that not funding it would diminish their budgets.

But ultimately, I want to know where are these students? That is really disturbing. This episode started about Westmore, but this series is really more about the story of Maryland. As we continue through this podcast series, listeners, please consider the following questions.

What truths and lies do politicians tell, and what does it cost the voters who believed them? We believed that a multi-billion dollar investment would transform Maryland's public schools into a world-class education system. Did it? And lastly, what consequences, if any, do politicians face for acting in bad faith or ill will of the people? I mentioned how there are children literally reported whereabouts unknown, and we care more about funding than about their location. Tell me how that is not ill will of the people.

Money was on the mind of Maryland education, so in our next episode, we will do exactly that. Follow the money. You're listening to the Seventh State Podcast.

Now more than ever, we need constructive conversations about state and local politics, away from national headlines, media, and algorithm-curated news. I am a lifelong Marylander, and I care deeply about my state. I want to hear from you.

If you're watching this on YouTube and you found anything in this episode helpful or enlightening, leave a comment, like, share, or subscribe. If you're listening on podcasts like Apple or Spotify, please leave a review. This is an independent podcast, completely researched, written, produced, and funded by me, so your support goes a long way.

Thank you for listening, and until next time.

 Transcribed by TurboScribe. Go Unlimited to remove this message.