About Bill Ferguson
Bill’s commitment to progressive renewal in Baltimore City began when he came to work in the city’s public schools through Teach for America - Baltimore City. Bill began his working life teaching U.S. history and U.S. government to ninth and tenth graders in a breakout academy of the old Southwestern High School, historically one of Baltimore’s most challenged high schools. Recognizing the injustices that City Schools students faced everyday - too few classroom materials, dilapidated facilities, inferior student transportation options - Bill fought to establish a culture of achievement in his classroom everyday. By the end of his second year of teaching, Bill had motivated his U.S. government students to earn the highest scores in the school’s history on the U.S. government Maryland High School Assessment (HSA). While teaching, Bill also earned his Masters of Arts in Teaching (M.A.T.) from the Johns Hopkins School of Education in 2007.
An Advocate for Education and Progressive Reform
Unsettled by the condition of the school’s infrastructure midway through his first year of teaching, Bill reached out to Baltimore City elected officials to advocate for facility improvements for his students. Bill’s passion for progressive education reform led the Baltimore City Council President’s Office to hire Bill as a part-time community liaison. For the next year on evenings after teaching, Bill served in this role to promote the need for community involvement in schools and to assist communities in their efforts to navigate bureaucratic inefficiencies. In December 2006, Bill received a Distinguished Presidential Citation from the Council President for his superior work in communities.
An Experienced Public Servant
Desiring to impact systemic education reform on a broader scale, Bill left the classroom to begin law school at the University of Maryland School of Law in 2007. During the fall of his first year at Maryland Law, Bill remained connected with the Baltimore City Public Schools, accepting a newly created position with Dr. Andrès Alonso as the then-new CEO’s Graduate Intern. For two years, Bill served in this capacity while attending law school full-time, operating as a project manager for the majority of the CEO’s strategic priorities. Bill’s work led to his promotion in October 2009 as Dr. Alonso’s Special Assistant. For the past three years, Bill served as Dr. Alonso’s point person in efforts to streamline the school system’s $1.23 billion operational structure; create innovative and web-based communication tools to increase school system transparency; and serve a chief role in the school system’s progressive negotiations with the Baltimore Teachers’ Union.
Meanwhile, while in law school, Bill had the opportunity to further engage communities within Baltimore City. Through the Maryland Law Community Justice Clinic, Bill spent a year furthering attempts by City communities to better their neighborhoods. He assisted the Baltimore City Housing Department in prosecuting negligent owners of vacant homes through the vacant building receivership process; served as a student-attorney representing the Cherry Hill Trust in the organization's effort to expand youth opportunities; and published a scholarly article in the prestigious Maryland Law Review. Bill graduated from Maryland Law in May 2010 with magna cum laude honors and earned Maryland Law's Cunningham Award for Public Service and Academic Achievement.
Bill Ferguson lives and works in the 46th District. He and his wife Lea met while both were school teachers in the Baltimore City Public Schools. A fifth-generation Marylander, Bill is passionate about renewal and restoring a sense of urgency to the ongoing fight for a stronger, safer, more livable Baltimore.
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