The Baltimore School for the Arts is a public arts high school located in Baltimore, Maryland, and is part of its public school system. BSA offers art concentrations in vocal music, instrumental music, theater acting, theater production, dance, and visual arts. The school has produced numerous "Presidential Scholars" in the Arts and its students have gone on to attend major conservatories and Ivy League Schools.In 2016, BSA was named a Silver Medal School by the U.S. News and World Report, and was ranked 1,560th nationally and 44th in the state of Maryland .HistoryIn 1979, the President of the Board of School Commissioners authored a Charter creating the Baltimore School for the Arts . In the form of a resolution of the School Board, this Charter followed many years of effort to create an arts high school, including a 1978 recommendation of a special Task Force appointed and given strong support by then Mayor William Donald Schaefer,, ; Governor of Maryland, 1987-1995, Comptroller of Maryland, 1999-2007Governor of Maryland]. The BSA was created as part of the Baltimore City Public Schools system, however the charter provided the BSA with the structure and the authority to design and implement policies and programs necessary to be successful in its mission as a pre-professional arts high school. The charter stated "that it differ from other Baltimore city high schools by training students with potential for careers in the performing and visual arts."
