Another Year, Another School Board Bill

It's almost become an annual event of the General Assembly's yearly legislative session; members of the county delegation have entered a bill to change the selection process for members of the Anne Arundel County Board of Education. This year, Delegates Leopold and McConkey have introduced House Bill 625, which will provide county voters with a variety of options.

According to the Sun story (the text of the bill is here), the bill will continue to keep the student member of the Board as the eighth member, but voters will have the option to have the remaining members chosen by:

• Appointment by the County Executive, with County Council Approval
• Appointment of three at-large members by the County Executive, with voters electing the remaining four members according to legislative districts.
• The current system.

I have seen the current nominating system from both sides. Both as a a candidate for the Board in 2003, and a voting delegate to the School Board Nominating Convention in 2004, it is easy to recognize early in the process that voters come to the Hearings with preconceived notions as to which candidate they will support. Often, candidates and their supporters recruit dozens of individuals to come and support their causes. As a candidate, I knew at the beginning of the process which candidate was going to receive the most votes from the convention. Even so, the choices are still dependent on the appointment of the Governor. It is far from a perfect system.

The Election of School Board members, while a wonderful idea in principle, is far from wonderful in execution. An already politicized body will become even more so when candidates have to stand for re-election every four years. What is puzzling about this bill is that one of the choices for voters will be a mix of appointed and elected members. It would be more logical, if Board Members were to be elected, to elect all members of the Board (except the Student Member) and elect one member from every Councilmanic District(such as House Bill 677 from the 2004 Session).

The most logical of the presented options in this bill is appointment by the County Executive, with approval of the County Council. The current nominating system can be maintained, with all of its plusses and faults, while allowing the members of the Board to be confirmed by the officials who are responsible for their purse strings.

Regardless of the desire for change in the selection process, the likelihood of legislation passing is slim. The effort to change the process has been ongoing for more than a decade. If legislation could not be passed in the aftermath of the 2002 selection process, it seems unlikely that legislation can get through the legislature this year.