Capital to Voters: Drop Dead

The Capital today joined the chorus of liberal voices endorsing John Leopold's school board plan:

County Executive John Leopold is pushing a compromise that almost succeeded last year, when it passed the House of Delegates 132-5 but was rejected by the county's Senate delegation, 3-2.

This year the legislation - introduced by state Sen. John Astle - seems to have an even stronger chance, and is backed by the county's chamber of commerce and its teachers association.

The bill would eliminate the glaring flaw in the current procedure: the fact that the governor doesn't have to pick any of the candidates painstakingly vetted by the nominating conventions.

Actually the glaring flaw seems to be the fact that the voters get zero input in the matter. Moving on...

The system would allow input from county voters - who would decide whether board members get second terms - without making the board seats fully elective offices forever closed to anyone who doesn't want to campaign. This county has had some excellent school board members who did not have a political bone in their bodies.

Which may be part of the problem. Some of these board members are so insulated from the public that they cannot relate to your average voter. That's probably why some of the demand that we be taxed to the hilt.

Elected school boards are the rule nationally, although many of them have some sort of taxing authority. The main powers of government - the ones that should stay in the hands of elected officials - are deciding how to gather money from the taxpayers and how to spend it. Setting up a dependent group of elected officials with no final authority over taxes or budgeting - a group that would always defer on these crucial matters to the county executive and the County Council - would really accomplish little, even if it gives voters the impression that they have gained more control over the schools.

This is the red herring that opponents of elected school boards always throw out there; that somehow an elected board is unaccountable if they do not have taxation authority. And that's bogus. The fact of the matter is that decisions from curriculum, to redistricting, to personnel policies are for more important than taxation authority. And the voters will hold them accountable, as voters have in Carroll County, Montgomery County, and rest of the 19 counties in Maryland that have elected school boards.

A referendum on an elected board would be preferable to the status quo - but the proposal from Mr. Leopold and Mr. Astle is quicker, more practical and easier to pass. We're hoping that this year the football finally gets kicked.

And that pretty much says it all. The Capital's editors want a quick solution. Not the right solution, but a quick solution.

I remain flabbergasted that the media, Democrats, and liberal leaders such as John Leopold refuse to support a fully elected school board and full voter participation in the school board process...