Big Changes On Table for Selection of Howard County Board of Education

Two months after a public forum in which on the Howard County Board of Education, legislation has been proposed that would significantly change the process by which board members are chosen.

If the legislation passes, board members will no longer be elected at-large. Instead, the county executive will appoint two members who will be confirmed by the County Council. The remaining five members will be will be elected by County Council district. 

County Executive Ken Ulman after, he said, he heard numerous complaints from residents decrying the lack of geographic and ethnic diversity of board members.

The majority-white board has only had four members that have lived west of MD Route 29.

“When I looked at the board of education and the make-up today, and frankly when I look at the issues that this board is having internally, I came to the conclusion that we needed to do something different.” 

The commission held a series of work sessions and solicited input from residents, studying a variety of school board structures around the state before presenting its recommendations Monday evening. State Del. Frank Turner will submit the bill to the Howard County Delegation for approval.

“I know this issue has engendered a lot of discussion,” Ulman said at a press conference Tuesday with Turner. “I have the utmost respect for every single citizen in Howard County who disagrees with this approach. And I know there are many.”

One dissenter is board member Cynthia Vaillancourt, who told the Baltimore Sun that, although she saw pros and cons of both at-large and by-district elections, “I am, however, 1,000 percent opposed to taking a step backward to making any seats appointed.”

Howard County did appoint its school board members until 1974, when the county switched to at-large elections, which it still uses today. 

Ulman said that the “vast majority,” five of seven members, would still be elected, and that this new model was a “step forward, not a step back.”

Ten years ago, the school board actually did consider the issue of diversity, but produced no actionable results. “A lot has changed in the last 10 years,” Turner said Tuesday.

He pointed to the racial and ethnic diversity in the Howard County School system, which, as of last year, .

Turner said he thought it was important for students to be able to see someone on the board that “they can look to, and want to be like … It was important to me when I was coming up to have a role model,” he said, “like my father. My father was an elected official.” 

Turner also mentioned that had “never lost but one election in my life,” a countywide race for the Orphans Court–a position that he had been appointed to, but lost three months later in a retention election.

“Now, when I turned around and ran for the legislature, I won five times in a row. By district. I think that’s a fair point to bring up.”

He said the cost of running county-wide, and the process of becoming familiar with people across the county could be daunting and ultimately discouraging.

Turner’s bill will be presented to the state delegation, and there will be a chance for residents to speak their minds at a public hearing, Oct. 11 at 7:30 p.m. at the . 

If the delegation decides to move forward with the bill, the General Assembly will vote on it next month. If the bill passes, it will take effect in the beginning of 2012, before the primary filing deadline.

Next year, three of the seven sitting members of the Board of Education will be up for re-election. If Turner’s bill passes, residents in Council Districts 4 and 5 will vote for their board member; one member will be appointed.

The remaining districts will vote in 2014, when the second appointed board member will be chosen.