State Sen. Antonio Hayes, a Democrat representing Baltimore, wants to shift power over school board appointments to the mayor and Maryland’s Senate, a move that some fear would politicize the process.
A bill he introduced would cut community voices — like the American Civil Liberties Union, the disabilities community and teachers — from the process.
Hayes said he introduced the bill to provide greater transparency and to streamline the appointment process. It would authorize the mayor to appoint school board members without being restricted to a preapproved slate. The mayor’s picks would have to be confirmed by the state Senate. Hayes said he has gained the support of his fellow senators from the city in a first vote.
Because the state funds about three-quarters of Baltimore City Public Schools’ operating budget each year, Hayes said, the state should have a greater role in city schools.
The city school board is the only one in Central Maryland with a majority of appointed members.
Because the General Assembly usually defers to the views of local legislators when a bill is hyperlocal, Hayes acknowledged the city’s Senate delegation would likely have the final say in the Senate.
Currently, 12 individuals serve on the board. One member is a student representative and two others are elected. The other nine are appointed. In 1997, the legislature gave the state more control over city schools, requiring the governor and mayor to jointly appoint board members, in exchange for a significant increase in state funding.
Then in 2017, the legislature restored some power to the mayor and eliminated the governor’s role. But the law also created a community panel so that the mayor did not have total control over appointments.
The mayor’s office assembles the panel from different organizations in the city, including the ACLU, the Fund for Educational Excellence, the Parent and Community Advisory Board, the PTA, the Baltimore Teachers Union and others. The office then seeks applicants for board positions, who are screened in open meetings by the panel, which chooses a list for the mayor to pick from.
“The power to appoint is solely with this group. “[The mayor] can only pick from a list,” Hayes said. “There is no flexibility or discretion to figure out who is appointed.”
If the legislation passes, the panel would be eliminated, and the mayor would pick the candidates and send the names to the Senate for approval.
Senate confirmation hearings are open to the public, and the public can submit comments.
The bill isn’t popular among those who would be cut out of the process. The school board expressed a series of concerns, as did the board’s Parent and Community Advisory Board, the Baltimore Teachers Union and representatives of the disabilities community.
Baltimore Teachers Union representative Cristina Duncan Evans said the current panel is composed of a broad cross section of people who have a deep knowledge of education and education policy. Elected representatives don’t have expertise in disabilities law or other education policy issues.
“They [panel members] are the individuals most directly affected by the school board,” Duncan Evans said at a meeting of city senators on Friday.
Dawana Sterrette, the school board’s executive director for legislative and government affairs, raised concerns about the bill, saying that if passed, the city would be the only school district with a board that required state confirmation.
Baltimore County, for instance, has a nominating committee that interviews school board candidates for four positions and provides the county executive with a list of names to choose from. The remaining eight members of the board are elected.
The city board receives no compensation for the volunteer job.
Sterrette said the school board recommends that the legislation be amended to provide some compensation. Sen. Cory McCray said he was going to write an amendment that would give board members $10,000 a year, but would not compensate the student member.
In lieu of payment, Hayes said the amendment might include a scholarship for the student member.
The bill will have a Senate hearing on March 11.
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