2 school board members are running for County Council. Will their positions haunt or help?

Shortly before a contentious school board vote this spring, a Montgomery County father leaned in to the microphone and delivered a warning to the elected leaders on the dais.

“This won’t bode well for your future political aspirations,” Robert Stolz told them.

His statement could apply most directly to two of the eight school board members: Julie Yang and Karla Silvestre, both of whom are in the midst of contested County Council campaigns.

Yang is running to represent District 1, which includes Bethesda, Chevy Chase and Potomac. Silvestre is seeking one of four at-large council seats.

Their roles on the school board could be a blessing and a curse as they target higher office.

“Serving on a school board is a double-edged sword, particularly in a place like Montgomery County, where there is a lot of scrutiny,” said University of Mary Washington political science professor Stephen J. Farnsworth.

Their positions give Yang and Silvestre a megaphone to advocate on education issues, which Montgomery County voters care deeply about.

But they’ve also weighed in on several hot-button plans in the months leading up to the June Democratic primary, stances that please some voters and repel others.

The school board recently approved a major redistricting plan that will shift where thousands of students go to school. Such changes trigger intense emotions among families, many of whom bought homes based on the campus they expected their children to attend.

Perhaps the most controversial element of the shuffle is the move of Rockville’s Wootton High School to the newly constructed Crown High building in Gaithersburg.

Yang was the sole vote against the new campus maps, along with a related proposal to reshape high school academic programming. She supported elements of the plans, but said she had concerns that kept her from signing off on the entire package.

“I support expanding access to strong programs, but we need to do it in a way that defines what success looks like and have concrete evaluation metrics, not just good intentions,” she said.


Silvestre voted for the changes with the rest of the board.

“My job was to ask the questions, look at the data and then make the best decision for the entire system, right? Not just one group,” Silvestre said.

Immediately after that vote, dozens of people congregated outside district headquarters, including several candidates for various local offices who passed out their own campaign literature.

Josie Caballero, who is running against Silvestre for an at-large seat, said she would’ve pushed for Wootton High to stay where it is.

In the weeks since that vote, Caballero said, “it’s become a campaign issue.”

‘Natural progression’

In Montgomery County and beyond, school board members have parlayed their experience into higher office.

“It’s definitely a natural progression,” said Nancy Navarro, a former County Council and school board member. “The school system is sort of like the epicenter, a microcosm of the broader community.”

The board has taken up many consequential votes during Yang and Silvestre’s tenures. It has prioritized construction projects, weighed in on student safety and faced legal fights over books.

Roughly half the county’s budget flows to the public school system. If Yang and Silvestre join the council, they’d have to weigh the schools’ financial needs against all the other pressing costs in the county.

Current council members are debating County Executive Marc Elrich’s budget proposal, which calls for tax increases that he said are necessary to fully fund the district’s $3.8 billion request for fiscal year 2027.

Several council members are worried about piling on to residents’ financial burdens as they struggle with federal job losses and other economic uncertainty.

Both Yang and Silvestre said they don’t support raising taxes right now.

In an alternative budget proposal, County Council President Natali Fani-González pitched lowering the amount Elrich approved for the county board of education by $59 million.

Her proposal calls for county employees to receive smaller raises than they would under a tentative bargaining agreement reached with Elrich’s administration.

This sets up a potential showdown with the county’s unions, including several that represent public school employees. Her proposed compensation plan would translate into roughly $30 million less for MCPS staff pay, on top of the other $59 million in cuts.

Support from the teachers union can be a major factor in local elections.

The Montgomery County Education Association’s influential “Apple Ballot” backs Yang for District 1 but not Silvestre for an at-large seat.

The union is endorsing Caballero and Elrich, along with Fatmata Barrie and current council member Laurie-Anne Sayles, for those four positions.

“We’re really excited about endorsing Julie,” MCEA President David Stein said. “She’s been a really strong school board member, and we’re happy she’s going to be a really strong council member.

“In terms of Karla, there were a lot of people running in the at-large race,” he said. “There was support for so many candidates.”

Meanwhile, Yang and Silvestre have the backing of Service Employees International Union Local 500, which represents school support staff such as bus drivers and custodians. The union pointed to Yang and Silvestre’s records of standing up for workers.

“Too often, these workers are overlooked. Karla and Julie have made sure they are not,” Travis B. Simon of SEIU 500 said.

“They have also proven to be responsive and accessible leaders,” he added. “When our members raise concerns, they listen. When solutions are needed, they engage.”

Who are Yang and Silvestre?

Like many of the Montgomery County residents they hope to represent, Yang and Silvestre are immigrants.

Yang, 55, is from China, while Silvestre, 53, is from Guatemala. Their experiences could shape their approach to legislation in the face of the Trump administration’s crackdown.

“It’s not just something I theoretically believe in and support,” said Silvestre, who works as the community engagement director at Montgomery College. “My family members are still in crisis.”

Both women have also zeroed in on workforce development as an issue they’d want to tackle.

Yang, a former college and career counselor, hopes to bring more MCPS graduates back home to start their adult lives. She wants the council to promote its economic incubators to more entrepreneurs.

“We have empty office spaces. Let’s bring them in, right?” she said. “I believe the council can set the table for this so we are more nimble.”

Among constituents, Yang is known for showing up. After frightening graffiti was discovered at Bradley Hills Elementary, the board member was on campus for pickup and drop-off.

“She was there making sure parents felt safe,” said Angela Goldstein, who added that she’s impressed with Yang’s commitment beyond the school district.

When Yang learned Goldstein is a small-business owner, she set up a lunch meeting to learn about the issues she faces.

Meanwhile, Silvestre said Montgomery County’s well-intended regulations contribute to a narrative that it’s unfriendly to business.

“How can we be a more efficient and effective county in terms of regulation so that it doesn’t get in the way of businesses coming and growing here?” she said.

MCPS parent Ramesh Kurup said Silvestre was responsive to his community association‘s worries over students’ walking routes to campus. He was impressed, too, that she considered school traffic problems along with broader county road projects.

“We feel heard,” he said.

Hard decisions

Yang and Silvestre said their stints on the school board prepared them to make difficult choices.

Silvestre was the face of the school board during particularly challenging times. In 2024, while she was board president, she testified before lawmakers during a heated hearing about antisemitism in public schools.

A year earlier, she dealt with the fallout of a sexual harassment scandal in the district. An independent probe found “significant and troubling failures by senior management” when MCPS officials promoted a principal who was under investigation for allegedly harassing educators.

Then-Superintendent Monifa McKnight left the district shortly after.

Silvestre said she’s proud of the way the board regrouped and picked Thomas Taylor as the school system’s next leader.

“I’ve had to make really hard decisions on the school board,” she said. “I have that track record and experience that I can now apply to the difficult decisions the council will have to make over the next few years.”

Yang’s tenure as school board president also saw high-profile challenges, including the release of an inspector general report that found thousands of MCPS employees had outdated criminal history checks or had not undergone the required Child Protective Services screening.

Yang said she knows she can’t please everyone but she will always base decisions on data, accountability and the impact they’ll have on people.

“That’s why I’m not shy of getting a town hall going or standing in front of the people and answering their questions,” she said.