A little election shake-up and a dash of frustration could be the recipe that would make Anne Arundel County senators take action to reform the county?s school board.
The five-member delegation ? boasting two new members this year ? has wrangled for years over whether to make the existing seven-member board an elected body.
This year, senators and their House of Delegates counterparts debated two bills ? one that would make the board a pure elected body, and another that would require the governor to appoint members from a list of candidates chosen by a commission. The House delegation has not yet made a decision on the proposals.
“I?ve never supported an elected board,” said Sen. Ed DeGrange, a Democrat from District 32. “Without taxing authority it doesn?t make sense … but I don?t have heartburn over the compromise bill.”
DeGrange said he hoped lawmakers could do more to “enhance the system we have now.” Currently, school board members are nominated by a countywide nominating convention; and the winners are forwarded to the governor, who may or may not appoint the nominee to a five-year term. Critics have argued the system provides little to no accountability.
Democratic Sen. John Astle, the chair of the county?s Senate delegation, said he would also lean toward supporting the commission model.
Sen. Janet Greenip, a Republican who represents the southern end of the county, said she supports an elected school board because “the people want it.”
“The commission needs a lot of help. It?s got a lot of problems,” she said. “There need to be additional people on the commission.”
Given the simmering discontent over the issue, freshman Sen. Bryan Simonaire, a Republican who sponsors the elected-board bill, said the better strategy might be to study the issue during the interim and build more support.
“Whatever we do, it?s going to put it to rest for a long, long time,” DeGrange said. “Whatever we do, we?re not going to revisit it.”
