Friday, February 18, 2011

In a unanimous vote, the County Delegation to the Maryland General Assembly reduces the terms of newly elected school board members


On February 17, 2011, the Anne Arundel Delegation to the Maryland House of Delegates unanimously approved HB220 (the same bill as SB78), which mandates that incumbent school board members to win an additional term must go through the SBNC nominating process as well as win a retention vote.  This would overturn the Maryland Attorney General’s opinion last spring that incumbents did not have to either get renominated by the SBNC or be reappointed by Maryland’s governor, only win a retention vote to seek re-election.  Given the partisan nature of most Delegation debates on the SBNC as well as that a large majority of the school board members individually opposed passage of the bill (although collectively the school board took no position), the unanimous vote in favor of HB220 is remarkable.   More votes on SBNC bills will   be coming up over the coming weeks.  My testimony in favor of HB220/SB78 can be found here and is posted below.

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