A bill that would have required the state Senate to approve the governor’s appointments to the Baltimore County school board was rejected by the Baltimore County delegation, meaning it won’t advance in the legislative process, according to a spokesman for Sen. Jim Brochin.
The law was opposed by the League of Women Voters, which called it insulting, and by Advocates for Baltimore County Schools, an activist group that was created to advocate for a hybrid school board.
In 2014, lawmakers voted to move Baltimore County to a hybrid, or partially elected, school board. Currently all school board members are appointed by the governor.
So starting in 2018, seven members of the board will be elected, four will be appointed and one will be a student member. The governor will only be able to appoint people who were approved by a nominating commission made up of community stakeholders. If the new legislation had become law, there would have been an additional hurdle: The governor’s nominees would be “subject to the advice and consent of the Senate of Maryland,” which is currently controlled by Democrats.
Representatives of the League of Women Voters and Advocates for Baltimore County Schools said they would not have opposed the bill if it included a sunset clause so that it became void in 2018. A spokesman for Del. Adrienne A. Jones of western Baltimore County, who sponsored the House bill, said the delegate was planning to add a sunset clause. It is not clear if it had been added.