Democrats Demand Control of Education

Maryland’s Democrats are working hard to try to ensure that Democrats retain full control over K-12 education in our state.

Today the Senate Education, Health, and Environmental Affairs heard SB404, a bill that would subject the State Superintendent of Schools to Senate Confirmation. This bill comes at a time in which the State Board of Education, now complete with members appointed by Governor Larry Hogan, are looking for a new State Superintendent of schools.

In written testimony provided to the Committee today, State School Board President Guffrie Smith urged an unfavorable committee report, saying that “it is the unified position of the State Board that SB 404 is unnecessary and potentially detrimental legislation that, if passed, will discourage highly qualified candidates from applying and delay the appointment of a permanent State Superintendent.”

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Meanwhile in Baltimore County, their Democratic delegation has introduced HB 569 and SB 572. This bill would subject Baltimore County School Board Members, who are appointed by the Governor, to confirmation by the State Senate.

And here in Anne Arundel County, a Democratically-controlled Anne Arundel County Delegation Subcommittee is looking to make substantial changes to the Anne Arundel School Board Nominating Commission:

Among the proposed changes discussed, the subcommittee is looking at replacing the five governor-appointed representatives, who are based on legislative districts, with five seats for advocacy groups…..

…The subcommittee is discussing changing the five governor seats on the nominating panel to the following:

• NAACP representative

• CASA de Maryland representative

• special needs advocate

• parent-teacher organization representative

• a representative from the other local business chambers.

What’s particularly  galling is the fact that of the proposed replacements on the Nominating Commission, two of the organizations being suggested (the NAACP and CASA de Maryland) are Democratic leaning organizations.

You’d have to be naive to not see the crass partisan nature of all of these proposed changes. Because you see, Democrats were perfectly fine having five representatives on the Superintendent and Baltimore County School Board Members be appointed without involvement from the Senate. The Democrats had no problems with members of the Anne Arundel School Board Nominating Commission being appointed by the Governor. Or, at least they didn’t when it was a liberal Democratic Governor from Baltimore City. It is far from coincidental that now that a Republican Governor from Anne Arundel County is in office that the Democrats are looking to make substantive changes to several appointment processes to continue to allow Democratic meddling in K-12 education.

All of these machinations regarding the Superintendent of Schools, the Baltimore County School Board and the Anne Arundel School Board Nominating Commission have nothing to do with improving public schools, and everything to do with the continued politicization of our school system in an effort to keep Democrats in charge. These Democrats will stop at nothing in their efforts to keep their Union special interests happy, and continued Democratic control of the entire School Board selection process will do just that.