Opinions About the School Board? Tell the Delegates

The Howard County Delegation is giving residents a chance to voice their opinions on proposed legislation that would change the way members of the school board are chosen.

Tonight, on where residents can tell their state representatives what they think about the proposed bill.

To address what some see as a lack of racial, ethnic and geographic diversity on the board, legislation proposed by Del. Frank Turner (D-Howard) would have five of the seven members elected by council district and two appointed by the county executive.

That follows the recommendation of the commission that County Executive Ken Ulman created to study the school board. Ulman's office recently released the final report from the commission, which is available here.

However, not everyone is in favor of Turner and the commission's appointed-elected school board model. Del. James Malone (D-Howard/Baltimore) , during the Sept. 22 meeting of the Greater Elkridge Community Association.

"To me, that’s not an elected school board," said Malone. "To me, we’re going backward."

Elkridge resident Howard Johnson agreed and wrote a  saying as much.

"The Board of Education election process is the purist form of our elective franchise in our Republic," wrote Johnson. "Please do not take our franchise away."

A found that the majority of readers wanted to vote on school board members.

What do you think? Tell the delegates at the  tonight, Oct. 11, at 7 p.m. If you'd like to testify, get there early to sign up.