Reading the School Board Task Force Tea Leaves

Recommendations from a task force that is set to review how members of the county board of education are selected could be decided by four appointments coming from the County Council and executive.

The 12-member task force will hold three public meetings starting in July.

All of the members have been appointed — , one from the County Council and .

The this year by the General Assembly after some county legislators introduced bills creating at least a partially elected school board. Similar bills have come up every year for the last six years or so.

So how will they likely come down on the issue of an appointed or (at least partially) elected school board? Nearly all 12 members have a history on the issue.

And, as the numbers go, it would appear that there might not be a majority on the panel to make any changes to the current system.

The county's senate delegation appears evenly split based on past voting on the issue while a majority of the house delegation's four members favors the creation of at least a partially elected board.

County Executive Kevin Kamenetz has opposed efforts to create a partially or fully elected school board unless it is also coupled with giving the board authority to levy its own taxes and control its own budget independent of the county. His three selections appear to re-enforce his opposition to a change from the current appointment method. The county executive's office has had considerable influence over appointment selections for the last several years preceding Kamenetz's election.

Here's a rundown of the task force members:

The Senators

Kathy Klausmeier — A Democrat who represents the 8th District including Perry Hall. Parkville and Overlea and also serves as the chairwoman of the county's Senate delegation. Klausmeier has not supported efforts to add elected members to the school board. She has advocated for a return to a school board nominating convention.

J.B. Jennings — A Republican who represents the 7th District, including Cockeysville, Kingsville and parts of Perry Hall and Middle River and western Harford County. Jennings voted to create a hybrid board in Harford County. He voted against the bill creating a hybrid in Baltimore County in a county delegation meeting but said if the bill returns next year that he would vote in favor of it.

Delores Kelley — A Democrat who represents the 10th District, including Woodlawn and Randallstown. Kelley has been a consistent opponent of efforts to create a hybrid school board over the last five years or so.

Bobby Zirkin — A Democrat who represents the 11th District including Owings Mills, Pikesville and part of Timonium. Zirkin favors a partially elected school board and has been the driving force for the bill in the county's Senate delegation.

The Delegates

Steve Lafferty — A Democrat who represents the 42nd District including Towson, Timonium and part of Pikesville. Lafferty was the lead sponsor of a 2010 bill that would have made the county board a fully-elected rather than appointed board.

Emmett Burns — A Democrat who represents the 10th District who, along with Sen. Delores Kelley, has frequently opposed elected members of the school board and seen such efforts as an attack on schools Superintendent Joe A. Hairston.

Wade Kach — A Republican who represents District 5B which includes northern Baltimore County. Kach, a former math teacher and auditor in the Baltimore County schools system, was co-sponsor on Lafferty's 2010 school board bill and co-sponsor of a 2011 House bill creating a partially-elected school board.

Dana Stein — A Democrat who represents the 11th District along with Zirkin. Co-sponsored Lafferty's 2010 bill and was a co-sponsor on the 2011 bill with Kach.

The Rest

John Olszewski Sr. — Council selection and Democratic council chairman from Dundalk. Olszewski's son, Del. John A. Olszewski Jr., recused himself from the task force because he works for the county public schools system. The council has never had to cast a vote on school board issues. A number of council members, including Democrat Vicki Almond and Republican David Marks, support some form of elected school board. There's also the friendship between the council chairman and the county executive. Olszewski was the first member of the council to endorse Kamenetz's county executive campaign.

Dunbar Brooks — A Dundalk resident appointed to the commision by Kamenetz. Previously appointed to the Baltimore County Board of Education in the 1990s, Brooks served terms as president of both the county board and later, the Maryland State Board of Education.

James Campbell — Appointed by Kamenetz. Roland Park resident and Democratic former six-term delegate that represented the city and Baltimore County. Campbell served on the the Baltimore school board for six years. He was a member of the Maryland Association of Boards of Education and served on the organization's legislative policy committee for five years. In an email Campbell, the only city resident on the task force, said he believes he has voted against elected school boards in the past. "I think Maryland’s school boards  function pretty well – elected and appointed. I do think its important that boards be responsive to their various constituent groups."

Jim Smith – The Cockeysville Democrat was appointed by Kamenetz. Smith opposed any form of elected school board during his two-terms as county executive.