House, Senate Differ on School Board Change

An expected amendment to a Senate bill could derail efforts to change how Baltimore County school board members are selected.

The county's Senate delegation is expected to vote Wednesday to amend its version of a school board bill from a fully elected board to one that contains both elected and appointed members—the so-called hybrid school board.

Currently, the bill, as proposed by Sen. Bobby Zirkin, calls for a fully elected school board made up of nine members.

Sen. Zirkin, an Owings Mills Democrat and sponsor of the bill, said Tuesday the amendment creates a partially elected school board with one member elected from each of the county's current council districts. The board would  also include up to four other members appointed at large by the governor. The elections and appointments would be done on a staggered basis beginning in 2014.

The Senate delegation delayed a vote scheduled for last week in order to work out the amendment.

"I wanted to do a hybrid originally but the House wanted a fully elected board," said Zirkin. "For me, it was six of one and a half-dozen of the other. It didn't make a difference."

If the amendment passes, the Senate's bill will differ significantly from a companion piece of legislation filed in the House of Delegates.

Earlier this year, Zirkin said he would file a bill creating a fully elected school board after discussions with state delegates led him to believe that such a bill would pass in the House this year.

Last week, the county's House delegation voted to approve an amended bill creating an elected school board.

That bill calls for the creation of nine school board districts.

Amendments to the bill created staggered terms with the first five being elected in 2014. Those members would take office the following July with five members stepping down at that time.

The remaining four members would be elected in 2016. The balance of the appointed members would step down the following July when the new members were sworn in.

Del. Steve Lafferty, a Towson Democrat and a sponsor of the House bill, said the July date would allow newly elected members to be sworn in before the school system budget process begins rather than taking office in the middle of the decision making process.

Another amendment reduced the pay for board members from a proposed $3,000 to a token $100 stipend.

Del. John Cluster, a Parkville Republican, said he would prefer a hybrid school board with seven members appointed by county executive with the remaining members elected.

Weighting the board with more appointments than elected positions would keep special interest groups such as the teachers union from seizing control of the board, said Cluster.

County officials and school board members have opposed both hybrid and fully elected boards, saying the timing for a change is wrong because the board is looking to .

Current Superintendent Joe Hairston is set end his 12-year run as head of the system on June 30. School board president Larry Schmidt said the board hopes to hire a new superintendent to take over immediately as Hairston leaves.

The difference in bills could ultimately kill the effort to change how the board is selected for the seventh year.

Last year, a similar effort was thwarted when the Senate delegation created a school board task force. The task force met several times last summer but could come to no consensus on changes to the board and made no formal recommendations.

Still, some legislators remained hopeful this would be the year that a bill would pass.

"That's what conference committees are for," said Del. Dan Morhaim, a Democrat who represents the same district as Zirkin. "We do them down here at least 50 times a session."

Zirkin also was optimistic.

"I think we'll get something done," said Zirkin. "And if not, it shows that there's clear progress and that both (the Senate and the House) want to get something done. This issue isn't going away."