Education is always a big issue in the General Assembly. This year, the both the Governor and members of the Legislature have introduced bills on three different topics: school safety, school accountability, and school construction.
Measures have been introduced by the Governor and members of the legislature in the wake of the massacre in Parkland, Florida and the shooting here in Great Mills.
The bills are different, but there seems to be bipartisan support for most of the measures suggested, which include:
Hire security administrators
provide more training for school police officers
devise active shooter plans for all schools
do a study to determine if the schhols are prepared for such an emergency, if the buildings are secure, and if teachers and resource officers are adequately trained.
Encourages hiring more school resource officers
require school systems to establish teams to learn to be on guard for "threatening or aberrant" behaviro
Hold annual active threat drills.
Rerquire secure, lockable classroom doors
Enhanced cameras or other security technology
School Accountability: HB 355-- Accountability in Education Act of 2018
In response to the widespread accountability concerns from parents, students, and teachers involving school systems across the state, Governor Hogan introduced the Accountability in Education Act of 2018. Repeated allegations of wrongdoing, corruption, and mismanagement include:
Howard County: We had a Superintendent who overspent, snubbed parents, ignored Public Information Requests, and paid no attention to state procurement rules. Ultimately, the state delegation had to ask the general assembly to pass a law creating a ombudsman to review her actions. Even after that report found clear evidence of violations of Public Information Act (PIA) rules, the County still had to shell out over $1 million taxpayer dollars to remove her from office!
Prince Georges: After several school board members wrote a letter of complaint, an audit of the county's graduation rate found that in 2016 and 2017, nearly 5 percent of the students had been ineligible to graduate and an additional 24.5% were lacking documentation to verify that they were qualified to graduate.
Baltimore County: The county's superintendent (Dallas Dance) was indicted this year on four counts of perjury when he failed to disclose almost $147,000 income from private consulting firms.
Baltimore Community High School principal (Leslie Lewis) pleaded guilty to stealing more than $58,000 from the school.
Baltimore City: The list of issues is overwhelming.
HB 355
This bill establishes the Education Monitoring Unit as an independent unit in the State to investigate, analyze, and report on the following:
upholding of teacher, student, and parent civil rights;
fraud, abuse, and waste regarding public funds and property;
child abuse, neglect and safety; and
a range of specified matters relating to public schools and public school facilities.
The Unit must also establish and publicize an anonymous electronic tip program.
The bill establishes an investigator general position as well as an investigator general selection and review commission within the Unit.
[Democrat Chairs refused to give this Bill a vote in Committee in neither the House or the Senate.]
School Construction
HB 1783 creates "open warfare" between Republican Governor and Democrat-Controlled Legislature
What is the ISSUE?
Currently, superintendents from school systems all over the State must come before the 3-member Board of Public Works (BPW) once a year and plead their case for school construction funds. This meeting is colloquially called the "beg-a-thon," and is not something the superintendents enjoy.
Nonetheless, it is the one and only opportunity an elected body with the responsibility to raise money through taxation, has an opportunity to weigh in on any K-12 spending decisions. Otherwise, the county and state school boards determine how much to ask for and how to spend the billions of dollars that they receive from the State and county governments.
BOARD OF PUBLIC WORKS
HB 1783 was amended to replace the BPW's role in overssight of billions in education funding, replacing it with an Interagency Commission on school construction that is an independent commission that operates within the Department of Education. It's prupose is "to develop and approve policies, procedures, guidelines and regulations on State school construction allocations to local jurisdictions in an independent and merit-based manner."
What Happened?
HB 1783 started out as a nice, quiet, unassuming little bill that sought to enhance funding and streamline the process of public school construction. An admirable goal.
After a non-eventful hearing, the House Appropriations Committee undertook it upon themselves to radically transform the bill into a heat-seeking-missile aimed directly at terminating the Board of Public Works . . . or at least it's role in approving school construction funds.
The 42-page revision came to the floor of the House where, over numerous amendments and vociferous Republican debate against passage, it passed along a straight party-line vote.
But it wasn't until the bill got to the Senate that all-out warfare broke out, as Senate Dems rushed the bill through the process at the speed of light, ultimately passing a bill --again along a straight party-line vote -- the major provision of which was never subjected to a public hearing!
Why?
The reason the legislature voted this week to strip Gov. Larry Hogan and Franchot of their power over school construction decisions has nothing to do with where that power should reside in order to best serve the students of Maryand. No, the reason is because of a feud between powerful Democrat leaders. In particular, Senate President Mike Miller and Comptroller Franchot.
Miller, who is never shy about expressing his feelings, has gone on incoherent tirades about some of Franchot's grandstanding this year.
In return, during an interview on WAMU-FM's Kojo Nnamdi Show this past Friday, Franchot accused the Democratic 'machine' --and President Miller -- of corruption:
"They say, 'Absolute power corrupts absolutely.' The Senate president has absolute power," Franchot said. "He's been flexing it for some time."
