I think the way Interim Superintendent Barnes went about crafting a proposed budget this year is useful. He made some hard decisions proposing potential budget cuts up front. Although the Board may restore much of what was cut those discussions are taking place now rather than at the last minute, so that if the Council does cut the budget, final decisions can be based on thoughtful options that have been vetted in advance. The process by which the education budget is established every year almost requires the Board to ask for more than may be expected, since the Council can only make cuts. The right process would have been, initially, upon the vote to go to an elected school board, to grant the Board of Education the power/obligation to raise its own funds or raise giving it the authority to go with its responsibilities.
7. This year, the Superintendent has proposed cutting nearly 350 positions across the school system. What would you be doing right now if you were a member of the board facing these cuts?
I would do what the Board is doing: listening to the community, asking probing questions of staff, and looking for any other way to cut a budget that has no soft spots.
8. That, if anything, needs to change about how HCPSS administers Special Education programs? What would you propose to address the challenges teachers and students in
1. Shift the “Burden of Proof.” For several years, our formerly bipartisan Howard County delegation unanimously approved, and the BOE has supported, a bill to shift the burden of proof from the parents to the school system in cases where the parents feel they must take HCPSS to court to get satisfaction. These cases are almost unique to decisions involving IEP (Individual Education Plans). When parents know they can afford to challenge such decisions, the issues tend to get resolved without legal recourse, saving both the parents and the school a good deal of money.
2. Undertake Strategic Planning. Another crucial step, which our Interim Superintendent has recommended, is to involve all stakeholders in a genuine effort to devise a strategic plan that will examine all facets of our special education efforts including looking for answers that have worked in other counties or states.
3. Share Health Costs with the County. A significant part of the special education budget goes to employing health care professionals. Health care is the responsibility of the state and county governments. It is time to talk with the County Council about assuming certain of the special education health care expenses that are currently funded in the education budget. It is possible that there may be economies of scale found in combining these services.
4. Finally, some serious thought should be given to retooling the Regional Special Ed program wherein students with more serious disabilities are placed in a few of the elementary schools across the county. While the idea of mainstreaming every child is a good one, this program seems to be counterproductive and has had an adverse effect on the special ed students, themselves, who are not being educated. Even with the Ukeru mats, teachers are still at risk from the violence that occurs when these students are in crisis, something that is mot infrequent.
9. What is the appropriate role of system-provided technology in a “post-COVID” school system? Should the School System continue to provide devices to all students? What about all the staff?
I think, considering the current budget restraints, that, at the beginning of each year, HCPSS should send a letter to parents asking if they would like the school to provide their student(s) with a Chromebook or if their student can use his or her own laptop computer for school? The letter should indicate that if the student can use their own laptop, it will allow one more paraeducator to have the use of a computer. Considering the nature of Howard Countians, I think that would free up quite a number of chromebooks for staff.
10. What does an inclusive school system look like to you? By inclusive, we mean a place for kids to learn that embraces their race, gender, identity, and ability where every child feels safe and welcome?
It is a place that fulfills that goal without focusing on group identity. Bullying and actions against any student because of race, ethnicity, gender, religion, or political views are met with clear, simple, escalating consequences that stop such behavior.
The current system shows clear preferences for certain groups based on the belief that by doing so, it will make other groups more aware of and accepting of their differences. But what also happens is that human beings – even children – realize the unfairness inherent in “picking favorites” and become the kids who don’t feel safe and welcome. Teaching that includes the history and achievements of every group, without discriminating, is the way to create a truly inclusive school system in which every child feels cherished.
11. The Board of Education has an ever-growing list of capital needs: from building High School 14 in Elkridge to addressing hundreds of millions in deferred maintenance for existing schools. Renovations are desperately needed at Oakland Mills High as well as Dunloggin Middle School. As a Board member, how will you decide what to prioritize and where should the funds come from to meet existing and future capital needs? What do you see as the advantages and disadvantages of a P3 (Public Private Partnership)?
Create, as the board has suggested, an objective system for prioritizing renovations, and stick to it. Changing priorities year after year is the worst of all worlds for parents and students who are willing to wait with the reasonable expectation that their school is “next up,” only to find their school moved down on the list – like Dunloggin Middle – when it’s purportedly objective needs score is higher than the schools that jumped to the front of the line. The current system has resulted in advocates for the different schools feeling that they have to spend hours lobbying the Board, year after year. Unfortunately, that has worked to some extent, and it is not how the decisions should be made.
While serving as Deputy Secretary of Transportation, I worked on several Public Private Partnerships (P-3s) involved in transportation. Although there are pluses and minuses with P-3s, the primary value they bring is the ability to fund and build things quickly, as Prince George’s county school system did when they took advantage of a P-3 to get six schools built in just three years. The Board should look very closely at that option, and work to get passed whatever legislation is needed from the state to allow us to go forward.
12. You are running for a position in your district, but as a Board member your decisions will affect the entire county. As an elected official, how would you represent voters both inside and outside of the district in which you personally live?
For a start, I have been a judge for the Simulated Congressional Hearings program for about 15 years. This year, in addition to the schools in my district, I’ve signed up to be a judge at schools across the county. It’s a wonderful opportunity to see these schools ‘close up.’ I love helping the kids, and it is a joy to be part of this program.
One advantage of being a Board member is the right to visit any school in the county, and I plan to take full advantage of the privilege, where I can talk to principals, teachers, and students and get a first-hand understanding of the particular issues facing each school. I lived in Columbia for 13 years, on the street directly across from Oakland Mills High School. My daughters attended Stevens Forest Elementary, and my older daughter went to sixth and seventh grades in Oakland Mills Middle School. But that was many years ago, back when the buildings weren’t in dire need of maintenance. There are more than just physical differences among the many schools in our system and I intend to know them all.
13. Do you support or oppose public education employees’ rights to bargain collectively?
I’m not sure why this question is relevant. Public employees have been allowed to join unions and bargain collectively for about 90 years (although, federal workers, to this day, cannot bargain over pay and benefits).
Nonetheless, I believe that there is merit in FDR’s famous warning, that “All Government employees should realize that the process of collective bargaining, as usually understood, cannot be transplanted into the public service. It has its distinct and insurmountable limitations when applied to public personnel management.”
I have no problem whatsoever with public employees having high salaries and reasonable work rules. But when a strong national union brings to bear its extensive pocketbook to back candidates in only one party, the rights of many of its members are trampled, and the elected officials who are supposed to represent the people have far more allegiance to their union benefactors than to the voter.
The other factor that troubles me is that while teachers care about and generally act for the benefit of their students, unions do not. Unions exist to benefit teachers, financially and otherwise. What is good for teachers is not always good for students, as the kerfuffle over school closings and masking made clear. Nonetheless, most people recognize no difference between the teachers and the teachers unions, giving the unions a power that is not necessarily deserved.
Finally, I am answering this because I believe the Howard County chapter of HCEA is unique. I have been impressed with your comments during your “Appointment” testimony before the Board, and I am impressed with the fairness of the questions you asked in this Questionnaire. I would like to see HCEA consider doing what one other county in Maryland has done, and that is, break with the MSEA and become your own bargaining unit. I didn’t realize that the state and national union take around 80% of the member dues. As your own unit, you would triple the amount of funds available for our teachers. I hope you’ll think about it!
14. How would you work collaboratively with HCEA on issues that impact the employees whom we represent?
The same way I’ve worked with legislators across the aisle for eight years, and the same way I won the endorsement of HCEA in 2014.
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