04/04/2013
Pr. George’s delegation backs schools shift, but full takeover bid falls short
By Miranda S. Spivack and Ovetta Wiggins, Published: April 3
A compromise bill to alter the leadership of the Prince George’s County school system won a key approval Wednesday in Annapolis, but the measure falls far short of the sweeping changes County Executive Rushern L. Baker III proposed in his bid to take over the schools.
Baker (D) made an aggressive late-session push to wrest control of the school system’s $1.7 billion budget and its superintendent from the county’s elected school board, arguing that the struggling schools impede economic growth and that a single authority needs to be accountable. Although he asked for direct control over the superintendent and the budget, Baker ended up with a bill that gives him neither.
Still, the county’s state Senate delegation gave Baker more power over the school system than is given in most jurisdictions in Maryland, including the ability to hire a superintendent and to appoint three members of a reconfigured 13-member Board of Education. Baker’s original plan for total control was watered down during negotiations with lawmakers — including House Speaker Michael E. Busch (D-Anne Arundel) — who worried that Baker’s proposal would set a statewide precedent that could affect other systems.
The new plan, approved by a 7 to 1 vote, takes the hiring of the system’s next superintendent out of the purview of the elected board and allows Baker to choose the board’s chairman and vice chairman, giving him more influence over the school system than any county executive in the state has. But the Board of Education would retain ultimate control of the budget, and with a two-thirds majority, it could challenge the superintendent and become involved in day-to-day schools operations.
