By Caitlyn Freeman
Baltimore Watchdog Staff Writer
From not being allowed to vote on budgetary matters to not having a vote at all, the rights of the student members of Maryland’s school boards vastly differ, leading some students to rally for more universal and increased rights.
Twenty-two out of 24 localities currently have some form of student representation on their school boards.
Typically, each student member serves a one-year term and is either a junior or senior at a high school in the district. However, each county or city has different laws governing how much influence and responsibility these students possess.
Of the 22 systems that include students on their school boards, approximately eight have voting rights. Seven of the eight have partial rights and only one has full voting privileges. At the state level, the student member of the Maryland Board of Education has partial voting rights.
Several student members of the board – or SMOBs – have come together under a coalition known as the Maryland Association of Student Board Members to lobby the state General Assembly for universal full voting rights for every SMOB in the state.
Christian Thomas is a student member of the board for Baltimore County Public Schools and has partial voting rights. Assuming the role this year, the Eastern Technical High School senior said he ran for the SMOB position to use his voice to advocate for BCPS’s 111,000 students.
He’s currently advocating for more voting rights for himself and other SMOBs statewide. He said his motivation comes from feeling unheard during the school system’s capital budget discussions in September.
According to the BCPS board handbook, Thomas is allowed to vote on all matters except those concerning discipline and discharge of certificated employees, collective bargaining matters, capital and operating budgets, and school closings, reopening’s, and boundaries.
During the Sept. 14 meeting of the BCPS board, Thomas spoke out against these restrictions as it relates to the school system’s operating or capital budgets. That night, the board voted 6-5 to ask the state for additional funding to replace both Towson and Dulaney high schools.
Thomas was against this measure as it went against the recommendations laid out in the Multi-Year Improvement Plan for Schools, which favored renovations over replacements. He made his position known by holding up a sign that read “renovations ≠ bad,” which translates to “renovations do not equal bad.”
Thomas said that meeting represented a “turning point” for him since it was the first time something he presented to the board failed to sway his fellow members. He said he felt “powerless.”
“At the end of the day, I couldn’t even vote,” Thomas said. “And so, it kind of felt like, although it mattered, although what I said mattered and what I said was on the record and people know what I said, at the end of the day did it really matter? Because I couldn’t even vote.”
BCPS school board member Lily Rowe said all members on the board represent students, not just the SMOB. She added that the parents who elect the members of the board also represent the students.
“Let’s not overstate the representation here,” Rowe said.
Thomas also put forth a legislative priority during the last meeting of the board’s Legislative and Governmental Relations Committee to increase the voting rights for the BCPS SMOB to include capital and operating budgets, school closures, openings, and reopening’s, and collective bargaining. The priorities set by the committee, where Thomas serves as vice chair, are subject to a full board vote.
Baltimore County Executive Johnny Olszewski, who served as a SMOB himself when he was in high school, said in an interview that he supports Thomas’ push for full voting rights, especially since he advocated for it during his time on the dais during the 1999-00 school year.
“Why should we limit the voices of students?” Olszewski asked.
While she hasn’t seen the legislative priorities yet to be able to comment on them, BCPS board chair Makeda Scott said she supports the voices of Thomas and students overall.
“I think [students] have a good handle on how their schools should be run,” Scott said.
Rowe said she’s unsure whether or not she’d support Thomas’ push for full voting rights in the General Assembly, adding that she sees both sides of the argument. While she think’s the decision is up to the General Assembly to make, she said she isn’t against the limiting the voting rights of SMOBs.
Rowe went on to say that allowing the SMOB to be a full voting member would open them up to the same public scrutiny as adult members, something she’s against. Further, Rowe said it could be seen as unfair for the SMOB to have full voting rights since they typically are under the age of 18 and cannot legally vote in state or federal elections.
“Voting rights are tied to taxation.”
Down in the eastern corridor of the state is Samuel Buckel, SMOB of the Kent County Board of Education. Buckel does not have voting rights but does have a recorded vote. This means his opinion on matters is on the record but does not impact the final decision of the board.
“I think it’s a little disheartening, especially seeing the amazing work that’s being done in Anne Arundel County and Montgomery County,” Buckel said. “And I feel as though a student vote can impact the board in a way more than just policy that talks about students. I mean at the end of the day the policy that they vote on affects me more than it affects the board members.”
While he’s interested in gaining more rights and is working with the coalition, he said that seeing as Kent County is the more progressive county in the historically conservative Eastern Shore, he’s lobbying for partial rights for himself.
He said the Eastern Shore is very “conservative” when it comes to student voices in schools compared to the western part of the state.
“I definitely think that Kent County is grateful for what we have,” Buckel said. “But I definitely think that we need to be up to standards as a whole Eastern Shore to what the western shore is able to when it comes to voting rights.”
Both Thomas and Buckel have had conversations with their respective fellow board members privately about supporting their push for more rights. While some are open to the idea, some aren’t.
Buckel said one board member told him that students shouldn’t be voting on “adult” matters. Another argument that was made to him was that if he gained voting rights, there’d no longer be a tie-breaking vote if needed because it would increase the number of voting members from five to six.
Similarly, Thomas said when discussing his desire for more rights, a fellow board member told him that they don’t believe student members should vote on budgetary items. In addition, he was presented with concerns over the SMOB being able to handle the workload of being a full voting member.
“Really?” Thomas asked. “The budget that’s for us? The budget that’s actually funding the resources that we need in the schools right now? We shouldn’t be able to have a vote on that? Students should not be able to have a say in that?”
Both Thomas and Buckel declined to disclose who specifically on their respective boards said these things to them.
In response to some of the concerns surrounding SMOBs having voting rights, Dana Mitra, an education professor at the Pennsylvania State University who focuses on education policy, disagrees with the notion that student members are maybe ill-equipped to handle the same responsibilities as adult members.
Mitra argued that it’s typically not a requirement for school board candidates to have prior knowledge of the interworking’s of a school system before running for a board seat.
“I would argue that anybody joining a school board would have to get the same training that a student would need in order to be brought up to speed,” Mitra said.
In Anne Arundel County, the student board member is a full voting member and has the same rights as his or her fellow “adult” members.
Bunmi Omisore is the current SMOB of AACPS and said she’s never felt less than her counterparts. However, when it comes to the constituents of the county, she said that she’s seen Facebook comments from parents asking why she’s allowed to vote as a student.
“When it comes to my colleagues and my fellow board members, I’ve never felt like less than,” Omisore said. “I’ve never felt like they view me as less than a board member. But, when it comes to constituents, so parents or other adults, that is where I see [it]. I guess you can kind of argue that it doesn’t really matter because they aren’t on the dais. I am, but that’s where I can kind of that lack of respect.”
The Arundel High School senior isn’t alone in her experience. The Baltimore Sun reported in June that several parents in Howard County filed a lawsuit in the circuit court that argued allowing the student member of the Howard County school board to vote is unconstitutional due to them being minors who cannot vote in elections themselves.
As the Sun explained, the lawsuit began after the school board was in a deadlock last December over whether to reopen schools or not during the COVID-19 pandemic. While the lawsuit failed in the circuit court, it has since gained an appeal.
The current student member of HCPS, Peter Banyas, who was not on the board at the time of the December 2020 decision, declined to comment for this article. But Omisore said she hopes things like the Howard County lawsuit don’t continue.
“I think it will always continue as long as adults don’t see students as people who are responsible within the rule of power,” Omisore said. “I do think that the, I guess you could say, the volatile reactions have been bolstered because of social media and because a lot of parents have way too much time on their hands, to be very frank.”