New bills introduced in Harford County raise concerns for community members

By Matt Hubbard
Baltimore Watchdog Staff Writer

Harford County Delegate introduces a new bill that would alter the Board of Education operations by eliminating appointed members.

On January 31, 2022, Maryland Delegate Mike Griffith introduced Maryland House Bill 603 (MD HB603). The bill aims to reduce the number of appointed Board of Education members from three to one, reducing the number of Board of Education members from nine to seven. The bill also aims to allow the county executives to choose who that appointed member will be.

In a virtual work session on Tuesday, February 15, 2022, numerous members of the community, and Delegate Griffith, voiced their viewpoints on the proposed bill.

“I find the fury of activity to change the makeup and the way the Harford County Board of Education and the way it is determined an enigma,” said Cindy Poper. “Nine members is appropriate and enough to even out bias or political agendas, but not so many as to make the decision making difficult because after all, it works for the SCOTUS.”

The proposed bill of eliminating appointed members concerned community members on diversity grounds.

“Having served as an appointed member, it is good to have three members whom the governor appoints to bring a diverse outside look,” said James Thornton, the President of the Harford County Caucus of African American Leaders and a former Board of Education member. “We could end up with five white men, one out of district eight (Edgewood) who wouldn’t represent that area correctly.”

Many community members speculate that the effort put forth by Delegate Griffith is to politicize the Board of Education. Delegate Griffith, however, says it is for an entirely different reason.

“What my bill does is it removes the three members appointed by the Governor and replaces them with one member appointed by the County Executive confirmed by a supermajority of the county council, as they do all appointments, and brings the BOE closer to the people,” said Griffith.

Harford County is one of three counties in Maryland to have gubernatorial appointments to the Board of Education. The other counties are Baltimore County and Caroline County.

“Three appointed members also allows three perspectives from various business and industry backgrounds,” said Poper, “Basically, three appointed members means that we have the greatest opportunity to ensure that the Board of Education represents as much diversity across as many areas and criteria of Harford County as possible.”