The most popular piece I wrote on Clean Slate MoCo is MCPS Board of Education: MoCo’s most illegitimate governing body. That article explains how the BoE’s multi-member, at-large elections are a glaring civil rights violation, because a small demographic elects all of the winners. There aren’t a lot of these entitled and aggressive voters, but the at-large representation guarantees their wins.
I must admit that I thought this time, after May’s BoE Democratic primaries, things would be different. The outgoing school board and the teachers’ union are coercive, anti-Semitic, and nepotistic—worse than anything we’ve seen in thirty years if not more. Furthermore, there were some stellar opposition candidates; I had the huge honor of talking personally with Sharif Hidayat, and was captivated by his breadth of knowledge, deep community experience, and ability to convey a message. In spite of his and the other opposition candidates’ dedication, vision, and honesty, this time the outcome wasn’t different. It was the same. If Stewart, Zimmerman, Harris, Evans, and Montoya—all incumbents or endorsed by the teachers’ union—are able to manufacture wins even when they have treated students, teachers, and parents so terribly, then they will continue to win for the foreseeable future.
Or not.
They key to their control is the voting rights violation at the ballot box. Remove that, and you remove their control. We saw that to some extent with the expansion of the County Council from nine members to 11. While still maintaining the four at-large members (all elected by the same minority that elects the BoE), the expansion granted the northeastern part of the county a dedicated representative, and she as been faithfully representing those who voted for her.
We are actually one-third of the way to making our elections fairer. In addition to House Bill 0655 introduced by Delegate Brian M. Crosby (D-St. Mary’s), our very own MoCo House delegation introduced HB0380 to mandate district voting for the BoE’s district representatives. Both bills will eliminate the multi-member at-large wins that give a small minority their 100% wins.
If Martin Luther King spent 13 months organizing a bus boycott, you can spend a few seconds to click the following link and express support for HB0655 and HB0380, requiring district voting for MoCo’s Board of Education.
MontgomeryCounty.HouseDelegation@mlis.state.md.us
