The highly anticipated state legislation to revamp the Prince George’s County School Board will be discussed Thursday afternoon in Annapolis.
Members of the House Ways and Means Committee will review a proposal on whether to change the structure and governance of the school board.
Critics of the board’s current hybrid structure — four appointed and 10 elected — argue it doesn’t hold the board accountable and allows the school system CEO Kevin Maxwell to manage without stronger oversight.
Other proposed changes include making the panel an all-elected board, allowing members to select the board chair and vice chair and choose a chief executive officer, also known as the superintendent, and shrinking the current 14-member board to 10.
The legislation basically strips the power of the county executive to appoint three members to the board and another by the county council.
Delegate Darryl Barnes (D-District 25) of Upper Marlboro organized an online survey last month that drew slightly more than 1,200 respondents to answer four questions.
A breakdown of the results:
• Would you like to see an all elected school board? – 84 percent yes, 16 percent no
• Do you think that the county executive should have the authority to appoint the school board chair and vice chair? – 10 percent yes, 90 percent no
• Should the county executive have the authority to appoint the superintendent? – 24 percent yes, 76 percent no
• Should the members of the school board have the authority to select the chair, vice chair and hire the superintendent? – 67 percent yes, 33 percent no
“Before we hear governance bills, I want to do my homework,” Barnes said. “I want to hear what the public is saying and then get an opportunity to hear both sides of the story.”
If state lawmakers approve the law as written, it would go into effect June 1 and the four appointed members would be terminated the next day.