Tag: Alliance for Nonpartisan School Board Elections

Should the Democratic Central Committee Endorse School Board Candidates?

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Tommi Makila wrote the following letter urging the Democratic Central Committee not to endorse specific Board of Education candidates in the upcoming elections.

July 17, 2016

TO: Prince George’s County Democratic Central Committee

RE: Board of Education election endorsements

Dear Central Committee Members:

I am a Democratic community activist who is closely involved in the Prince George’s County Public Schools. I have served on the PTSA board of my child’s school for five years. I have also served for two years as the legislative chair of the Prince George’s County PTA Council, and during that time I have also served on the Maryland PTA legislative committee. I am a member of Prince George’s County Advocates for Better Schools and a founding member of the Alliance for Nonpartisan School Board Elections. I am writing this letter, however, as a concerned parent and individual community activist.

I am writing to you to urge that the Democratic Central Committee not make any endorsements in the November 2016 Prince George’s County Board of Education elections. As the Central Committee makes its decision about potential endorsements in BOE races, I would like you to keep the following issues in mind:

1. By Maryland law, school board elections are to be nonpartisan. I have a hard time coming up with anything else that could be as much against the spirit of this law than the central committee of one of the major parties making endorsements in these races.

2. In a down ballot race such as a BOE election, a Democratic Central Committee endorsement and its accompanying significant financial benefit in the form of the Democratic sample ballot is nearly certain to be decisive. In a down ballot race, it is virtually impossible for any opponent to garner enough financial resources to match the Democratic Party resources. I want us voters to decide the race based on the ideas the candidates present to us. I don’t want the Central Committee with its significant financial resources to make the decision for us voters.

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Prince George’s Schools Advocate on Kojo Nnamdi Show

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Tommi Makila coordinates the Alliance for Nonpartisan School Board Elections. He is the parent of a student in the Prince George’s County Public Schools system.

by Tommi Makila

A long-time school advocate, David Cahn, will be a guest on WAMU’s The Kojo Nnamdi Show on Wednesday, July 13 at noon. You can listen to the show on WAMU’s frequency of 88.5 MHz, or online. The show is typically divided into two half-hour segments; at this time it is unknown which segment David will be on.

The show’s website assigns this title to the segment: “Is Partisan Politics Poisoning Prince George’s School Board?” David Cahn will address the school board restructuring that happened under House Bill 1107. He is a long-time proponent of a fully elected school board, serving as co-chair of the advocacy group Citizens for an Elected Board. (You can connect with the group through its Facebook page.)

David was invited to be on the Kojo Nnamdi Show after the Washington Post published an opinion piece regarding school board elections that he and I co-authored.

HB 1107 has been getting a lot of attention in the school advocate circles as of late, so please consider calling in to the show to discuss the issue. WAMU’s call-in number is 1-800-433-8850.

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Join Effort to Keep School Board Elections Nonpartisan

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by Tommi Makila

The views expressed are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Prince George’s County Advocates for Better Schools.

By law, Maryland school boards are to be nonpartisan. With the reorganization of the Prince George’s County Public Schools governance structure in 2013, the Board of Education was stripped of much of its power. However, this takeover of the school system has not been enough for the political establishment. Our partisan elected officials are shamelessly meddling in the school board elections through their endorsements and slates, making these elections “nonpartisan” in name only.

Politicization of the school system and the school board is not in the best interest of our students. In a well-governed school system, decision-makers feel more accountable to voters than to the political establishment and its agenda. But party endorsements of school board candidates undermine this principle, shifting the balance of power away from the voter and toward the party establishment.

To combat this corrosive influence, a group of concerned citizens is launching an effort: the “Alliance for Nonpartisan School Board Elections.” Our goal is to educate residents about the issue and mobilize advocacy efforts. We call for political parties to keep school board elections nonpartisan by refraining from endorsing Board of Education candidates or putting them on party slates and sample ballots. As the first step for the Alliance, we have established a Facebook group as a way of connecting interested individuals with each other. If this is an issue you care about, please join the group! You can find it through this link or by searching for “Alliance for Nonpartisan School Board Elections” on Facebook.

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