Maryland school board elections, 2016

← 2015

2016 school board elections Election details and procedures List of elections Poll opening and closing times By geographic region Northeast Connecticut Maine Massachusetts New Hampshire New Jersey New York Pennsylvania Rhode Island Vermont Midwest Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Michigan Minnesota Missouri Nebraska North Dakota Ohio South Dakota Wisconsin South Alabama Arkansas Delaware Florida Georgia Kentucky Louisiana Maryland Mississippi North Carolina Oklahoma South Carolina Tennessee Texas Virginia West Virginia West Arizona California Colorado Idaho Montana Nevada New Mexico Oregon Utah Washington Wyoming Pacific Alaska Hawaii Past elections 2015 2014 2013 Learn more about Maryland Federal government Presidential election Congressional delegation Federal courts State government State executives Maryland State Legislature Ballot measures State courts Local government Cities in Maryland Local ballot measures Recall efforts Public education Charter schools Higher education School choice See also External links Footnotes

2017 →

Elections

General and retention elections for Maryland school boards were held on November 8, 2016. Primary elections, if necessary, were held April 26, 2016. Special elections were held in conjunction with some general elections to fill vacancies.

Ten of the 15 Maryland school districts among America's largest school districts by enrollment held school board elections for 33 seats in 2016. Here are several quick facts about those school board elections:

• The largest school district by enrollment with an election in 2016 was the Montgomery County Public Schools with 151,295 K-12 students.
• The smallest Maryland school district among the nation's largest with an election in 2016 was the Cecil County Public Schools with 15,824 K-12 students.
• Prince George's County Public Schools had the most seats up for election out of Maryland's largest school districts with five seats on the ballot in 2016. Nine of the board's 13 members are elected; the other four are appointed.
• Two districts tied for the fewest seats up for election with two seats on the ballot each.
• Members of the Anne Arundel County Public Schools Board of Education are appointed by the Governor of Maryland, but they are subject to retention elections at the next general election following their appointment. Three members of the board faced retention elections in 2016.

The district listed below served 547,086 K-12 students during the 2013-2014 school year, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. Click on the district names for more information on each and its school board elections.

2016 Maryland School Board Elections
District	Primary date	General date	Regular term (years)	Seats up for election	Total board seats	Student enrollment
Anne Arundel County Public Schools	NA	11/8/2016	5	5	9	78,489
Calvert County Public Schools	4/26/2016	11/8/2016	4	3	5	16,221
Carroll County Public Schools	4/26/2016	11/8/2016	4	2	5	26,331
Cecil County Public Schools	4/26/2016	11/8/2016	4	2	5	15,824
Frederick County Public Schools	4/26/2016	11/8/2016	4	3	7	40,648
Howard County Public Schools	4/26/2016	11/8/2016	4	3	7	52,806
Montgomery County Public Schools	4/26/2016	11/8/2016	4	3	7	151,295
Prince George's County Public Schools	4/26/2016	11/8/2016	4	5	13	125,136
St. Mary's County Public Schools	4/26/2016	11/8/2016	4	3	5	17,841
Washington County Public Schools	4/26/2016	11/8/2016	4	4	7	22,495

Issues

Board fault lines over Howard County superintendent

See also: Battles over school governance (2016)

Superintendent Renee Foose

Howard County Public Schools Superintendent Renee Foose and a five-member majority on the school board faced scrutiny in 2016 over the availability of district information during Foose's tenure. Foose was appointed to a second four-year contract by a 5-2 vote in February 2016 despite a petition signed by 1,500 district residents requesting a vote against renewal. Christine O'Connor, Sandra H. French, Ellen Flynn Giles, Janet Siddiqui, and Ann DeLacy voted for contract renewal, while Bess I. Altwerger and Cynthia L. Vaillancourt voted against a new contract. The board majority indicated that Foose met or exceeded their expectations of the superintendent. Altwerger and Vaillancourt said that they voted against renewal because Foose had damaged the public's trust in the district by failing to provide information on important district matters.

Public frustration with Foose stemmed from allegations that the district failed to tell parents and students about mold issues at Glenwood Middle School. Critics also challenged the district's failure to provide a full version of a special education report that cost $300,000. Additional complaints cited exorbitant costs quoted by district officials to fulfill public information requests.

Foose received backing from school system employees during the February 2016 board vote on contract renewal. The Baltimore Sun reported that dozens of staff members cheered the board's vote to keep Foose in the district through the 2019-2020 school year. Foose defended the district's approach to mold at Glenwood by highlighting a new $3 million climate control system installed at the school. She also stated that district administrators did not routinely communicate maintenance issues to parents.

Public criticism of Foose spanned the political spectrum during a February 2016 meeting of the Maryland Board of Public Works. Gov. Larry Hogan (R) and State Delegate Warren Miller (R-9A) were joined in criticizing the superintendent's request for additional construction funds by State Delegate Frank Turner (D) and State Comptroller Peter Franchot (D). Hogan was quoted as saying, "There’s a palpable loss of trust between many parents and the county school system and, in particular, with the superintendent."

Gov. Larry Hogan

In October 2015, Miller proposed House Bill 1105, which asked the state's public information ombudsman to review rationales given by district officials for rejecting public information requests. The bill was passed by the Maryland State Legislature and signed by Hogan in April 2016. Miller's legislation required a report from the ombudsman by January 1, 2017, covering a period from Foose's appointment in July 2012 to December 31, 2015.

Three members of the board majority—Giles, Siddiqui, and DeLacy—faced eight challengers in the primary on April 26, 2016. The Baltimore Sun and the Howard County Education Association endorsed challengers Kirsten Coombs, Mavis Ellis, and Christina Delmont-Small based on their support for greater transparency by the board. Giles and DeLacy were defeated in the primary. Siddiqui advanced along with five other candidates to the general election, but was ultimately defeated. The board majority's support for Foose and greater state scrutiny on the district had the potential to create a board shake-up at the ballot box.

Election trends

Trends in Maryland school board elections

See also: School boards in session: 2014 elections by the numbers

The following sections analyze competitiveness and incumbency advantage in school board elections held in Maryland's largest school districts by student enrollment. Details of the data discussed here can be found in the table below.

Competitiveness

Thirty-three school board seats in Maryland's largest school districts by enrollment were up for election in 2016. In 2014, 42 seats were on the ballot, and 112 candidates ran in the elections. That created an average of 2.67 candidates per seat, which was higher than the 2014 national average of 1.89 candidates per seat. A total of 7.14 percent of school board seats up for election in Maryland were unopposed in 2014. Nationwide that year, 32.57 percent of school board seats were unopposed.

Incumbency advantage

See also: Analysis of incumbency advantage in the 2014 school board elections

A total of 64.29 percent of the school board incumbents whose terms were on the ballot in Maryland in 2014 ran to retain their seats, and 74.07 percent of them won. Nationally, 81.37 percent of incumbents won re-election in 2014.

Twenty-two newcomers were elected to school boards in the state in 2014. They took 52.38 percent of the seats on the ballot, which was higher than the 38.19 percent of school board seats that went to newcomers nationally in 2014.

The map below details the success rates for incumbents who ran in the 2014 school board elections that were held in the largest school districts by enrollment in the U.S.

Data table

Maryland school board elections, 2014 - 2016
	2014	2016
All candidates
Seats up	42	31
Candidates	112	TBD
Candidates/seat	2.67	TBD
Unopposed seats	3	TBD
% unopposed	7.14%	TBD
% seats won by newcomers	52.38%	TBD
Incumbents
Sought re-election	27	TBD
Unopposed	2	TBD
Retained	20	TBD
% retained	74.07%	TBD

Academic performance

See also: Public education in Maryland

---

The sections below do not contain the most recently published data on this subject. If you would like to help our coverage grow, consider donating to Ballotpedia.

---

Education terms
For more information on education policy terms, see this article.
School board elections portal Glossary of education terms School choice on the ballot Education on the ballot

NAEP scores

See also: NAEP scores by state

The National Center for Education Statistics provides state-by-state data on student achievement levels in mathematics and reading in the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). The table below presents the percentage of fourth and eighth grade students that scored at or above proficient in reading and math during school year 2012-2013. Compared to three neighboring states (Delaware, New Jersey, and Virginia), Maryland had the highest share of the fourth graders who scored at or above proficient in reading.

Percent of students scoring at or above proficient, 2012-2013
	Math - Grade 4	Math - Grade 8	Reading - Grade 4	Reading - Grade 8
Maryland	47%	37%	45%	42%
Delaware	42%	33%	38%	33%
New Jersey	49%	49%	42%	46%
Virginia	47%	38%	43%	36%
United States	41%	34%	34%	34%
Source: United States Department of Education, ED Data Express, "State Tables"

Graduation, ACT and SAT scores

See also: Graduation rates by groups in state and ACT and SAT scores in the United States

The following table shows the graduation rates and average composite ACT and SAT scores for Maryland and surrounding states during the 2012-2013 school year. All statements made in this section refer to that school year.

In the United States, public schools reported graduation rates that averaged to about 81.4 percent. About 54 percent of all students in the country took the ACT, while 50 percent reported taking the SAT. The average national composite scores for those tests were 20.9 out of a possible 36 for the ACT, and 1498 out of a possible 2400 for the SAT.

Maryland schools reported a graduation rate of 85 percent during the 2012-2013 school year, second-highest among its neighboring states

In Maryland, more students took the SAT than the ACT in 2013, earning an average SAT score of 1483.

Comparison table for graduation rates and test scores, 2012-2013
State	Graduation rate, 2013		Average ACT composite, 2013		Average SAT composite, 2013
	Percent	Quintile ranking**	Score	Participation rate	Score	Participation rate
Maryland	85%	Second	22.3	21%	1483	73%
Delaware	80.4%	Fourth	22.9	15%	1351	100%
New Jersey	87.5%	First	23	23%	1521	78%
Virginia	84.5%	Third	22.6	26%	1528	71%
United States	81.4%		20.9	54%	1498	50%
**Graduation rates for states in the first quintile ranked in the top 20 percent nationally. Similarly, graduation rates for states in the fifth quintile ranked in the bottom 20 percent nationally. Sources: United States Department of Education, "ED Data Express," accessed May 28, 2015 ACT.org, "2013 ACT National and State Scores," accessed May 28, 2015 The Commonwealth Foundation, "SAT scores by state, 2013," accessed May 28, 2015

Dropout rate

See also: Public high school dropout rates by state for a full comparison of dropout rates by group in all states

The high school event dropout rate indicates the proportion of students who were enrolled at some time during the school year and were expected to be enrolled in grades nine through 12 in the following school year but were not enrolled by October 1 of the following school year. Students who have graduated, transferred to another school, died, moved to another country, or who are out of school due to illness are not considered dropouts. The average public high school event dropout rate for the United States remained constant at 3.3 percent for both school year 2010–2011 and school year 2011–2012. The event dropout rate for Maryland was on par with the national average at 3.3 percent in the 2010-2011 school year. The dropout rate was higher than the national average at 3.8 percent in the 2011-2012 school year.

State profile

State profile

Demographic data for Maryland
	Maryland	U.S.
Total population:	5,994,983	316,515,021
Land area (sq mi):	9,707	3,531,905
Race and ethnicity**
White:	57.6%	73.6%
Black/African American:	29.5%	12.6%
Asian:	6%	5.1%
Native American:	0.3%	0.8%
Pacific Islander:	0%	0.2%
Two or more:	3%	3%
Hispanic/Latino:	9%	17.1%
Education
High school graduation rate:	89.4%	86.7%
College graduation rate:	37.9%	29.8%
Income
Median household income:	$74,551	$53,889
Persons below poverty level:	10.7%	11.3%
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, "American Community Survey" (5-year estimates 2010-2015) Click here for more information on the 2020 census and here for more on its impact on the redistricting process in Maryland. **Note: Percentages for race and ethnicity may add up to more than 100 percent because respondents may report more than one race and the Hispanic/Latino ethnicity may be selected in conjunction with any race. Read more about race and ethnicity in the census here.

Presidential voting pattern

See also: Presidential voting trends in Maryland

Maryland voted for the Democratic candidate in all seven presidential elections between 2000 and 2024.

More Maryland coverage on Ballotpedia

• Elections in Maryland
• United States congressional delegations from Maryland
• Public policy in Maryland
• Endorsers in Maryland
• Maryland fact checks
• More...

See also

Maryland	School Boards	News and Analysis
Public education in Maryland List of school districts in Maryland	School board elections, 2016 Maryland school board elections, 2015 Maryland school board elections, 2014	Education reform at the state and local levels (2016) School boards in session: 2015 in brief Analysis of spending in America's largest school districts Ballotpedia's school board candidate survey