The 2026 General Assembly was unable to agree on how Baltimore County voters will pick their school board members in the future. It leaves up in the air how many school board members should be elected, and how to redraw their districts.
There are seven elected school board seats, their districts the same as the seven county council seats. But while the council is expanding to nine this year, the school board is unchanged.
There were dueling plans in the state legislature to deal with that. Neither is going to pass according to Del. Cathi Forbes, a Democrat who represents Towson.
Forbes proposed legislation that would have created nine elected school board seats on the 12-member board to line up with the council. Forbes said the misaligned seats mean the county has to create 15 additional precincts.
Forbes said, “Every precinct has to have its own unique ballot and when the school board districts and the council districts don’t align, they had to set up additional precincts, the cost of renting and staffing and equipping those precincts is a real cost when you don’t align the districts.”
Forbes’ legislation passed the House but died in the Senate. Likewise, legislation proposed by Sen. Charles Sydnor passed that body but went nowhere in the House.
Sydnor, a Democrat whose westside district includes Catonsville, wanted to keep seven elected school board seats and have the General Assembly redraw the district lines after the 2030 census.
In a February interview with the Baltimore Sun, Sydnor said the school system is a state agency so the authority to redraw school board district lines should not be handed over to the county council.
He added that having more members appointed helps to insulate the school board from local political pressures.
Forbes said it’s more clear for residents when the council and elected school board seats share the same districts.
“I do think it’s confusing when you go to reach out to who is going to help you at the county level,” Forbes said. “It won’t be aligned as easily. Your councilman and your school board member can’t work hand in hand as easily. You have to figure out who is which.”
Also unresolved is how school board seats will be redrawn and by whom after the 2030 census.
Even if legislation had passed this year, it would not have impacted the 2026 election because it would have been too late. In January, the Baltimore County Board of Elections approved maps for the nine council and seven school board races.
"We have a few years before the next election to advocate for our respective positions," Sydnor said in a text.
