Join the fight for a more
equitable School Board.
For the three decades, since Mayor Kurt Schmoke reverted control of the public school system to the state government in Annapolis, the School Board has been anchored by state law, giving the Mayorality the power of appointments to the Board, and the City Council virtually no power over public education in the City at all. Since then, the process of Board appointments has been refined; a panel comprised of community organizations across the City vets applicants to the Board before advancing nominees to the Mayor's desk, who ultimately makes a final selection from a smaller pool of candidates. While better than the original system Schmoke left us with, this process falls far short of making the School Board Baltimore deserves. A recent state law opened up two seats on the School Board open to public election. BSU was formed around a group of students eager to get involved with the 2022 Baltimore City School Board election, the first of its kind in Baltimore's history.
Source: Salimah Jasani
The coalition for a better path forward exists.
Baltimore Student Union is a proud partner of the VOTES Coalition, a collective of community organizations fighting for a fully elected School Board and a process that reflects public choice. BSU started as the synthesis of two separate, student-led movements — the Associated Student Congress of Baltimore City (ASCBC) and Youth As Resources (YAR), different factions of the VOTES Coalition which were instrumental in the passage of Senate Bill 157, which absent the veto of Governor Hogan, would have provided for an elected student representative on the School Board with fully fledged powers to vote on all Board measures.
Senate Bill 157 will be back soon. What to know:
Senate Bill 157, the sister-proposal of House Bill 433, jointly put forward by Senator Jill Carter & Delegate Melissa Wells in the Maryland General Assembly in 2021, would initially have provided for two student representatives on the School Board fully elected by the student body, each with the rights to vote on all Board measures, from procurement and collective bargaining to staff issues and school closures. The current role of the Student Commissioner is minimal — it is appointed by the aforementioned ASCBC and can only vote on select measures that do not involve appropriations, among other restraints. While the role is important, it is insufficient & cannot hope to accurately reflect the will of the student body. After a watered-down version passed the General Assembly in early 2022, Governor Hogan vetoed it. BSU will be active in advocating for its passage this year, with newly elected Governor Wes Moore in Government House.
The Board appointment process must be fair.
BSU also has previously and continues to support the broader goals of the VOTES Coalition in reforming the process by which folks are appointed to the School Board under the Schmoke system:
The Mayor's office should generally not eliminate people before they have an opportunity to sit for a panel interview, and if they do, this should be released publicly & explained why.
The grading material used by the panel & Mayor's office should be publicly accessible and available online.
Panel interviews should be streamed and viewable by the public.
Students lead election campaigns.
After a careful review of all the candidates running in the School Board election, the BSU chose to enthusiastically support Ashley Esposito & Salimah Jasani in the race. A group of seventeen of BSU's founding members, student organizers from across the City, signed a joint statement endorsing these two first-time political candidates to be our Commissioners on the Board of Education. Our participation in the election was based on the idea that students and their voices matter, and we have to fight for them to be heard in every space that impacts us and our well beings. For decades, the School Board has ignored the public. Students have to make them listen.
Source: Ava Pevsner
Source: Ethan Eblaghie
Source: Camille Coffey
Source: Saidah Ervin
Source: Reuben Schreier
We hit the ground running.
Following our endorsement, BSU, much like the first-time, ad hoc campaigns Salimah and Ashley put together, got to work on the ground, talking to our neighbors and meeting folks across the City to distribute information about the election. We knocked doors in Cheswolde, Mount Washington, Bolton Hill, Washington Hill, Federal Hill, Riverside, Irvington, Medfield, Waltherson, and elsewhere in the few short weeks before the election, distributing thousands of pamphlets and having thousands of conversations with people.
We made an impact.
Despite Salimah unfortunately not making it through to the School Board, Ashley won handily in first place in large part thanks to our organizing. Out of the fourteen precincts where we formed concerted field teams (including two where we had volunteers at polling locations on Election Day), all fourteen were won by Ashley & Salimah, including five which had been won by other candidates in the primary election, before BSU had been formed.
Where do we go from here?
BSU is going to keep organizing and preparing for the 2024 elections, where Mayor and City Council positions will be up for the voters' say. We'll be keeping an eye on candidates who put student voice first and who are committed to working in solidarity with organizers to force Annapolis to give Baltimore a fully elected School Board.
Join this fight:
Get involved with BSU to join the VOTES Coalition
Read our initial statement of endorsement for Ash & Salimah