On one level, this year’s race for an open at-large seat on the Montgomery County Board of Education was a contest between two candidates highly active in school-related issues in recent years – and who both emphasized the need for increased scrutiny over how funds for education are spent in an era of limited resources.
But on another level, the contest was a surrogate battle between two major county employee unions: the Montgomery County Education Association and United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1994 MCGEO. What was once a friendly relationship between the two labor groups has soured in recent years, amid a public revenue pie no longer growing at the rate it once did – and concern by both unions about making sure adequate funds are available for the government-funded enterprises in which their respective members are employed.
This round went to MCGEO, as their endorsed candidate, Jill Ortman-Fouse, bested the MCEA-backed candidate, Shebra Evans, by 51-48 percent in Tuesday’s voting for the seat being vacated by current school board at-large member Shirley Brandman. Going back to the 2012 election, it was the second open seat contest for Board of Education in as many years in which a MCEA-endorsed contender had come up short.
To be sure, the MCEA did not walk away from Tuesday’s election empty-handed. Three Board of Education incumbents who hold district-based seats – Judith Docca in District 1, Patricia O’Neill in District 3 and Michael Durso in District 5 – all handily won re-election with the endorsement of the teachers’ union. MCGEO opted to stay out of these races this year due to what that union’s president, Gino Renne, termed a “strategic decision.” That may change going forward, as Renne said his group is prepared to begin grooming some of its members to take on MCEA-backed candidates in future years.
In the meantime, behind the scenes tensions spilled out in the closing days of this year’s election, notwithstanding what had been – on the surface – a seemingly sedate school board contest focused on issues such as the so-called “achievement gap” in the county’s 151,000-student school system.
For both the MCEA, which represents about 12,000 teachers in the Montgomery County Public Schools, and MCGEO, whose membership includes about 5,500 employees in various county government agencies outside of the school system, the stakes were high Tuesday. Both were coming off rough patches from losses in the June primary, amid longer-term perceptions in local political circles that neither union exercises the kind of clout it once did in county elections.
For MCGEO, Ortman-Fouse’s election was a welcome victory as it surveys the governing landscape over the next four years.
After battling County Executive Ike Leggett over wage and benefit issues at the height of the recession, the union opted to take a pass on endorsing for county executive in the June primary. Tuesday’s election guarantees that MCGEO will have to deal with Leggett for another four years, as well as an all-Democratic County Council in which just two of nine incoming members had the MCGEO endorsement in this year’s crucial primary.
The MCEA primary election scorecard contained a higher batting average: It endorsed Leggett, as well as five of the nine incoming council members. But other of its favored candidates were also on the losing side of one council race and a couple of General Assembly contests.
While a spot on the MCEA’s “Apple Ballot” – along with the backing of the Washington Post editorial page – clearly remain the two most prized endorsements for those seeking office in Montgomery County, some sources suggested a desire for payback aimed at the MCEA played a role in Ortman-Fouse’s victory. Ortman-Fouse picked up the endorsement of four of eight Montgomery County state senators and a majority of the incoming members of the County Council on her way to victory Tuesday.
MCEA officials publicly bridle at complaints that their efforts for – or against – local candidates have been excessive or bare-knuckled. But one local elected official, speaking on the basis of anonymity, suggested that Ortman-Fouse’s support this year was due in part to blowback over the 2012 open seat school board contest, in which the MCEA’s then-political director, Jon Gerson, was perceived as being particularly heavy-handed.
Gerson, who relinquished his political director’s role in May of last year, was seeking to head off the election of now-District 2 Board of Education member Rebecca Smondrowski; she had the backing of both MCGEO and SEIU Local 500, which represents thousands of school system support staff. This year, SEIU lined up on the same side as MCEA, endorsing Evans and the three district-based incumbents seeking re-election.
From a policy standpoint, the recent school board-related battles between the MCEA and MCGEO have reflected escalating tensions since the passage of a 2012 revision to the three-decade old “maintenance of effort” law governing local school funding. The revised statute bars counties from making reductions in local school funding on a year-to-year basis, prompting contentions from MCGEO that other county services – in which its membership is employed – will suffer in the long-term.
MCGEO President Gino Renne, in an interview published Monday in the “MoCo Politics” blog, charged the MCEA — in concert with the school board and superintendent of schools – had been “arrogant and irresponsible” in its position on the maintenance of effort law. “If we continue down this path, of just blindly approving budgets that are ridiculously over MOE, the bottom is going to fall out and there will be wholesale destruction of other critical services in the county,” Renne asserted.
MCEA President Doug Prouty, who has challenged Renne’s contentions on the financial impact of the MOE law, responded less than a day before the polls opened Tuesday with an equally blunt email to his membership. The email contained a link to the story with Renne’s comments, as Prouty charged that MCGEO was “attempting to influence the outcome of the Board of Education election in order to reduce funding for our schools.”
“They are the single largest donor to BOE candidate Jill Ortman-Fouse, having donated $6,000 to her campaign….,” Prouty continued. “Voters are left to wonder what the discussions were that led to MCGEO's contribution to Ms. Ortman-Fouse's campaign; and how her ability to advocate for our students' needs would be affected.”
Ortman-Fouse supporters were quick to note the MCEA had pumped a total of $20,000 in a bid to elect Evans and re-elect the three incumbent board members endorsed by the teachers group.
"My focus doesn't change based on donors,” Ortman-Fouse responded today following her victory. “My priority is getting the best outcomes for our kids, families and classrooms, and we all have a responsibility and role to play in that."
Renne acknowledged his union had “put a lot of resources and time” into Ortman-Fouse’s race prior to the June primary, when Ortman-Fouse came out ahead of Evans, 34-31 percent, in the first round of voting for the at-large seat.
Characterizing Ortman-Fouse as an “outstanding candidate,” Renne added: “We’re even optimistic that at some point we may be able to convince her to seek higher office. That’s how much value we believe she brings to the political arena.”
