With less than two months remaining until the Feb. 3 filing deadline for the 2016 election, the contests for three seats up for grabs on the Montgomery County Board of Education are beginning to take shape.
Shebra Evans, who narrowly lost a bid for an at-large seat on the board in 2014, announced Tuesday that she is running again—this time from District 4, based in the Silver Spring/Takoma Park area. If elected, she would succeed Chris Barclay, who Monday publicly confirmed that he would not seek a third full term on the board.
“After many years working in the education community…I am ready to serve as an effective advocate on the Board of Education,” Evans—who has held several positions in the Montgomery County Council of PTAs—said in a press release.
Evans’ announcement comes a week after Phil Kauffman, an Olney resident who holds one of two at-large seats on the board, filed for a third four-year term. Meanwhile, sources said that Rebecca Smondrowski of Gaithersburg, who represents District 2 in the central part of the county, also plans to seek re-election—although Smondrowski has yet to make a formal announcement.
The seven adult members of the board (there is also a student member elected annually by middle school and high school students) all run countywide on a nonpartisan basis, although those representing a particular district must be a resident of that district. If there are more than two candidates for a given seat, there is a first-round election—which would be held next year on April 26, when the primary election for political offices also will take place. A runoff between the two top finishers for a school board opening would then take place during the November general election.
Traditionally, Board of Education contests—as so-called down-ballot races—have been overshadowed by the competition for higher profile offices in an election year. That could change in 2016, following a tumultuous year for the board that saw the ouster of former Montgomery County Public Schools Superintendent Joshua Starr and the search for a permanent successor. The turnover in leadership comes amid a series of financially and politically challenging issues facing the country’s 17th largest school system—ranging from constructing more facilities to accommodate a rapidly increasing enrollment to closing the so-called achievement gap in a student population of which nearly 70 percent are members of racial minorities.
Evans, a Silver Spring resident, last year sought the at-large seat with the influential endorsement of the Montgomery County Education Association (MCEA), which represents the system’s 12,000 teachers. But she lost to current board member Jill Ortman-Fouse, also of Silver Spring, by a 52-48 percent margin.
The District 4 seat that Evans is seeking next year has been occupied by Barclay since 2006, when he was appointed to fill a vacancy. He was subsequently elected to two full terms.
Barclay said in an interview he had decided after winning a second term in 2012 that he would not seek re-election this year. Noting that his youngest daughter graduated from high school two years ago, he added, “My kids are out of the system, and I think there are a lot of people who have an interest in continuing this work.”
Barclay sought an open seat on the Montgomery County Council last year, but his candidacy ran into trouble over disclosures that he had used a school-authorized credit card to charge $1,500 in unauthorized expenses over a two-year period. It prompted one of his leading backers, the MCEA, to withdraw its endorsement. Barclay ended up finishing third in a five-way Democratic primary.
Asked Monday if he has any future political plans, Barclay said, “Nothing right now. It’s fun to be able to get back to what I love doing.” Barclay, who was employed in the telecommunications industry at the time of his appointment to the board, currently operates a freelance photography business.
The salary for school board members was increased from $18,500 to $25,000 annually by the Maryland General Assembly in 2013, but the increase applies only to those members elected or re-elected after the latter date. Recent school board members contend that the job—which involves overseeing a system of more than 156,000 students and a current operating budget of $2.3 billion—requires a full-time commitment of 40 hours a week or more.
In announcing for re-election last week, Kauffman claimed the endorsement of fellow school board members Patricia O’Neill of Bethesda and Judith Docca of Montgomery Village—both of whom were re-elected in 2014—along with County Council member Craig Rice, who chairs the council’s Education Committee, and several state legislators.
Sources said that Kauffman decided only recently to seek re-election, after contemplating retirement from the board in the wake of the infighting that accompanied the decision not to renew Starr’s contract. Kauffman was reported to be in the camp that favored retaining Starr, while Smondrowski—also facing re-election next year—was said to be among those who did not want the superintendent’s contract renewed.
