ANNAPOLIS, Md. — A new bill signed into law Tuesday by Governor Wes Moore gives the one student member sitting on Baltimore County's Board of Education the right to vote on school budgetary matters.
Previously such votes were off limits for student board members. Now that's been changed, the school system has to put together a training curriculum so the student can learn the budgetary process.
While the new law takes effect July 1, a draft curriculum needs to be submitted to the board for review by December 31, 2023.
Baltimore County's Board of Education is made up of 12 members, four are appointed and seven are elected to four-year terms, plus one student selected each year by their peers.
Roah Hassan is the board's current student member, whose term expires late this year.
Baltimore County is one of 22 school boards in the state with a student member, but only one of eight that allows them to vote.
With passage of the new law, the only matters Baltimore County's student member won't be able to vote on involve school staff discipline, collective bargaining, school boundaries, or reopenings and closings.
However following the pandemic in March 2021, parents in Howard County sued their school board over the vote of a student member preventing the return of in-person learning.
A judge ultimately ruled in favor of the student board member.
