We already have public campaign financing for candidates for Howard County Executive and Howard County Council (set to begin with the elections in 2022)…now we have possible legislation headed to Annapolis that would provide tax funding for candidates running for Howard County Board of Education (HoCoBOE). Announced yesterday…the following proposed bill submitted by Maryland State Senator Clarence Lam will be discussed on November 19th:

Howard County – Public Campaign Financing – Board of Education, Ho. Co. 22-20

By: Senator Lam

FOR the purpose of authorizing the governing body of Howard County to establish, by law, a system of public campaign financing for elected members of the county board of education; making conforming changes; making a technical correction; and generally relating to public campaign financing in Howard County.

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We recently changed the system for HoCoBOE members to be elected by council district (for five of the seven seats) and one of the reasons was to make it more affordable for candidates to run for office by district instead of countywide. So I am a bit confused as to why this legislation is needed at this time.

I have personally never heard of complaints about a specific industry or special interest money in local board of education races (I have heard those things about County Executive and Council Council races) so again…a bit confused why this is coming forward now.

The details of the legislation is not online as of this post today: VIEW HERE…so that is a bit of a bummer this morning.

This is legislation I will watch going forward this next year.

What is the best use of our tax dollars locally…especially when I keep hearing how limited they may be in the future? Just another question on my mind this morning.

Have thoughts? Let me know in the comments.

Scott E