Hogan Appoints Members to Blueprint Accountability Board Nominating Committee

Gov. Lawrence J. Hogan (R) announced his appointments to the Blueprint for Maryland Future’s Accountability and Implementation Board Nominating Committee on Friday.

Hogan appointed Edward Root, who served on the Maryland State Board of Education and the Allegany County Board of Education, and Rose Li, who is currently a State Board of Education member.

“Marylanders deserve the most capable, experienced, and dedicated representatives,” Hogan said in a statement announcing 151 appointments to various boards and commissions across the state. “These appointments reflect the diversity of our state, and I am confident that these appointees will help us continue to change Maryland for the better.”

Root served two terms on the State Board of Education from 1999 to 2007 and was president during his second term. He also served on the Allegany County Board of Education from 2011 to 2016 and was appointed by Hogan to fill a vacancy on the board in 2019. Root is a retired adjunct professor and former dean of education for Frostburg State University.

Li has served on the state board since 2016 and plans to step down when her term expires at the end of June, according to state officials. She also runs the Li Educational Foundation, which promotes Chinese history, culture and education.

Two weeks ago, the presiding officers of the General Assembly announced their appointments to the AIB Nominating Committee. With Hogan’s announcement of his two appointees Friday, the six-member AIB nominating committee can start working.

The nominating committee will identify nine prospective appointees to the AIB, an independent, seven-member panel that will oversee the implementation of a ten-year, multi-billion-dollar education reform plan. Hogan will select seven of the candidates as appointees to the board, subject to Senate confirmation.

Senate President Bill Ferguson (D-Baltimore City) appointed Sen. Paul Pinsky (D-Prince George’s), chair of the Senate’s Education, Health and Environmental Affairs Committee, and Shanaysha Sauls, the president and CEO of the Baltimore Community Foundation, for the nominating committee.

House Speaker Adrienne A. Jones (D-Baltimore County) chose Franchesca Brown, principal of Woodmoor Elementary School in Baltimore County, and Cheryl Bost, the president of the Maryland State Education Association, the largest teachers union in the state.

Once established, the Accountability and Implementation Board will be responsible for developing a statewide comprehensive plan by February 2022 to guide reform and approve county-level implementation education reform plans. The board also has the power to withhold 25% of new state funding from counties each fiscal year until the board approves a county’s progress toward implementing reform.

Last week, the Maryland State Board of Education selected Mohammed Choudhury, a San Antonio public school administrator, to be the next state superintendent starting July 1. Choudhury will be responsible for working alongside the AIB in implementing the Blueprint plan.

By July 1, each county board of education must report to the state how it plans to spend education reform funding in fiscal year 2022.

“My guess is that as soon as we get the two appointees from the governor, we’ll be moving quickly,” Pinsky said in an interview earlier this week. “Time is of the essence.”

Other appointees named Friday

Among the appointees to more than five dozen other boards and commissions announced Friday, were new members of the Maryland Environmental Service Board of Directors. The panel has been under scrutiny since a $235,000 payout to the service’s former director, Roy McGrath, when he left the agency to become Hogan’s chief of staff. The new board members are:

• Shelley L. Heller, the county administrator for Kent County since 2015 and a member of the legislative committee for Maryland Association of Counties.
• Marian C. Hwang, a principal and chair of the environmental and energy practice of Miles & Stockbridge in Baltimore. She also currently serves on the Judicial Nominating Commission for Baltimore City.
• Robert R. Neall, the recently retired Secretary of Health, and a former delegate, senator and county executive.

The governor previously announced the appointment of Frederic N. Smalkin, former chief judge for the U.S. District Court of Maryland.

Adam E. Kane was redesignated as chair of the Health Services Cost Review Commission, and Maulik S. Joshi was appointed as a member.

Alan Silverstein, a town councilman in Easton and and former president of the Talbot County Chamber of Commerce, was appointed to a vacancy on the Alcohol and Tobacco Commission.

Danielle E. Gaines contributed to this report. 

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