Harford's departing school board president is calling for abolishing the Board of Education in favor of a schools czar who would report directly to the county executive.
Robert B. Thomas Jr. said a czar would be in a better position to lobby for school funding and respond to government criticism. He recommended a "chief executive officer" who would run Harford's 40,000-student school system more like a business.
"The role of the superintendent today is not what it was in the '60s or '70s," said Thomas, a 10-year board member who must step down because of term limits. "This is big business, and we need to look at it as big business. Are we operating our school system as effectively and efficiently as we should and could?"
Thomas said his plan was not a swipe at Superintendent Jacqueline C. Haas.
Thomas went public with his plan Tuesday at the Center for Educational Opportunity in Aberdeen, where county politicians, business leaders and school officials discussed government's changing role in public education.
With the federal No Child Left Behind Act as the backdrop, many communities are under growing pressure to better prepare students for college and the workplace, and some are discussing substantial changes.
Abolishing the school board would be a controversial move.
"You're turning it over to a political process," said Jay May, the Harford schools chief of administration. "You're giving up that level of independence. Many people may feel that they're giving up the direct connection between students' parents and an independent school district and board."
Some districts have already moved to such a model. In 2002, the New York State Legislature abolished New York City's school boards and gave control of schools to the mayor.
Currently, the governor appoints the seven members of the Harford school board, which sets policy and hires all employees, including the superintendent. But the school board does not determine the budget; that role rests with the county executive and County Council members, who review the school board's budget proposal but rarely meet its request.
That structure makes it difficult for the board to negotiate with the county's four unions, Thomas said.
"We're basically negotiating a pay raise from a checkbook we don't own," Thomas said.
Last year, the school board negotiated a pay raise for teachers that was reduced in County Executive James M. Harkins' budget.
The school board was forced to renegotiate with the teachers union.
May suggested that the county and the school system consider other options, such as giving the school board taxing authority so it could raise its own funds.
Haas could not be reached Friday to comment on Thomas' plan.
Patrick L. Hess, in his first year on the school board, said he is open to abolishing the school board in favor of a chief executive.
"When you think the superintendent would be a member of the county executive's Cabinet, I think that would open up a lot more communication between county officials and the school system," Hess said.
