By Nicole Fuller and Rona Marech , nicole.fuller@baltsun.com and rona.marech@baltsun.com|November 02, 2008
Besides voting on the presidential and congressional races on Tuesday, Anne Arundel County voters will decide on two county-specific ballot questions - and for the first time - a retention vote on two county school board members.
The board members are Tricia L. Johnson, who is currently serving her second five-year term as an at-large member, and Teresa Milio Birge, who joined the board in July, representing District 32.
The vote comes after lawmakers revamped the school board appointment process, which was previously decided by gubernatorial appointment. In an attempt to strike a compromise between those who were happy with the current system and others who pushed for an elected school board, county lawmakers created a nominating committee, which suggests potential school board members for the governor to choose from. Then voters have a chance to weigh in with a retention vote.
The nominees for each seat have no challengers on the ballot and did not campaign. To retain their seats, they each must receive more "yes" than "no" votes. If the public votes them down, the committee will put forth new nominations.
Johnson, 54, of Davidsonville, is the director of marketing at the Lake Presidential Golf Club in Upper Marlboro. She has five children, all of whom attended the county's public schools.
Johnson said in her time on the board, "we have raised the bar in a number of areas," among them, the introduction of the International Baccalaureate program.
Johnson said the most pressing issue before the board is the long list of construction and maintenance projects that have gone unfunded, known as the $1.5 billion maintenance backlog. Hammering away at it, she said, will be one of her top priorities.
"We have a lot of aging schools," Johnson said. "Our custodians do a great job. But we have to figure out a way to get some of these maintenance backlog issues cared for."
Birge, 37, of Odenton, is an accountant and a stay-at-home mom. She has a 3-year-old and a first-grader at Seven Oaks Elementary School. Birge has worked full time as a lobbyist and legislative analyst in the past, and currently holds a contract for lobbying work on behalf of the Maryland Association of Senior Centers. She said her yearly contract garners less than $2,500, which according to state law excludes her from having to register as a lobbyist.
Birge, too, sees the construction and maintenance backlogs as a priority, saying, "If I do anything in the next five years, I want to see that number decrease."
