Proposed Charter

About 20 groups have submitted proposals to launch new privately run, publicly funded schools in Baltimore - a sign that school reform is alive and well at the grass-roots level. One proposal is for a small high school in Reservoir Hill. Another is for a "hybrid" school and community center. A third is for a middle school that would use a curriculum developed by Outward Bound. The "New Schools" initiative - the equivalent of charter schools - was begun three years ago as a way of raising academic standards in the city's underperforming schools.

Carroll's charter government initiative appears to have been as unattractive to people's wallets as it was to voters in the May 1 election.According to reports filed with the election board Tuesday, Carroll County Citizens for Charter Government, which favored a switch to a county executive and council, raised $2,469, including a $500 gift from the North Carroll Democratic club.The anti-charter group, Citizens Against Big Charter Government, raised nearly twice as much -- $4,733. But more than half of that amount came from two contributors.

After a monthlong controversy, the Baltimore County Council approved last night a proposed charter amendment for the November ballot that would give the county executive the power to keep his office staff outside the civil service merit system.The vote was 6-1, despite the continued opposition of a group of high-level county bureaucrats known as the Supervisory, Management and Confidential (SMC) employees, who believe any change to the county's charter deserves more time for consideration.

Carroll was right to reject flawed charterTo Carroll County citizens: Your instincts were correct in voting down the charter placed on the ballot May 2.Many of you rightfully wanted citizens to have a greater voice in the day-to-day decisions of your local government, particularly in the long-range impact of land use. It is always difficult to know whom to trust.In this situation, you were not told that you were presented with a proposed charter that had been copied from the current Howard County version (amended in 1996)

A postscript on charterI would like to thank the thousands of voters in the Freedom District for their support of the charter initiative. You are to be congratulated for attempting to carry Carroll County into the 21st century.It is regrettable that more residents from this troubled district didn't vote.Had just 4,000 more of us gone to the polls, we would have prevailed and been able to shove charter down the throats of the rest of the county, just as they have shoved development on us.The fact that all the precincts in the Freedom District went for charter should be a strong message to leaders.

The last debate before Carroll voters go to the polls tomorrow to decide whether to change their form of government was the longest and most esoteric.All of the big questions about whether to keep Carroll's three-commissioner form of government or follow other counties in the Baltimore metropolitan area and switch to a county executive and county council had been argued.Last night, the standing-room-only crowd of more than 60 people in Eldersburg asked questions for two hours about matters buried deep within the charter that might provide the framework for the new government.

A festive group of anti-charter advocates gathered in the sunshine outside Carroll County's historic courthouse yesterday to air their objections to a proposed change in the county's form of government, in place for more than 100 years."

South Carroll Republican Club will meet at 7: 30 p.m. Tuesday in the community room of Carroll County Bank and Trust Co. in Eldersburg.A panel of supporters and opponents will debate the proposal for charter government with a county executive and council to replace the commissioner system in Carroll County. Copies of the proposed charter will be available.Refreshments will be served.The bank is at Routes 32 and 26; entrance is by the door at the left of the bank lobby.Information: 410-781-6316.

About 40 Carroll County residents have formed Citizens Against Big Charter Government to campaign against the proposed charter change in local government.Voters will decide May 2 if the three-commissioner form of government will remain in Carroll. Two initiatives on the ballot will ask voters whether to expand the commissioner board to five or change to an executive and county council.The anti-charter group has been meeting for about a month, said Carmen Amedori, who served nearly nine months as chairwoman of the charter-writing board.

A referendum on a new form of county government cannot take place later than May 7 and meet state and federal deadlines, Carroll election board officials said yesterday.They asked the County Commissioners to set Tuesday, May 5, as the date of the referendum, provided the school board agrees to close the schools so they can be used as polling places.But the commissioners voted 2 to 1 to do no more than ask the school board if it would be willing to make the date available.Commissioner Richard T. Yates, who opposes the proposed change to a county executive-county council form of government, voted against polling the school board.