Maryland Democrats Play Politics with Education

by Big Dog on Dec 12, 2007 at 10:23 Political

The state of Maryland has a Superintendent of Schools who is appointed by the school board and has a term that is deliberately offset from the regular terms of political appointees. This was done to keep the position from being used as a political tool and to try, to some degree, to keep politics out of the process. Nancy Grasmick has served in the position since 1991 being reappointed by school boards put in place by Democrats (and one Republican). Several years ago Ms. Grasmick tried to take over 11 Baltimore City schools that were failing miserably and as she was required under NCLB. The City Mayor was Martin O’Malley and now, unfortunately for Maryland, he is the Governor of the state.

O’Malley fought the takeover and was successful. He only fought it because it made him look bad (he still claimed education improved while he was Mayor) and his actions were taken with little regard for the children (the very people he claims to be in support of) and those schools are still in trouble to this day. O’Malley has a long memory and he wants Grasmick out of her position. He has made that clear on a number of occasions but it is not up to him. The decision rests with the school board and this one, a lame duck one, was appointed by a Republican Governor and they have a say until July of next year. The Democrats in Maryland tried to halt the board’s action and circumvent the process to appease the Governor:

Miller and House Speaker Michael Busch had sent a letter to the board Monday asking that it defer a decision on a superintendent until July, after Gov. Martin O’Malley’s appointees constitute a majority on the board. WBAL

The board appointed Ms. Grasmick to another four year term despite the efforts of the Democrats to play political games with the position. The board recognized the ploy and decided that it is not the Governor’s job to appoint the Superintendent so they were not going to let him. Of course, this did not sit well with the governor, who hates Grasmick, and it did not sit well with the leaders of the Maryland Legislature. They are now going to do what Democrats always do when they do not get their way, they are going to change the rules.

Miller and Busch (two first class jackasses) will try to make it so that the Superintendent will serve at the pleasure of the board so that she may be more easily dismissed from her position. As it stands right now, the law only allows for removal in cases of misconduct. If they succeed in changing this then the O’Malley appointed school board (which will take office in July) may dismiss her for any reason it wants and allow the Governor to appoint (through his school board) someone else. This whole process is designed to affect ONLY one person with whom the Governor has a problem. It is designed to allow him to exercise control that was deliberately left out of the process. It is a gross misuse of power and should not be tolerated by any citizen of this state. The Democrats have a super majority in Maryland so they can push through whatever they want (which is how we got the largest tax increase in Maryland history). If they succeed in doing this they should be chased down and beaten with sticks to knock some sense into them.

The Legislature of Maryland has been abusing its power for a long time. They are accountable to no one and now that they have a spoiled, whiny, crybaby, Democrat as Governor they will continue to abuse power so long as the citizens refuse to hold them accountable. If they succeed with this I think they might have hell to pay because Ms. Grasmick’s husband is well connected and he might be able to make life tough for them.

People of Maryland, remember the tax increases and this episode when you vote in the next election. I am sure there will be others before the horror that is O’Malley and the abomination that make up the Legislature are up for reelection.

Get rid of all of them.

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 12th, 2007 at 10:23 and is filed under Political. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

One Response to “Maryland Democrats Play Politics with Education”

  1. David M says:
    Thursday Dec 13th, 2007 at 10:59

    The Thunder Run has linked to this post in the – Web Reconnaissance for 12/13/2007 A short recon of what’s out there that might draw your attention, updated throughout the day…so check back often.