School board contests in Washington, D.C., suburbs on Tuesday will focus on familiar election-year themes: dwindling budgets, security concerns and special interests.
For boards of education, that means keeping enough teachers in classrooms, keeping students safe and juggling the often-expensive requests for students with special needs such as autism and giftedness.
While several districts have open seats, the only contested elections will be held in Montgomery County.
Three-term incumbent Stephen Abrams is up against Rockville lawyer Laura Berthiaume in Montgomery’s District 2, which includes Potomac and Rockville. An at-large seat currently occupied by Sharon Cox is sought by Phil Kauffman, who advises on billions of dollars in contracts for the state Department of Veterans Affairs, and Tommy Le, a veteran candidate and retired engineer. “Having to make reductions in the budget will be the most immediate challenge for whomever wins the seats,” Cox said. “They’ll have to get up to speed fast on the potential long-term impacts of various cuts.”
Like districts around the region, Montgomery is faced with higher costs and lower revenues for the fiscal 2010 budget season already under way.
The county’s teachers union is expected to decide by next week whether it will renegotiate a favorable three-year contract, currently in its second year, said Bonnie Cullison, president of the Montgomery County Education Association. If it decides against it, necessary program cuts could be more severe.
Berthiaume and Kauffman, whose wife is a Montgomery County teacher, earned the endorsement of Cullison’s 12,000-member union.
“Laura is a strong advocate for the whole child,” Cullison said, explaining that a “narrowing” of the curriculum to focus on reading and math at the expense of physical education and the arts has been a union concern. Berthiaume’s opponent Abrams fell out of favor with the union in 2007 when he voted against the teachers contract now being considered for renegotiation. The same move earned him accolades from residents concerned the contract was too expensive from the outset.
Unopposed candidates include Christopher Barclay for Montgomery’s District 4 and Amber Waller for an at-large position in neighboring Prince George’s County.
In Virginia, Democrats Libby Garvey and Emma Violand-Sanchez are on the ballot for two open seats in Arlington County. Maryland school board positions are nonpartisan.
