MABE Elects New President, Revises Continuing Resolutions

sumpter
MABE President Warner I. Sumpter

At the Maryland Association of Boards of Education (MABE) Annual Conference this fall, the organization elected a new president and adopting revisions to its continuing resolutions, including language on the education funding mandate often referred to as “maintenance of effort.”

The President of MABE for the next year is Brig. Gen. (Ret.) Warner I. Sumpter, member of the Somerset County Board of Education. The MABE board of directors is comprised of the officers of the association, the immediate past president, and twelve additional members. All must be current members of their local boards of education.

In his first message to members, Sumpter stated,

We have a strong board of directors and a tremendously professional and capable staff. But we need your help in the coming year in engaging our communities and legislators. They need to hear our public school stories and be reminded that the work we do benefits our students – all of our students.

Also at the Conference, MABE updating their continuing resolutions, which provide the foundation for the Association’s legislative and policy positions in the year ahead.  While current law requires county governments to maintain the same amount of funding per pupil, MABE adopted the following resolution suggesting that funding should also increase from year-to-year based on inflation, supplemental funding for special needs, and other factors. MABE states,

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that MABE pledges to promote the successful implementation of the significant maintenance of effort reforms enacted in 2012, and to highlight best practices in the fiscal relations between local boards of education and local governments; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that MABE opposes any legislation that would weaken the maintenance of effort law, such as the 2015 proposal to repeal the provision mandating local funding increases above maintenance of effort based on measures of local wealth and effort; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that MABE supports reasonable growth in local funding based on inflation, supplemental per pupil funding for special needs students, and other factors.

For more information, read all of MABE’s updated resolutions or read the press release from their Annual Conference.