Delegate Eric Luedtke has filed a complaint with the Maryland Open Meetings Compliance Board (OMCB) against the Maryland State Board of Education. 
The complaint relates to the Board’s June meeting where it approved a seventeen percent raise for State Superintendent of Schools Karen Salmon in a closed session. The Open Meetings Act includes an exception that allows public bodies subject to the Act to discuss “personnel matters” behind closed doors, provided they disclose the subject of the conversations beforehand. Del. Leudtke says the Board failed to notify the public, thus violating the Act.
From coverage in the Baltimore Sun:
“The board’s handling of this situation was entirely inappropriate,” Luedtke said. “Leave aside how grotesque it is to increase the salary of the superintendent when Marylanders are losing their homes and school systems are in hiring freezes, it’s clear that all of these discussions were intentionally hidden from the public.”
The Board has thirty days from the date of the complaint to respond, and the OMCB will issue an opinion within 30 days of the response.