UMD Journalism Students and Faculty Publish Comprehensive Guide to Maryland School Board Elections

With Maryland’s early voting period set to open Thursday, the Local News Network at the University of Maryland’s Philip Merrill College of Journalism on Monday unveiled its 2024 voter guide for every school board election in the state.

The guide, developed in partnership with Capital News Service and the university’s Maryland Democracy Initiative, features Q&As from the 74 candidates who responded to a survey that the Local News Network (LNN) sent to all 109 across the state.

LNN also published five stories on CNS, Merrill College’s student-powered news outlet, diving deeper into key findings revealed by the survey responses — including opinions about the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future, book banning, cellphones in schools, school safety and gender identity.

“Through our school board voting guide, the Local News Network provides citizens throughout Maryland with information they need to make decisions about an issue of utmost importance: their children’s education,” LNN Director Jerry Zremski said. “Tens of thousands of Marylanders used our voter guide two years ago, and we’re hoping this year’s guide is just as helpful.”

Merrill College Dean Rafael Lorente said an informed public is critical to a healthy democracy, but today’s overtaxed newsrooms can’t cover every issue of interest to voters.

“In just a few short years, LNN has not only helped close that gap, but our students and faculty have provided innovative tools and data that newsrooms in the state can use to make their journalism better,” he said. “Our students, our school and our state are better because of LNN.”

The guide and stories were produced by a team of 105 student journalists and 10 Merrill College faculty members. Student journalists also did background checks on all the candidates. A future Capital News Service story will include details about candidates who have faced significant legal issues.

Key findings from the project:

• Asked in an open-ended question to name the most important issue facing their school board, the largest number of candidates — 27 — cited academic issues such as poor test scores or pandemic-related learning loss. Other top issues were student behavior/mental health (18 candidates), funding (16 candidates) and staffing (10 candidates).
• Asked about their views of the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future, 55 candidates offered at least some praise for the state’s massive, 10-year education reform plan. But 42 of the candidates raised concerns about the program’s costs and/or its mandates.
• Asked if they were satisfied with their local district’s approach to school safety, 48 candidates said they were not, while 21 said they were and five did not provide a conclusive answer. Twenty-five of the 74 called for increased access to mental health services for students, and 13 candidates called for tougher discipline.
• Of the 74 candidates who responded, 64 favored strong restrictions on cellphones in schools, and only 10 expressed reservations about tough cellphone policies or touted the positive aspects of phones in the classroom.
• Asked for their opinion on book bans, 38 candidates said they favored policies in which professionals review books to make sure they are age-appropriate. Another 19 strongly opposed book bans without citing existing policies for reviewing books. However, 17 candidates appeared open to banning books that parents find objectionable.
• Asked if schools should allow gender-nonconforming students to use their chosen pronouns without parental notification, 29 candidates said yes while 32 said parents should be informed. Thirteen candidates either refused to answer the question or provided an unclear answer.