In a test of its independence, the Baltimore County School Board on Tuesday will review three different school calendar options for next year, including one that completely disregards Gov. Larry Hogan's recent mandate to start all public schools after Labor Day.
There's the calendar that starts before Labor Day - the one that would likely have been in place before Hogan's executive order requiring schools to start after the holiday and end by June 15. It would begin on August 28 and end on June 19 and include a spring break of six school days and a professional development day for teachers in early September that is timed to fall on a Muslim holy day.
The second option adheres to Hogan's start and end dates, but it shortens spring break to a four day weekend. The calendar also cuts a teacher professional day in September that the school system had placed on the Muslim holiday Eid al-Adha. The school board recently voted not to give Muslims their holy days off, but the board did commit to closing schools on the holiday by making it a professional development day for teachers. That change would likely upset Muslim parents who have lobbied for more than a decade to get the holiday recognized.
A third option is a slight twist on the second, but doesn't close for the Jewish celebration of Rosh Hashanah a departure from normal practice in place since the late 1990s.
The Maryland Attorney General has written a letter of advice saying he doesn't believe Hogan's directive would hold up to legal challenge. And last month, the state school board said it would welcome applications from school systems seeking a waiver to the after Labor Day start date.
Superintendent Dallas Dance said he's not going to recommend one option over another, so it will be left to the board to hash through the choice at its board meeting. A final vote is not expected to take place Tuesday.
The county school board can ignore Hogan's order and pass the first option with the belief that the state school board will grant the county a waiver. The Maryland State School board said last week it would act "expeditiously" to pass any waivers to the Hogan executive order, but the board doesn't meet until later this month and the rules for getting those waivers still haven't been written.
The school board could decide to pass two options and then decide later in the year which they will use depending on the political fallout over the next several months. Someone could challenge the executive order by filing suit or by asking the legislature to pass a law that allows each local school district to set its own calendar.