A trio of bills related to the makeup of Howard County's Board of Education were discussed last week at a meeting of the county's Annapolis delegation.

Howard legislators will consider all three when the General Assembly reconvenes on Jan. 11.

One, from Del. Vanessa Atterbeary, a Democrat, calls for school board members to be elected from each of the county's five councilmanic districts, with the two remaining seats elected at large. Currently, school board candidates run for seven at-large seats in a nonpartisan race.

Two other measures propose assembling public commissions to draw school board districts.

Del. Bob Flanagan and Sen. Gail Bates, both Republicans from the west county, said their proposals aim to keep politics out of the school board race by forgoing councilmanic districts they consider to be unfairly drawn.

“The concerns I have about going to districts with the school board — and I do have quite a few — are exacerbated by ... accepting lines that are gerrymandered,” Flanagan said. “I can't support spreading it to the school board.”

His plan would create an 11-member commission to draw seven districts that match the proportion of registered voters by party. Commission members would be chosen by a lottery managed by the county executive.

Bates' proposal would also create a commission to draw districts, but would place selection power in the hands of local organizations.

Atterbeary's proposal received the most attention in testimony Wednesday. She proposed similar legislation last year, but that bill never made it out of the delegation.

“Those who know me know I have three small children, so I'm very concerned about this,” she said. “I'm going to keep bringing it back until, hopefully, we can figure something out.”

The measure faced opposition last year from schools Superintendent Renee A. Foose, the Board of Education and some school administrators. At last week's hearing, it received mostly support. Foose did not attend the session.

Those who testified in favor of the bill said it would increase accountability among school board members and encourage a wider variety of candidates to run.

Barb Krupiarz, an Ellicott City resident and parent of a child in the special education system, said linking school board members to districts would make it possible for them to spend more time getting to know their communities. While County Council candidates often go door-knocking in their districts, at-large school board candidates typically focus on candidate forums.

“I believe that when everyone is your constituent, you are accountable to no one, and I think that's what we found with the last Board of Education,” Krupiarz said.

Jason Bladen, president of the Zeta Alpha Sigma chapter of the Phi Beta Sigma fraternity, said the change could help introduce different perspectives onto the board. “Diversity of thought on the school board would be pretty powerful in terms of shaping the Board of Education,” he said.

Citizens groups the People's Voice and the Howard County Citizens' Association also backed the bill, as did the County Council.

Council Chairman Calvin Ball, a Columbia Democrat, said council members often hear from constituents with concerns about the school system.

“We've heard in the past, from prior board members, that they don't feel as though they have constituents or that the students are the ones they must answer to,” he said. “The parents elect them and often serve as the voice of our students.”

But Robert Miller, a school board candidate this year who did not win, said the current system was already able to make change. He worried that changing to a district-based election system “could be an example of leaping before we look.”

Noting that three new members were elected to the board this year, he said, “The present situation has changed the composition of the board [and] an improved responsiveness is now expected.”

The Board of Education has not taken a position on Atterbeary's bill, according to board member Kirsten Coombs.

She did, however, say that the current practice of staggering school board elections offers voters an opportunity to choose new candidates every two years. Under Atterbeary's bill, all school board elections would take place during the gubernatorial election, beginning in 2018.

The school bills were among several legislative proposals discussed at the hearing.

Another was a proposal from Del. Warren Miller, a Republican, that would require the school system to solicit bids on any contracts above $5,000. The proposed change follows a state audit that found senior Howard schools staff awarded nearly $13 million for 15 contracts without proper justification.

The hearing also fielded comment on a proposal to redirect 10 percent of the county's transfer tax toward funding stormwater and flood control projects. The measure, a reaction to the damage wrought by historic flooding in Ellicott City this summer, would divert some of the funding currently allocated to the Howard County Agricultural Land Preservation Fund.

Ann Jones, an Ellicott City resident and member of the county's Agricultural Preservation Board, cautioned the delegation against siphoning off the program's funds.

“I would hope that you would look carefully before you decide to change something that's been working,” she said.