Maryland Gov. Hogan appoints two Common Core supporters to Board of Education

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan just named two new members of the state Board of Education — both supporters of the Common Core as well as charter schools.
Hogan, a Republican, tapped Chester E. Finn, Jr., president of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, and Andy Smarick, partner at Bellwether Education Partners, to take the open seats on the 12-person board created by the departures of Charlene M. Dukes and Donna Hill Staton.
Hogan, who was sworn in as Maryland governor in January, had during the campaign characterized the implementation of school reforms in the state as “a train wreck” and said he believed in local control of assessments. In late January, a spokeswoman for Hogan said in an e-mail, “Governor Hogan believes that we need to hit the ‘pause’ button on Common Core and give control back to teachers and parents.”...
...The Maryland governor appoints all members of the Board of Education, with advise and consent by the state Senate. Hogan will have more chances to appoint members to the board this year, with four members ending their terms, including the student member. (The governor appoints the student member from a list of two people nominated by the Maryland Association of Student Councils.) By the end of the year, then, he could have appointed as many as half the members of the board, and next year, a few more members are retiring...

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