Why Should Delaware Care?
Last week, five school board bills that aim to address the public’s concerns around background checks and remote attendance for board of education members passed through the full Senate. But, one of those bills, which would impose residency requirements for board members, was sent back to the House of Representatives following an amendment in the Senate. It now has one legislative day to be passed before the end of the legislative session.
On the final day of the legislative session Monday, the Delaware House of Representatives will consider a bill that could determine whether a controversial Christina School Board member is allowed to vote for the board’s next president.
After several days of uncertainty about its future, lawmakers this weekend placed House Bill 82 on the House agenda for Monday. The legislation would require school board members to live within their district’s footprint for at least 75% of a given year.
If the House passes the bill, it will proceed to Gov. Matt Meyer’s desk. If the governor signs it before July 8, then it would presumably prohibit Christina Board of Education Member Naveed Baqir from voting during a Board of Education meeting on July 8, when members choose their next president and vice president of the board.
Baqir, who represents the Newark area of the school district, has not attended a board meeting in person in 16 months, but has often joined remotely while reportedly living in Pakistan.
Over the past year, he also has been part of a four-member alliance on the seven-member board that typically voted as a bloc.
His in-person absence has sparked a vocal backlash on a school board that already has been weighed down by several controversies recently.
In April, fellow board member Doug Manley filed a legal complaint in Delaware’s Court of Chancery, asking a judge to declare that Baqir is not a resident of the district, and therefore ineligible to serve on the board.
Then, earlier this month, Christina Board of Education President Donald Patton made the unexpected announcement that Baqir would step down from the board, effective on July 15 – a date that would allow him to vote for board’s leadership one week earlier.
On Thursday, Manley told Spotlight Delaware that he has “tried to have some people make sure that [the governor] has been prepped” about what he said was the bill’s importance. Manley further said he is “cautiously optimistic” that the bill will pass the full House on Monday and be signed into law before the Christina School Board’s July 8 meeting.
“I left [Meyer] a message the other day, and I will camp outside of his place, if I need to, until he signs it,” Manley said.
A package of school reforms
House Bill 82 was noticeably absent from a package of school reform measures that lawmakers sent to Meyer’s desk last week.
Those included four education bills that would strengthen school background checks and require school boards to broadcast meetings online.
After those bills passed the Senate, little information was released about the status of HB 82.
During the Senate meeting last Tuesday, Senate Majority Leader Bryan Townsend said he thought the bill, and the concerns surrounding it, were “moot” after learning of Baqir’s resignation.
But the following day, the Senate amended HB 82 to add one exception to its residency requirement. During the meeting, Senate President Pro Tem David Sokola said the amendment mirrors the residency requirement exception for state legislators.
The successful amendment meant the bill had to go back through the House before it could proceed to the governor.
On Friday, the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Madinah Wilson-Anton (D-Bear), told Spotlight Delaware that she requested that her bill be put onto Monday’s agenda “multiple times,” but had not received a response from House leadership.
Wilson-Anton is an outspoken member of a progressive bloc in the House that has maintained a tenuous relationship in recent months with leadership within their own Democratic Party.
She has said that she introduced the bill in response to Baqir’s physical absence from his school district.
Although Baqir’s resignation from the board has been announced, Wilson-Anton said she believes “it’s important that we close this loophole and make sure that people who are elected to represent their communities live in those communities.”
When posted online Sunday, the House of Representatives agenda for Monday included HB 82.
