## Facts

- Maryland public education is governed by a two-tier structure: the Maryland State Board of Education oversees statewide policy and supervision, while local boards head local school systems.
- In 1993, the State Board adopted accountability regulations (COMAR 13A.01.04.01–.08) setting performance standards and requiring school improvement plans.
- The regulations provide a two-phase response for chronically underperforming schools, including “reconstitution” and potential state intervention.
- Several Baltimore City elementary schools were identified as failing to meet performance standards and were ordered reconstituted.
- As part of reconstitution, the State Board contracted with Edison Schools, Inc., a private for-profit education management company, to operate and manage three Baltimore City elementary schools.
- The Baltimore Teachers Union sued for declaratory and injunctive relief, alleging the State Board lacked statutory authority to contract with a private, for-profit entity for school operation and management.

## Issues

1. Whether the State Board had statutory and regulatory authority to contract with a private, for-profit corporation to operate and manage public schools as a reconstitution remedy.
2. Whether the State Board’s “general supervision” and “visitatorial” powers allow it to implement reconstitution measures that affect local operational control.

## Decision

- The Court of Appeals of Maryland affirmed the circuit court’s judgment for the State Board.
- The State Board acted within authority granted by the Education Article and its implementing regulations when it entered the Edison contract.
- The contract was a permissible method of implementing reconstitution for failing schools, and the State Board did not act ultra vires.
- The Union was not entitled to declaratory or injunctive relief.

## Legal Principles

- The State Board’s statutory role of general supervision includes broad “visitatorial” authority to superintend local boards, correct abuses, and address controversies involving educational policy and administration.
- The Education Article authorizes the State Board to adopt regulations to administer and enforce education law and to implement statewide educational policies.
- Accountability regulations permitting reconstitution and allowing a school’s overall program and management to be placed under another entity’s control support the State Board’s authority to structure that remedy through contractual arrangements.
- Use of a private contractor to manage reconstituted schools is not, by itself, an unlawful delegation where the schools remain public and subject to the Education Article, State Board regulations, and ongoing state oversight.

## Conclusion

The court held that Maryland’s State Board could implement reconstitution of failing public schools by contracting with a private education management company, because the Board’s broad supervisory authority and the accountability regulations supplied sufficient legal authorization for the arrangement.


Baltimore Tchrs. Union, Am. Fed’n of Tchrs., Loc. 340, AFL-CIO v. Md. State Bd. of Educ., 840 A.2d 728 (Md. 2004)