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From this section we say that each local
school shall be managed by a local school
board appointed by the governor or elected
in such manner as provided by law. There
is no room left for appointment by the
county council, as we want to call it, or in
the case of Baltimore City the mayor of
Baltimore City.
Of course, they made this right by pro-
viding that since the City already has this,
we can continue it. It is true, Baltimore
City did have sanctions against it. It is
also true that I was most angry with the
representatives of our school board and our
department of education when they came to
our Committee for hearings, but, ladies
and gentlemen, we have just gone through
a mayoralty election and although the
mayor is a member of the opposing or op-
posite party from mine, I must give credit
where credit is due.
From the first speech to the last speech
made by Mayor D'Alesandro, he addressed
himself to the problems of the Baltimore
City school system which we, all of us who
read newspapers, know was the greatest
problem in our city. One of the many
promises he made to the citizens of Balti-
more, that great politician, was to do some-
thing about the problem of Baltimore
schools and I do not think that there is one
of us here who can say that what he did
was not the biggest step he could make in
the direction when he appointed such a ca-
pable person as president of that local
school board.
Now, what I am simply saying is this:
we just finished talking about equality of
educational opportunity. Ladies and gentle-
men, unless a policy can truly work toward
this end, it will never come from the edu-
cators. Those politicians that we talk about
are the ones that provide the dollars and
unless they are responsible for providing
that educational system that we want to
be equal and offer an opportunity for all
people, we will never have it. So I simply
say to you, do not freeze a lot of inflexible
words into this document that my children
have to live with.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Pullen, I
am a little disturbed by two or three things.
One is that I am not satisfied by Delegate
Moser's statement as to what these provi-
sions on local government are going to do
with education. I, for one, would certainly
oppose any interference by any form of
local government, other than the present
incoming, until we protect ourselves through
a constitutional amendment.
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DELEGATE PULLEN: I came down
here contrary to what the newspapers said.
It had nothing to do with putting this
amendment in the constitution, but I be-
came converted that it was necessary be-
cause the people of the State are fearful
of two things. I think my sources are
proper. First, they fear the move to ap-
point the state superintendent. They fear
the move of the county commissioners to
appoint the school board. I have heard a
lot from my friends in the legal profession
about the legislature, let the legislature
do it.
Now, I am going to quote from one of
the most eminent authorities in this group
as to why we should not do that. I refer to
Delegate Mudd, a gentleman whom I respect
in every way. This is from the record of
November 16 when somebody asked him
the same question, and sir, I am sure you
will not object to my reading this because
you found it for me. This is what he said:
"We fear, frankly, that the legislature,
not now perhaps, but sometime in the fore-
seeable future, unintentionally may by law
create a functional division that, because
of its lack of knowledge of the details of
the innermost function of the court in the
various areas in the State, could disrupt
the harmony and efficiency of the entire
structure."
I maintain, sir, that the interests of the
children of this State are of equal im-
portance to justice. As a matter of fact,
it is only justice that we protect them. I
think this amendment should not be passed.
THE CHAIRMAN: Does any other dele-
gate desire to speak in favor of the
amendment?
Delegate Moser.
DELEGATE MOSER: Mr. Chairman,
ladies and gentlemen, I will be brief. I will
respectfully suggest to Dr. Pullen if he
wants to accomplish what he says he wants
to accomplish that he ought to vote for
Amendment No. 5 and not against it.
As I understand Amendment No. 1, as it
was passed, what we have got in here now
reads that the State shall provide by law.
Presumably it means the General Assem-
bly, and it puts the educational system and
the control of it in the hands of the General
Assembly. When Delegate Lord was asked
the question, what do you mean by law, he
made absolutely clear that this meant a
law that could vary in its terms and effects
among the local subdivisions just exactly
as Article 77 of the Maryland Code now
reads. He made this absolutely clear, and
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