Alex Thomas, the student member-elect for the Frederick County Board of Education for the 2025-26 school year, wants his fellow students to have a stronger voice in their schools’ policies. The Linganore High School junior, 16, is going into his term as a student member of the board with student voting rights as his top priority.
The ability of the student member of the board (often shortened to SMOB) to directly affect change varies in different Maryland school districts. Anne Arundel County is the only county with no restrictions on its student member of the board’s voting rights. Some in Howard County and Prince George’s County are able to vote on issues that affect students as long as they do not concern school personnel.
At present, the student member of the Frederick County Board of Education receives a symbolic recorded vote on policy actions, but it is not counted in decisions like adult members’ votes are.
“It’s really important that student members of the board have voting rights on their board of education,” Alex says in an interview with Frederick’s Child in May. “Student members of the board have such valuable perspectives and opinions that the board needs to ensure it’s accurately representing the students of Frederick County.”
Alex’s term begins July 1. Currently, he is shadowing the 2024-25 student member of the board, Governor Thomas Johnson High School senior Elijah Steele, 18. Steele notes that he was more focused on county-level efforts, while Alex’s ambitions are at the state level, but he is still in full support of voting rights for student members of the board.
“Sometimes, Board of Education members aren’t able to visit certain places or get all the information that they need, which is why the student member of the board’s input is so valuable,” Steele says. “I visited Heather Ridge School (a Frederick-based alternative school) last week as the first student member of the board to do so. Many of our Board of Education members have never set foot in that building, so I’m able to offer unique insights and perspectives that they wouldn’t get normally from the students of Heather Ridge and other schools they aren’t as familiar with.”
Efforts to secure voting rights for student members of the board across the state have been ongoing, but not yet successful. Frederick County District 3 Del. Kris Fair introduced House Bill 456 in 2024, which would give student members the ability to vote on certain school board matters if passed. But HB0456 was withdrawn by its sponsors in March 2024 and has seen little progress since.
Alex plans to continue Steele’s work with local legislators on student voting rights. He recently traveled to Annapolis on a field trip with other student government members to speak with legislators on bills that affected students.
“Even though student voting rights weren’t part of the legislation we went to speak with them about this year, we still wanted to talk to the legislators about such an important issue,” Alex recalls. “I think they were very open to the idea of providing student members of the board with voting rights.”
While Frederick County students have largely been in favor of these voting rights, the movement has received some pushback from other Board of Education members, as well as some parents and educators. One sticking point for some is the fact that student members of the board are elected by the student body rather than by the general public.
But Alex notes that Baltimore City’s Board of Education has its members appointed by the city’s mayor, even with the city’s school district being very large and having a sizeable budget.
“A common misconception is that the Board of Education is supposed to accurately represent taxpayers,” Steele adds. “The taxpayers may have children in the school system, and we want to ensure safety for all of our students, but we can’t say we’re here for the taxpayers. The point of the school board is to ensure that there’s a safe, positive learning environment for every student inside of school.”
Alex says he hopes that legislation guaranteeing voting rights to all student members of the board in Maryland will be enacted, but that partial voting rights are a good starting point. While he says students should not be able to vote on personnel matters, such as the suspension or termination of faculty, they should be able to vote on issues that affect students.
With policies like school dress codes and the use of mobile phones and personal devices on the table, he and Steele state that the people most affected by these policies should have more of a say in their passage.
“When I was talking to my parents and to other people about this, a lot of them had already assumed that we had voting rights,” Alex says. “To me, it’s common sense for student members of the board to have voting rights. I think a lot of opinions on this issue have been swayed in recent years, but there’s still more work to do.”
