To the Maryland State Board of Education
and Accountability and Implementation Board Members,
As a Maryland resident and taxpayer, I demand that State Superintendent Mohammed Choudhury be immediately removed and barred from his position.
In the Superintendent’s short tenure, he has proven to be an ineffective leader of our state education system who, rather than partner with local education systems, has taken unprecedented steps to erode the rights of locally elected school boards, teachers, and parents.
House Bill 119, Choudhury’s latest attempt to takeover local education, would grant absolute authority to his office to dictate every aspect of curriculum, frameworks, standards and instructional materials for all classroom topics including gender identity. HB119 would allow Choudhury to withhold millions of dollars from local school systems deemed by his office to be “non-compliant” with state standards, impacting teacher salaries and children’s education.
The Superintendent’s attack on local rights comes as counties grapple with the policies and financial deficits of the state-mandated Education Blueprint. It is critically important that locally elected school boards be given the authority to implement these standards in a way that best fits their communities and budgets. Choudhury’s attempt to enforce strict application of these standards thru financial penalties will further exasperate the challenges faced by local jurisdictions and directly harm students.
Choudhury’s pattern of tyrannical behavior began from the onset of his tenure. In one of his first moves as Superintendent, he issued an unprecedented, statewide emergency regulation to mandate school masking, taking away the ability for local boards to manage COVID policy when it was clear there was not a “one size fits all” solution to the pandemic.
Teachers, parents, and local school boards across the state have lost confidence in Superintendent Choudhury’s ability to lead the Maryland State Department of Education. His self-obsession with top-down control has proven him to be incapable of his post and a danger to Maryland students and teachers.
It is for these reasons that we demand for the immediate removal of State Superintendent Mohammed Choudhury.
Regards,
Maryland Taxpayer for Local Education
