Maryland’s Inspector General for Education Confirmed Overreaching on Somerset

Fellow Editors
2 minutes ago
3 min read

When public trust is already stretched thin, Maryland doesn’t need an accountability office that dodges its own accountability and ironically turns its power against the people it serves. Yet that is precisely the problem unfolding between the Somerset County Board of Education and the Maryland Office of the Inspector General for Education (OIGE).

This isn’t about partisan politics or personalities. It’s about the rule of law, and the OIGE’s troubling misunderstanding of it coupled with his insistence on inventing authority in law, statutes, rules, regulations, articles, policies, and procedures where none exists.

In its November 20, 2025 memorandum, the Somerset Board’s counsel lays out a point-by-point rebuttal to the OIGE’s latest claims that were made on November 19, 2025. What emerges is a picture of an oversight agency forcing square pegs into round holes, stretching statutory language, and attempting to redefine basic terms of school governance. If the Inspector General wants to hold districts accountable, it must first hold itself accountable to the law.

At the heart of the dispute is the OIGE’s attempt to weaponize Maryland Education Article § 4-205, which has a provision that gives local superintendents authority to interpret “rules” and “regulations.” That’s it. Those two terms. Not “policy.” Not “contracting decisions.” Not “board governance.”

Every experienced board member or attorney knows the difference. Policies are created by elected boards to guide the direction of their school systems. Procedures are written by superintendents to implement those policies. Rules govern procedure. Ignoring these foundational distinctions is an attempt to manipulate or rewrite Maryland law.

Yet that is exactly what the OIGE has tried to do. Suggesting that Somerset’s Board was obligated to treat its superintendent as the final interpreter of board policy when no dispute ever existed in the first place. The Board rightly rejected that absurd logic. When elected officials adopt a policy, they are the authoritative interpreters of that policy. No outside agency gets to invent a process that the law does not require.

Then there is the question of closed session. The OIGE was eager to fault the Board for voting behind closed doors when hiring their legal counsel. But Maryland’s Open Meetings Act is crystal clear: personnel matters, including the hiring or dismissal of legal counsel, are permitted subjects for confidential discussion and action. The Compliance Board has repeatedly affirmed this over the years.

Maryland Open Meetings Act Compliance Board Official Opinions - Somerset County

Even more telling, when Somerset’s attorneys asked the Compliance Board directly whether § 3-1204 of the Education Article prohibited such a vote, the answer was simple: No. Because the hiring of legal counsel is not “directly related to education,” therefore the restriction doesn’t apply.

The law says what it says. The OIGE’s version says what it wishes it said.

This episode should concern every Marylander who values transparent and lawful oversight. Accountability is essential. But accountability without accuracy is not accountability— it’s overreach.

The Somerset County Board is not above scrutiny. But neither is the Inspector General for Education. When an oversight agency starts stretching statutes in an attempt to justify predetermined conclusions, it stops being a guardian of integrity and becomes a political actor.

It’s remarkable that the OIGE is neither an elected position nor one filled by an attorney — a baseline qualification most people would expect from an Inspector General tasked with interpreting the law. To date, the OIGE has not only embarrassed himself, but the entire State of Maryland. If the state office hopes to regain credibility, it should replace him with someone who brings both genuine integrity and legal expertise to the job.

Fellows & Editors

November 21, 2025

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