Legal services staff presented the legal framework Sept. 16 that separates the Board of Education's role in setting policy from the superintendent's role in setting regulations that implement that policy. Robin Seabrook, chief of legal services, summarized statute and county practice and explained that MCPS currently treats regulation development primarily as an implementation task under the superintendent; regulations are presented to the board as information items after internal drafting and review.
Sally Davis, supervisor in the Policy and Regulations Division, summarized how the district categorized regulation updates last year into three buckets: compliance-driven revisions (often prompted by federal or state requirements), technical clarifications (terminology and process improvements) and superintendent-initiated changes (operational needs). She said 19 regulations were revised in 2024'5 and that most revisions were compliance or technical in nature.
Committee members asked whether MCPS should provide more written public engagement for regulation development and whether specific categories of regulations should be posted for public review before finalizing. Board members said they have received public concern that regulations had been changed without public notice. Staff said some jurisdictions do include stakeholder engagement in regulation development though that practice is not consistently codified; staff offered to return with draft BFA language presenting options for when and how to incorporate public input into the regulation process.
The committee directed staff to prepare suggested language and options and to include this item as part of the work plan conversation; staff said they would return with proposals for the committee's December review cycle.