In a major election year with headlines drawing eyes to the Presidential, Senate and House elections, one race that often gets overlooked is the Board of Education. But after months of scandal and controversy at the highest levels of MCPS administration, culminating in the mutual separation with the previous superintendent, voters looked for change at the Board table.
With the returns almost fully in, Montgomery County voters elected a slate of three new Board members to the eight-person Board, a major shift reflecting voters’ desire for new leadership at the top of the state’s largest school district.
All three newly elected Board members were also endorsed by the teachers’ union, the Montgomery County Educators Association (MCEA), earning them a spot on the historically powerful and prestigious “Apple Ballot” — their official endorsement guide to elections in Montgomery County. Following a questionnaire and interviews with union reps, a candidate must win at least 58% of votes from within the union to be placed on the Apple Ballot.
Here are the three new Board members who will be seated at the Board table in December:
At-Large: Rita Montoya
Montoya defeated incumbent and current Board vice president Lynne Harris. First elected in 2020, Harris had previously overcome not being endorsed by MCEA. However, this year, she lost her seat by a margin of 53% to 46%, equivalent to around 26,000 votes in the race where over 344,000 citizens cast their votes. For comparison, in the District 2 race, there were 350,000 ballots cast, and 333,000 in the District 4 race, while over 445,000 people cast a vote for president.
Montoya is an attorney by training and is currently a self-employed mother of two children in grades three and five in the B-CC cluster. While it was Montoya’s first time running for public office, she had previously served as a juvenile public defender and a PTA president. During her campaign, Montoya ran on three pillars of better oversight, school safety and academic vigor, all with better communication between MCPS and the community to rebuild trust.
District 2: Natalie Zimmerman
Zimmerman defeated Brenda Diaz, a candidate who, unlike any others on the ballot, openly supported bringing back School Resource Officers (police officers) into schools and parent opt-out from certain books. Although the races are all non-partisan, with candidates not identifying with any party on the ballot, Diaz had earned the endorsement of the Montgomery County Republican Party and was generally viewed as the most conservative of the candidates. In the Board race with the most ballots cast, Diaz lost by just over 45,000 votes, 43% to 56%.
On the other hand, Zimmerman is currently a third-grade teacher at Wheaton Woods Elementary School. Zimmerman had previously clarified that if elected, she would resign from her teaching position as required by law. Much of Zimmerman’s campaign centered around bringing the teacher’s perspective to the Board table, and she was also endorsed by the Service Employees International Union and US House Representative Jamie Raskin. At just 29 years old, she will be the youngest non-student Board member.
District 5: Laura Stewart
Stewart beat incumbent Shebra Evans 57% to 41%, the widest margin of the three races, rounding off the defeat of all three incumbent board members. In the District 2 race, incumbent Rebecca Smondrowski, first elected in 2012, lost in the primary in May. Stewart has extensive experience in community advocacy as a PTA leader, having become a full-time volunteer during the COVID-19 pandemic. She served as an elementary school PTA president at Woodlin Elementary and various coordinator positions at the Montgomery County Council of PTAs. She also currently serves as the Communities United Against Hate Vice President.
Stewart’s platform focused on the three letters A-C-T, standing for Accountability, Collaboration and Transparency as her three main goals for MCPS and has called for “top-down” reform in MCPS systems and structure. Stewart also encouraged the Board and Superintendent to “get out of central office” and do more town hall meetings with the community during her campaign.
