By BRENDA WINTRODE | Rep. Andy Harris threatened to work with the Trump administration to withhold Maryland’s federal education funds unless the state’s top education official removes herself from a heated battle with a local school board in his district, according to a letter sent by Harris.

In June, Maryland State Superintendent of Schools Carey Wright and the state school board stepped in after the Somerset County school board and its MAGA-aligned majority tried to dismiss Superintendent Ava Tasker-Mitchell.

The board has not publicly voted on or given a reason for the removal the superintendent.

The rest of this article can be found on the Baltimore Banner’s website.

By KRISTEN GRIFFITH | The year that Indiana banned “obscene” books from school libraries, Saundra Mitchell fled the state she had known her entire life.

The author, with books banned in 16 states, said she sought refuge in Maryland, thinking its Freedom to Read law would make life a little easier for her and her librarian wife.

But two years into their new life in Anne Arundel County — and six months into the Trump administration — Mitchell is learning her adopted blue state isn’t immune from the culture war against books in schools. One of the latest battles happened in Montgomery County and resulted in a U.S. Supreme Court ruling. Parents across the state, including in Harford County, continue to push for bans.

The rest of this article can be read on the Baltimore Banner’s website.

By LIZ BOWIE | Shortly after a MAGA-aligned majority took control of Somerset County’s school board in last year’s election, they got to work.

They passed a policy on what flags could be flown, attempted to usurp the superintendent’s decision-making power, and assumed control of decisions on which library books are purchased.

Then they came for the school librarians. And that was too much.

The rest of this article can be read on the Baltimore Banner’s website.