The Maryland State Board of Education has developed a series of questions it will ask city school board candidates about their backgrounds, a result of revelations several weeks ago that the former board chair had a troubled financial background.

The first changes to the vetting process for the three-year volunteer term on the city school board include asking whether the candidates have paid their taxes, have been convicted of a crime, have a civil judgment against them or have been disbarred from practicing law or had a professional license revoked.

Read the complete article from reporter Liz Bowie on baltimoresun.com.

The Prince George’s County school board has voted to name an Upper Marlboro elementary school after President Barack Obama.

The board voted unanimously Thursday on the name for the school just miles from the White House.

Read more on baltimoresun.com.

The Maryland Board of Education plans to make public in the next week or so the process for vetting Baltimore school board candidates, Chairman James DeGraffenreidt said Tuesday.

Members discussed the matter in a private session yesterday, DeGraffenreidt said during the board’s public meeting. Questions were raised about the vetting process after revelations that the city panel’s former chairman, Brian D. Morris, had a 15-year history of financial troubles and was not awarded a degree from the University of Maryland, College Park, as his resume said.

Read more from reporter Arin Gencer on baltimoresun.com.

The Maryland Board of Regents agreed unanimously Friday to allow Baltimore Hebrew University to become part of Towson University, closing one chapter in the life of the 90-year-old institution of Jewish learning and opening another.

The vote taken at the board meeting at Frostburg State University means that BHU — with 55 graduate students, seven instructors and a library of some 70,000 volumes — will move a few miles northeast from its single building in Park Heights to the suburban campus of more than 21,000 students.

Read the complete article from reporter Arthur Hirsch on baltimoresun.com.

The Maryland Higher Education Commission has signed off on the integration of Baltimore Hebrew University into Towson University, bringing the merger within a vote of becoming reality.

The commission issued letters today to Towson President Robert L. Caret and BHU President Erika Pardes Schon saying it had approved a merger agreement signed by the two institutions. Approval by the University of Maryland System Board of Regents on Friday would allow the 90-year-old center of Jewish learning to complete the move from Park Heights to the campus of the larger public university in time for the start of the fall semester.

Read the complete article from reporter Matthew Hay Brown on baltimoresun.com.

McDonogh girls soccer coach Maurice Boylan Jr., who spent 18 years at the helm, stepped down earlier this spring for personal reasons.

Boylan posted a 316-84-34 career mark, leading the Eagles to three Catholic League championships in the 1990s. This past season, McDonogh reached the Interscholastic Athletic Association of Maryland A Conference championship game for the second straight year and finished with a 21-1-1 mark, falling to Archbishop Spalding in the title game.

Read the complete article by reporter Glenn Graham on baltimoresun.com.

Former Baltimore school board chair Brian D. Morris, who was appointed to a high-level post in the school district this week, resigned today after his hiring came under increasing public scrutiny about the process and his own financial problems.

Morris released a statement at 3 p.m. saying, “It disturbs me greatly that this matter has become a distraction to the public’s appreciation for the enormous progress our school system has made under my tenure.”

Read the complete article by reporter Liz Bowie on baltimoresun.com.

Chesapeake High, Pinegrove Middle and Pinegrove Elementary were closed today due to a lack of electricity, according to Baltimore County public school officials.

In Baltimore city, Winston Middle School was also closed for the day due to a power outage. Darlington Elementary School in Harford County was closed for students and staff for the same reason.

President Barack Obama is relying heavily on educators to pull the country out of its economic doldrums, and Maryland will soon receive $210 million in federal stimulus dollars for local school districts.

Acknowledging that the huge federal package needs a jump-start of its own, Obama on Monday announced an accelerated spending timetable for a variety of programs, including money for 135,000 teachers, principals and support staff nationwide.

The bulk of Maryland’s schools funding – which will reach $589 million over two years - will go to make up for what would have been shortfalls in state allocations to local school districts because of declining revenues.

Read the complete article from reporter Liz Bowie on baltimoresun.com.

The U.S. Naval Academy’s incoming class includes more minority students than any class in the school’s history.

Vice Adm. Jeffrey Fowler, the superintendent, has made diversity a top priority. Fowler briefed members of the school’s board of visitors today about progress the academy has made.

Read the complete article on baltimoresun.com.

Baltimore County emergency crews extinguished a small fire today in a boys’ bathroom at Overlea High School. No injuries were reported.

The fire, reported at 11:49 a.m., was declared under control at 12:05 p.m., according to Elise Armacost, a county Fire Department spokeswoman. The fire apparently started in a trash can and had spread to a paper towel dispenser.

Crews ventilated the building at 5401 Kenwood Ave. to clear smoke and tested for carbon monoxide gas, Armacost said in a media advisory. Students were allowed to return to class after it was determined the building was safe. The incident was under investigation.

David J. Ramsay, who helped push the redevelopment of Baltimore’s west side while presiding over prestigious law and medical schools, announced today that he will step down after 15 years as the president of the University of Maryland, Baltimore.

Ramsay, who will remain in the job until a successor is chosen, announced the decision in an understated e-mail to the entire campus.

Read the complete article by reporter Childs Walker on baltimoresun.com.

Some parents expressed outrage. Others said they were fearful for their children. And a couple stressed the many positives of their beloved school.

Close to 200 parents gathered in the cafetorium of Howard County’s Wilde Lake Middle School on Wednesday night to discuss the reported sexual assault of a 13-year-old student who said she was victimized by two classmates in a school bathroom May 20.

School officials and police described the assault as an “isolated incident.” This was the first time the police had been called to the school this year, they said. But many parents said that the school is out of control.

Read the complete article by reporter John-John Williams IV on baltimoresun.com.

Read the Columbia Flier’s version of this story by reporter Dan Schwind on explorehoward.com.

The state plans to launch its first international incubator to attract foreign companies to College Park later this year and announced its first tenant, the University of Maryland-China Research Park.

Maryland’s Department of Business and Economic Development and the University of Maryland, College Park today  signed an agreement to establish the incubator, which will provide business development services and leasing space to lure foreign companies to the state.

Read the complete article by reporter Hanah Cho on baltimoresun.com.

Maryland receives $8 in economic benefit for every $1 in taxpayer support to the University of Maryland, according to a new study commissioned by the University of Maryland College Park Foundation.

The university’s annual economic impact study found that the school contributes $3.4 billion and supports over 23,000 jobs. The state’s fiscal 2009 year funding to the university is $400 million.

Read the complete article by reporter Hanah Cho on baltimoresun.com.