# Howard County Board of Education (non-partisan)
**In one sentence:** The board sets local policy for Howard County public schools, and two of its seven elected members are chosen by voters across the whole county ("at-large") [2]. You may vote for up to 2 candidates.

## The candidates

### Mark E. Covington
- **Background:** Lives in Columbia and will be 63 on Election Day. He is retired/self-employed and has a master's degree in school administration from Bowie State. This is his first run for office [1].
- **Top stated priorities:** Full school funding, student mental health, deferred maintenance (repairs that have been put off), a fair and open redistricting process, and rules for AI in schools [1].
- **Record or experience relevant to this office:** Says he has been an educator for nearly 40 years, including as a school administrator and principal in Howard County schools (HCPSS). He is the parent of two HCPSS graduates [1].

### Linda Frascarella
- **Background:** Lives in Ellicott City and will be 62 on Election Day. She is semi-retired and has an MBA from the University of Maryland and a master's in teaching from Johns Hopkins. She has held no political office [1].
- **Top stated priorities:** Repairing buildings and using fewer portable classrooms, changing student discipline and activity-eligibility rules, and fully funding the superintendent's budget request [1].
- **Record or experience relevant to this office:** Says she has worked for HCPSS and is a "skilled financial manager" [4]. She has served on the boards of the local League of Women Voters and Sierra Club chapters and volunteered with the PTA [5].

### Lanlan Xu
- **Background:** Lives in Clarksville and will be 49 on Election Day. She is a health policy executive with doctorates from Indiana University and Georgetown. This is her first run for office [1].
- **Top stated priorities:** Protecting staff who work directly with students, hiring and keeping teachers, helping struggling students early, and special education [1].
- **Record or experience relevant to this office:** Serves on the school system's Operating Budget Review Committee and the PTA Council's Legislative Committee. She formerly served on the boards of The Horizon Foundation and the county's Local Children's Board [1]. Says the school board followed her 2026 advice to keep 14 science paraeducator (classroom aide) jobs [1].

## Where they differ
- **View of the current board:** Frascarella said no current board decision is "actively harming residents." Xu pointed to staff cuts in the fiscal 2025 and 2026 budgets. Covington focused on federal actions [1].
- **Student discipline:** Frascarella wants to change Policy 9070, the grade rule for high school activities. She also opposes out-of-school suspension for non-violent offenses [1]. Covington and Xu: Not found in sources checked.
- **Where to save money:** Covington would cut no instructional programs and would review screen use in classrooms. Xu would streamline administration and freeze contracts that have not shown results. Frascarella would protect programs "closest to the student" [1].

## If you care most about...
- **School funding** -> Covington: push officials for "full funding." Frascarella: judge success by whether the superintendent's request is fully funded. Xu: restore high-impact jobs that serve students and seek grants [1].
- **Aging buildings** -> All three named deferred maintenance. Xu also wants a public list that ranks repairs [1].
- **Special education** -> Covington: more money for hiring. Frascarella: group students with similar needs and add trained aides. Xu: more programs inside the county and less paperwork [1].
- **Transparency** -> Covington: more meetings and surveys. Frascarella: an easier board-documents website and a newsletter. Xu: let voters judge her votes, attendance and reasons [1].

## What we could not verify
- Endorsements for any candidate: Not found in sources checked.
- Work histories are the candidates' own claims. We did not confirm them independently.
- We found no campaign website for Covington. The state lists only his social media [3].
- The questionnaire answers are from May 2026 [1]. The Ballotpedia and Vote411 pages would not load.

## Confidence
Medium. The candidate list comes from an official source [3], but most details are the candidates' own answers to one newspaper questionnaire [1].

## Sources
[1] Howard County school board 2026 election candidate profiles - The Baltimore Sun - https://www.baltimoresun.com/2026/05/20/howard-county-board-of-education-candidates-2026-election/
[2] Howard County Board of Education - Howard County Public School System - https://www.hcpss.org/board/
[3] 2026 Gubernatorial General Election Local Candidates List - Maryland State Board of Elections - https://elections.maryland.gov/elections/2026/General_candidates/2026_GG_all_counties_candidatelist.html
[4] Linda for Board of Education (candidate's own site) - https://vote4frascarella.com/
[5] Meet Linda (candidate's own site) - https://vote4frascarella.com/about/
[6] Dr. Lanlan Xu for Board of Education (candidate's own site) - https://www.lanlanxu.org