Rae Gallagher
Running for school board in Frederick County
Email: rae4boe@gmail.com
Website: www.rae4boe.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/rae4boe/
How old will you be on Election Day (Nov. 3)?
45
Are you currently employed? If so, where, and what is your job title?
Yes, I am the executive director of Girls on the Run Mid and Western Maryland
What is the highest level of education that you completed, and where did you get that degree?
Master's in public administration, University of Baltimore
Why are you running for the school board?
I spent the last four years as a Board of Education member in Frederick County, fighting for what matters most for our students: equitable funding, inclusive policies and putting students first. I am running for reelection to promote equitable education and access to resources, invest in our educators and staff, expand programming for our most vulnerable students and build continued innovation and transparency within our school system.
What makes you a good candidate for the board?
I work as a nonprofit leader and parent advocate, seeing firsthand the challenges our schools face. That experience drives my commitment to transparent, community-centered decision-making. I believe every child—regardless of their ZIP code, background, or abilities—deserves a world-class education. I am also a parent to two children attending Frederick County Public Schools schools, giving me a perspective as a parent as well.
What is the most important issue facing your school board and what would you do about it if elected?
There is not one single issue that is most important within our school district. Frederick County’s average per-student spending, as calculated by the Maryland State Department of Education, has consistently ranked among the lowest in Maryland. While Frederick County Public Schools is beginning to recover from years of significant underfunding, the school system continues to face the challenge of meeting growing needs with limited resources. Additional funding alone does not guarantee better outcomes. Responsible stewardship of every dollar is essential. At the same time, years of constrained spending have required difficult prioritization, contributing to gaps in important areas of the budget. Frederick County’s students, families and educators deserve continued attention to services that support student success. Expanding access to special education, career and technical education and multilingual education are important priorities as the school system works to address longstanding needs.
Please name a public leader you admire and explain why.
I greatly admire Ruth Bader Ginsberg for her tireless advocacy and persistence.
The Blueprint for Maryland’s Future, passed by the General Assembly in 2021, is a 10-year plan that includes increased funding to support early childhood education, higher teacher starting pay, college/career-readiness standards for high school graduates, and expanded services to multilingual and impoverished families, among other goals. Since the Blueprint's implementation, test scores have increased modestly in many parts of the state, but some school officials complain about the costs and administrative burdens placed on them by the Blueprint. Please tell us your views on the Blueprint and how it is affecting your school district.
I strongly support the tenets of the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future, particularly its emphasis on community schools, expanded wraparound services and addressing the needs of the whole child and family. Outside of my work on the board, I have seen firsthand the critical role community partners play in providing services that extend beyond academics and help students and families succeed. As a board, we have a responsibility to advance these priorities while also being thoughtful stewards of public resources. That means aligning our investments with student needs, understanding the long-term funding implications and ensuring that programs are supported by meaningful data and clear reporting. Our budget discussions should focus on equity, accessibility and outcomes. We should be asking whether our investments are improving student wellbeing, mental health, behavior, family engagement and ultimately academic achievement. Strong reporting and accountability requirements are important but should not be burdensome and ever-changing. I support advancing the goals of the Blueprint while balancing the realities of available funding and ensuring that every dollar has a clear purpose connection to student outcomes.
Chronic absenteeism has been a problem in many schools since the Covid-19 pandemic. How big of a problem is absenteeism in your school district, and what if anything can the Board of Education do about it?
Addressing chronic absenteeism is an important issue for Frederick County Public Schools; however, in comparison to other districts in the state, Frederick County Public Schools is doing considerably better. From a board perspective, we have the opportunity to set policy to guide responses to absenteeism as well as direct funding resources toward some of the root cause issues that might lead to chronic absenteeism and truancy. Our district partners with local child-serving agencies to
Are you satisfied with your school district's policy on AI use by students? If so, why? If not, what would you suggest to improve the AI policy?
Our board will be approving an AI policy at the end of September, which is a result of multiple policy committee meeting discussions and a full board discussion. While I do not believe there is a perfect policy that will address the evolving AI landscape, I do believe we are approaching a solid policy that will center student learning and outcomes, and ensure educator access to training and resources.
Youth mental health has been a growing concern for years now. Do you think your school district has the resources and personnel in place to deal with this issue adequately? If not, what would you suggest to improve the situation?
I believe that our school district has the personnel and resources in place BUT still needs additional funding and resources to meet the growing needs of our student population. This can only be achieved with additional funding or reallocated funding, which is unlikely in the current constrained state and local budget. However, as a board member, I will continue to advocate for the funding resources necessary while building partnerships with external agencies to help meet student needs.
Do you think there are circumstances when books should be removed from school libraries? If so, what kind of books should be removed, and who should make those decisions?
Frederick County Public Schools has an extensive book review regulation process in place that I fully support. The regulation spells out a process for which a parent, student, or community member can flag a concerning book and have it reviewed for agea-ppropriateness and content. Our system utilized this process when a community member and Board of Education candidate submitted a review request for over 35 books in our school library. In that case, we convened a large workgroup to read all of the books and provide feedback. Ultimately, one book was recommended to be removed and two books were recommended to be restricted to only high school. As a board member, I trusted this process and would continue to follow this process for any future requests for book reviews. Additionally, Frederick County Public Schools added an option that parents can view which library books their child is checking out and restrict certain books for their own children (but not other students). I believe this strikes a good balance between parental involvement and ensuring students have access to diverse and age appropriate books.
