Allen makes run at seventh term on St. Mary's school board

There are three seats on the St. Mary’s County’s school board that are up for election in 2024.

Incumbent Cathy Allen filed Feb. 8 for reelection for the District 2 seat.

The 68-year-old Hollywood resident was first elected to the local board of education in 2000 and has served six terms. She is currently serving in the at-large seat, which is also up for election this year, but decided to file for the District 2 seat being vacated by Jim Davis.

“I decided to refile because I feel like I still have a lot to give in service to the students,” Allen said. “It takes time to become an effective board member; there’s a lot to learn and so to be effective there’s a lot of reading involved. I have not only worked for the students in St. Mary’s but also been appointed at various times to various state level commissions … and I’ve been able to make some really impactful positive changes on behalf of students, so I want to continue that.”

She has served on the College of Southern Maryland’s board of trustees since 2022.

Allen and her husband Brad have been married for 38 years and have two grown children, Kyle and Leslie.

Allen said the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future, the state’s education reform plan, is wealth-adjusted. Because St. Mary’s is seen as a wealthy county “the state portion of our funding is not as robust as it needs to be in order to fully implement the Blueprint” and so the county must reallocate funding, she said.

“Without ever realizing the many successes we have in reaching students with the programs we have in place, [the state] hasn’t wanted to listen about just what those successes look like. ... And so the work that I’ve done both in understanding the Blueprint [and] in advocacy at the state level means I have good working relationships with people and they’re willing to listen.”

Allen is running against Elena Brewer and Anthony Lotierzo. The top two vote-getters in the May 14 nonpartisan primary election will face off in November’s general election.