The Maryland State Board of Education had its beginnings with the Act of 1865, enacted by the General Assembly, and providing a “uniform system of free public schools for the State of Maryland.” The supervision and control of the first public system in Maryland was vested in a State Board of Education, consisting of high ranking political officials, such as the governor, the lieutenant-governor, the speaker of the House of Delegates, and the superintendent of public instruction. With the main purpose of promoting the interests of public education, the State Board of Education was to hold regular meetings each year, as well as special meetings as needed. Duties of the Board included the selection and removal of professors, the determination of their salaries, the selection of a uniform series of textbooks for use in the public schools, the creation of annual reports, and the supervision of all colleges and schools that may receive any State donation.

In 1868, a new bill in the House of Delegates from the committee on education brought forth changes in the composition of the Board of Education from a five-person board to a three-person board that elected a treasurer who also served as secretary. It was composed of the state superintendent, the president of the Maryland State Teachers’ Association, and the principal of the Maryland State Normal School. At this point, the Board lacked educational experience and was thereby less concerned with academic planning and more interested in material matters, such as re-election of the principal, financial reports, appointments of teachers, and the determination of salaries.

Accordingly, in 1870, the General Assembly changed the legal qualifications of the members of the State Board, and the name was changed to the Board of State School Commissioners, which had its offices in the State Normal School and acted, ex officio, as trustees of the school. All members were now educators, including the principal of the Normal School, and the governor appointed the other members from the presidents of the county boards or county examiners; with the clause that one of the four members of the Board should be from the Eastern Shore. The same structure continued in 1872, but the name was changed to State Board of Education. The Board continued as trustees of the Normal School and had the responsibility of prescribing the course of study and supervising the school in every particular not provided for by the law itself; principally, the overseeing of a nine months’ year at the school, setting the salary of the principal, and appointing teachers and deciding their salary.

With the purpose of eliminating professional and political bias, the General Assembly enacted a new law in 1904. It provided for a series of unequal terms of office so that eventually a lay board would be appointed for six-year terms, with those terms expiring in a manner that there would never be more than one-third new members. The Board now consisted of eight members, consisting of the governor, the state superintendent, and the rest appointed by the governor with senate confirmation.

In 1916, a survey by the Maryland Educational Survey Commission reported concerns over the political composition of the Board, which led to the enactment of a new law. This new law legalized a State Board of Education composed of seven members appointed by the governor for a term of seven years. The governor and state superintendent of schools were no longer to be members; however the latter would serve as treasurer and secretary, but with no voting privileges. The Board elected the state superintendent, who along with the members of the Board acted as trustees of the normal schools. Chief duties of the trustees included: general supervision of the expenditure of all money appropriated by the General Assembly for buildings or repairs, upkeep, and maintenance of the normal schools; control and supervision of their management and work; authorization of all departments of instruction and all positions and the fixing of salaries of all teachers and assistants; dismissal of all teachers on proved charges; authorization of courses of study including observation and practice teaching; prescribing of entrance requirements within the limits of the law; formulation of rules and regulations for the conduct and management of the schools; and election of principals of the state normal schools.

For almost one hundred years, the growth and development of the State Teachers Colleges had been the responsibility of the Board of Trustees of the State Teachers Colleges, composed of the members of the State Board of Education and the State Superintendent of Schools. Then in 1962, the Curlett Commission, headed by the former president of the Baltimore School Board John N. Curlett, recommended that the State Colleges be placed under their own governing board which “should be charged with the single task of governing these institutions,” and that these governing boards should be granted independence and autonomy. The recommendations called for a comprehensive reorganization of public higher education in Maryland to meet the rapid growth of enrollments with the adoption of a tripartite system, whereby the University of Maryland remains a separate entity with its own Board of Regents, the two-year community colleges remain under the jurisdiction of the State Board of Education, and the state colleges fall under the supervision of a newly formed Board of Trustees of the State Colleges.

The Curlett plan received the support of the General Assembly, and in 1963, Governor John Millard Tawes appointed the new Board of Trustees of the State Colleges for higher education under the provisions of Chapter 41 of the Laws of Maryland. The first meeting of the newly formed Board took place on July 25, 1963, and by formal resolution adopted as its temporary rules and regulations those of the former Board of Trustees of the State Teachers Colleges. The five state colleges to be overseen by the newly appointed Board were those of Bowie, Coppin, Frostburg, Salisbury, and Towson, with Morgan State College joining in July 1, 1967. The Board was responsible for the administration, control, and direction of the public colleges, with the two major functions of overseeing the establishment, fostering, and expansion of courses in the arts and sciences, as well as maintaining programs for the preparation of teachers.