CONTRACT TALKS Unions, school system cope with budget shortfall. A-6
NEWS: Bike to Work Day sends cyclists out onto area streets. A-5
The Gazette
SILVER SPRING | TAKOMA PARK | WHEATON | BURTONSVILLE DA I LY U P DAT E S AT G A Z E T T E . N E T
Wednesday, May 20, 2015
Court calls halt to double taxation Montgomery County to lose millions in income-tax revenue
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LINDSAY A. POWERS STAFF WRITER
STAFF WRITER
See DOUBLE, Page A-12
Top choice for leadership position withdrew BY
KATE S. ALEXANDER
States cannot double-tax income earned out of state, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday — a decision that will cost Montgomery County millions. The court was considering whether states should provide taxpayers a full credit for taxes paid to other states on income earned in those states. The case was filed by Howard County residents Brian and Karen Wynne. The Wynnes filed the case after they tried to claim an income tax credit for income paid to other states on their 2006 tax filing. The credit was denied, in part. The state allowed a credit against their Maryland state income tax, but not against their county income tax. On Monday, the Supreme Court struck down the tax system in a splintered 5-4 decision. In the majority opinion, the court referred to the tax as a double-taxing “scheme” and held that it violates the negative or dormant Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution. The negative clause “precludes states from discriminating between transactions on the basis of some interstate element,” says a majority opinion by Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. “Maryland’s income tax scheme discriminates against interstate commerce,” the opin-
25 cents
School board to pick interim superintendent
Ring of honor
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SPORTS: Paint Branch junior breaks from the pack this season. B-1
DAN GROSS/THE GAZETTE
Firefighter Roger Marks of the Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service Honor Guard rings a bell as the Silver Spring Historical Society and the Silver Spring Fire Department mark the department’s 100th anniversary with a ceremony at the location of the original fire company at 8131 Georgia Ave. A wreath-laying honored two fire department members who were killed in the line of duty.
The Montgomery County school board will vote to conditionally appoint an interim superintendent Wednesday, a few days after its top choice for a permanent leader withdrew his name. The appointment, if approved by state schools Superintendent Lillian M. Lowery, would run from July 1 through June of next year, according to a school board news release. Andrew Houlihan, chief academic officer of the Houston Independent School District, informed school board President Patricia O’Neill on Sunday that he was no longer interested in becoming the district’s next superintendent. The school board said Thursday that Houlihan, 36, was its “preferred candidate” for superintendent. The board announced its plan to vote for an interim leader a day after it received a letter from Alan Goodwin, principal of Walt Whitman High School in Bethesda, on behalf of 29 high school principals. Monday’s letter requested that the board ask Interim Superintendent Larry A. Bowers to continue in the post for the next school year. O’Neill said Tuesday she could not comment on whether or not the board would appoint Bowers a second time. Bowers was appointed after Joshua P. Starr resigned from the superintendent position in February before his four-year
HOUSTON INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT
Andrew Houlihan, chief academic officer of the Houston Independent School District, was the Montgomery County school board’s “preferred” candidate for superintendent.
contract would have expired this summer. Bowers previously said he planned to retire at the end of June. On Tuesday, Bowers had no comment, according to Dana Tofig, a school system spokesman. Goodwin said Tuesday that he thought, and the other principals agreed, it might be best for the board to slow down the process to identify the next superintendent. If Bowers continued, the board would have more time to continue its search, said Goodwin, who is head of high school principals in the Montgomery County Association of Administrators and Principals. The letter pointed to challenges posed by recent funding shortfalls and Houlihan’s decision to withdraw. “We believe that Larry Bowers is, at this point in time, the
See INTERIM, Page A-12
Slain housekeeper Teacher works to help Nepal quake victims class planned to join kids Girlinspiresin Silverhim Spring to launch n
Silver Spring woman was one of four found dead after D.C. house fire n
BY ANTONIO OLIVO THE WASHINGTON POST
Veralicia Figueroa of Silver Spring was close to reaching her ultimate goal. After years working as a housekeeper in the Washington area to support her children back home in El Salvador, she was preparing to return to her native country. Figueroa, 57, talked frequently about her plans in recent months, proudly telling
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See SLAIN, Page A-8
video, fundraising campaign BY
KEVIN JAMES SHAY STAFF WRITER
Following the devastating late April earthquake in Nepal, Forest Knolls Elementary School third-grader Samragyee Dhakal was discouraged. None of her relatives in her native country were among the more than 8,000 who died in the 7.8-magnitude earthquake that struck the Kathmandu area, said her father, Hem Dhakal. But many were among the more than 500,000 who lost their homes. They are living in tents and other makeshift shelters,
See QUAKE, Page A-12
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friends that her two children had made it through college and were building careers. Her son works as a maintenance engineer for the KimberlyClark international products company in San Salvador, El Salvador’s capital, and her daughter helps oversee supplies at a private hospital there. Within the next few years, Figueroa said, she would move to El Salvador with the man she married in the United States, and the family would finally be together. “I already have my proper house over there,” she excit-
struggling to meet basic needs, he said. “It’s such a heart-wrenching situation,” said Samragyee’s teacher, Adam Faleder. “I wanted to do something to help.” He made a video and put it on an online donations website, justgive.org. In the video, Samragyee, 8, talks about how difficult the situation is for her and how aid is needed, as scenes of the devastation flash between footage of her speaking. “Since everybody is suffering, then we have to cooperate,” Samragyee, who was born in Kathmandu, said in the video. “I think all of the countries
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AT ANY ‘PRICE’ Arthur Milller character study comes to Olney Theatre Center stage. B-4
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Forest Knolls Elementary School teacher Adam Faleder and his student, Samragyee Dhakal, who was born in Nepal, made a video for a fundraising campaign to help victims of the recent earthquake in Kathmandu.