Another board member of Maryland 529 steps down

Agency now has 2 vacancies amid its other ongoing issues

Another member of the board of Maryland 529, the state’s higher education savings program, has stepped down, leaving two vacancies as the agency faces public and legislative scrutiny amid ongoing issues with its prepaid college trust.

Jessica McClain, the chief financial officer of Girl Scouts Nation’s Capital, the Washington, D.C.-area council for that organization, resigned her position Jan. 22, according to Maryland 529 spokeswoman Michelle Winner.

Maryland 529 is an independent state agency that allows parents to invest money for their children’s higher education via the Maryland Prepaid College Trust and the Maryland College Investment Plan.

McClain was a member of the board’s audit and governance subcommittee. She’d served on the board since July 2020, according to the board’s minutes. Her term was to expire in 2024.

She did not respond Tuesday to requests for comment. A follow-up email sent Wednesday to her work account resulted in a message that it had been blocked from reaching her.

McClain’s departure leaves the board with one vacancy for a member of the public and one ex officio vacancy. Peter Tsirigotis, who was chair, stepped down Jan. 20, a day after testifying before the state House Appropriations Committee about issues with the prepaid trust.

Geoffrey Newman, who has served on the board since 1999, is interim chair until the board votes on a new chair at its Feb. 23 meeting. Board seats are unpaid positions.

The prepaid trust allows Maryland parents to purchase semester credits and lock in tuition rates at the time they pay; the state pays the difference in tuition inflation. The program is backed by a legislative guarantee, so the state is obligated to pay participants the owed benefits.

But since last spring, parents with prepaid trust accounts have reported being unable to access their account balances or have reported accruing far less money than anticipated due to an interest calculation error, according to agency executive director Anthony Savia.

Though 500 account holders have reported problems with their accounts, Savia has said the problem may affect all 27,000 accounts in the trust. Some parents may be unaware of problems with their accounts because their children are not yet of college age and are not trying to access their balances.

Brian Savoie, an account holder who has testified twice before the General Assembly on behalf of affected parents, disputed Savia’s explanation as inaccurate during a Monday board meeting.

Savoie blamed the issue on a June 2021 board vote that changed and then later reversed the rate at which account holders could earn interest on their principle balances, causing them to lose significant amounts of anticipated earnings.

“My question at this point is when Governor Moore plans to fill those seats and with whom,” Savoie said Tuesday night, referring to the vacancies.

A spokesperson for Moore’s office, Carter Elliott, did not respond to requests for comment on McClain’s resignation.

In an emailed statement to The Baltimore Sun last week, Elliott said the governor “understands the importance of filling the vacancies, but also understands the critical need to find leadership qualities in his choice, and will be deliberate in making his appointments, based on who will best serve the Board and the citizens of Maryland.”