Here's what we're working on for tomorrow's editorial page (there will be more to come later, so check back):

--Baltimore County parents appear to have learned a key lesson: If you can’t get the school board to listen to you, wait for an election. Not that you can elect new members of the school board, of course; as in many area counties, management of education is deliberately shielded from the political process. But not entirely. Towson parents were getting nowhere in their efforts to get a new elementary school built to alleviate overcrowding at Rodgers Forge Elementary -– until Comptroller Peter Franchot, who may face a challenge from Baltimore County Executive James T. Smith Jr. in the 2010 election, showed up and declared the situation deplorable.

Similarly, Ridgely Middle School parents in Timonium had been screaming for years about renovations that were supposed to make an air conditioning system there more efficient – lower ceilings, tighter windows, better insulation and the like – except that the county failed to put in the air conditioners. But once they brought the issue to the attention of the County Council, things started to change.

On Monday, Councilman Kevin Kamenetz showed up with news cameras in tow to demonstrate the problem. Mr. Kamenetz doesn’t actually represent Timonium, but he is considered a front-runner for county executive next year, which may explain his interest. State Sen. James Brochin –- who does represent the area but has also flirted at times with an executive run -– was there too, along with Del. Bill Frank.

It’s easy to decry election-time grandstanding by politicians (Mr. Kamenetz literally climbed on a ledge to demonstrate the inability of the windows to be fully opened) but it has its uses. Bureaucrats can make dumb decisions, like turning a middle school into a potter’s kiln, and sometimes it takes people trying to scare up votes to make things right.