From Harford County Public Schools:
Comptroller Franchot will present exceptional volunteer Tina Mike with his inaugural Golden Apple Award for Harford County on Wednesday, January 16, at 12:30 p.m. at Edgewood High School. The new award program is designed to recognize outstanding volunteers, organizations and individuals within the Maryland public school system. Ms. Mike is being recognized for her work in providing and advocating for financial literacy education for Harford County students.
After honoring Ms. Mike, the Comptroller will visit Youth’s Benefit Elementary School, a top priority on the county’s Capital Improvement Program for school construction. The Comptroller will also visit Glyph Studio in Havre de Grace and present a citation to the Fallston Volunteer Fire Department for the company’s service to the community.
I wonder what person in the YBES group has the political connections to get Franchot to visit the school? No one should miss the obvious. Franchot sits on the Board of Public Works with the Governor and the State Treasurer, which will decide the last round of appeals for granting school construction funding for Harford County. YBES didn’t get the nod for construction money during the first two rounds so now we are seeing an all out push using all the political muscle they can muster. Interesting to see how all this works. Rest assured that David Craig is doing the same thing to get state money for his new Havre de Grace HS project.
Fun to watch not sure where you are getting your information, but YBES didn’t fail to “get the nod” for funding from the State, HCPS pulled the funding request without input or approval by Board, thereby modifying the CIP that was voted on by the Board.
What is inaccurate? Not getting the nod was clearly referenced to not getting “construction” funding. This information was already reported in an earlier article in the DAGGER. The comment was about the ability of YBES supporters to influence the highest levels of state government to secure construction funds not approved by the IAC. Mr. Franchot’s decision to visit YBES was not made without the use of political connections.
The state controller visits schools that have been approved for funding at the state level. While YBES did not building funds for 2014, local planning has been approved at the state level. Being the only school in Harford County approved this cycle, his visit makes sense. Hopefully, the construction will get on its way soon so that William Paca Old Post Road Elementary School, Joppatown HS and the other schools long on the replacement or major update list can be funded too.