Teachers gave a standing ovation to the school board member who pled for more education funding at a Harford County Council budget hearing Thursday, and lambasted County Executive David Craig, blaming him for creating a “desperate situation” in Harford County Public Schools.
The occasion for teachers’ disparate reactions was a public hearing held by the County Council to gather public input on Craig’s recommended budget for the 2014 fiscal year. The hearing drew a crowd of about 120, mostly school employees, who decried Craig’s spending plan to increase funding for Harford County Public Schools by nearly $2 million over the required maintenance of effort, but far short of the $22.6 million increase the school system had requested. Teachers called on council members to fully fund the school system’s requested increase, which also includes nearly $8 million for increases in employee salaries.
Pointing to the elbow patches on his blazer, Fallston High School teacher Ben White said that he was struggling to keep up with the cost of living.
Educator William Smith warned of cuts to 150 teaching positions if the requested education budget was not funded, adding that Craig “touted education” but the school system was “falling apart”.
North Harford Middle School teacher George Curry was succinct: “We need money,” he said, citing the switch next year to a new curriculum, needed updates in technology, and an ongoing disparity among county school buildings.
Edgewood library technician Connie Schepers said “Mr. Craig is killing this school system”, as she outlined dramatic, system-wide cuts to library materials this year. She also said that Edgewood Middle School had the least number of computers of any school despite being the only resource for many of its students.
Joppatowne High School teacher Jean Nussle said that Craig thinks teachers are “greedy”, but “our representation is not representing us.”
Teacher Timothy Dougherty warned of class sizes in the range of 45 – 50 students next year without more money for schools. He also claimed that Towson University was steering new teachers away from the county because of underfunding and blamed Craig for blaming the shortfall on state cuts. “Why have other counties met the challenge?” he asked, calling Harford County the “Pittsburgh Pirates of education.”
Ryan Burbey, president of the Harford County Education Association representing the county’s 3,200 teachers in labor negotiations, said he had hoped for a better turnout from teachers but, he said, “they are tired and they are losing faith and they are leaving.” Craig underfunded education, Burbey said, and unless the school system’s requested increase was funded by the Council, there would be “extreme cuts”, jobs would be lost, and class size would increase along with inequities among county schools. “The system will not look like it does now,” Burbey warned, “It’s a desperate situation.”
In contrast to the combative tone of some speakers, Board Vice-President Nancy Reynolds pledged cooperation with lawmakers as she laid out the case for the education budget on behalf of her fellow board members, many of whom were in the audience. Citing a “perfect storm” of unfunded federal and state mandates, including new curriculum standards, new assessments and a new teacher evaluation system, Reynolds said that the school system had cut costs in the economic downturn, but the mandates and other factors such as increased transportation costs, were beyond the board’s control.
Reynolds warned that a lack of funding increases next year for what she called a “needs based” budget would have a direct impact on the classroom. Garnering a first round of applause, Reynolds made the case for funding the salary increases negotiated by the board with employee unions: “It is necessary and important that we can provide for our employees a competitive wage package in order to attract and retain the best educators and staff for the children of Harford County.” Bringing teachers to their feet, Reynolds concluded: “I respectfully request that you support the children of this county by helping us maintain the rigorous and meaningful education that generations of students have been afforded in Harford County.”
First Burbey Goes around demanding new schools be built. Very expensive schools are built. Then he goes around crying about this. You cant have it both ways.
Remember, at the heart of all this is the county’s rapid development caused by so many people attracted to Harford because of its very good (not great) schools AND by its low taxes. The latter factor is the prime reason Harford County has such a group of nay-sayers in local and state government.
As a long time educator in Catholic Schools, I recognize the need for small class sizes,
committed faculty who feel appreciated, uptodate (but not constantly changing) materials), and well maintained (but not Cadillac-like) facilities. Refusing to spend sufficient monies to affect this may satisfy the “No Tax People,” but is ultimately self-defeating, whether it be for schools, roads, the environment, etc.
Exactly IDIOT
That GREEDY Burbey and those SELFISH teachers who want great schools and classes smaller than 40!!! Why in the world would we make such a RIDICULOUS investment!!!??? I say we should ALL stand by and do NOTHING and let David Craig continue to run a once great school system right into the ground!
Why do we have to spend money on new curriculums every couple of years? What is wrong with the old ones? All these new ideas are doing is dumbing the kids down, which is what the government really wants. The dumber you are, the more dependant you are on the government. If you want to build new schools, build them all exactly the same. Pay for one blueprint and build all from them. This would make it easier for emergency responders to navigate around the buildings if need be. You have one floor plan and everyone knows where everything is.
One size doesn’t fit all “fiik”. Why don’t you wear the same clothes as you did when you were a kid (or maybe you are just a kid “developmentally”).
It is not like they re-write the same curriculum every year it is done in a rotating basis. This saves money. For the last few years it was kept only to essential items which left somethings neglected. Everyone on this board decried the use of Everyday Math and wanted it gone. Fine buit you gotta replace it with something. You seem to dislike prepackaged curriculum that means you need to assemble a group of teachers in the summer to write a replacement. That costs money. Additionally Common core simply gives you standards to teach, the pedagogy is left to HCPS to figure out. That means we have Science, Math and Reading for which curriculum needs to be revised. The easy approach is to go through what our county has and toss what does not work and revise/replace it. That again costs money. Our county avoided spending money on this and now it needs to be done. While Common core is not to be fully implemented until 2014-2015 you can not just toss it to teachers in one year you need to try things out and fix it so that by 2014-2015 we have a curiculum that works. This is the last shot to do it right. The additional answer is that our understanding of things change, the world has changed. You seem to think we should just do what we did in the 60’s. That will not create a future prepared to deal with the world of today or tomorrow it will create a future prepared to deal with the world of 1970!
You use your new school blueprint and suggest a one size fits all approach. The same building will not fit or work on all lots. Edgewood and Bel Air used the same prototype as Aberdeen high schools with modifications to fit the particulars of those lots. Sort of like when you build a house and some have a walkout basement and some have egress windows. As far as Burbey advocating for new schools he is advocating for smart building of new schools. Schools which have fallen into being unuseable. A 1950’s style building is not able to handle the technology infrastructure of the 2010’s! You can only retrofit it so much with what you have before building a new building becomes cheaper over the long run.
Text books and curriculums are big business. Just look at the drama whenever Texas approves a new book. The publishers do not make any money on a 3-year-old book, they want to sell you a new one as often as possible.
College books already use a one-time code bound to the student’s login and password to access online discussion forums and other material for the class, practically eliminating the used textbook market for the classes whose professors like the software. Just wait for e-textbooks to become more common, the schools will spend even more money for licensing the same basic subject matter they’ve been teaching for years.
I support open textbooks for just that reason.
Hind sight is 20/20. Unfortunately, all of the buildings have been built, and all of the government decisions have been made. No offense to former president Bush, because I know his heart was in the right place, but I wonder if he would’ve pushed the No Child Left Behind Act through if he knew how much trouble it would’ve caused?
Knowledgeable,
The No Child Left Behind Act didn’t cause any trouble. Until it got in to the hands of politicians and the education establishment who found new and marvelous ways to extort more money from taxpayers, directly or indirectly, to implement stuff that they wanted all along. Are the kids better educated? No? Are there more layers of bureaucracy and higher budgets? Of course. And Burbey is whining because his union members didn’t a bigger slice of the pie. The NEA and the MSEA and the HCEA really believed electing Dem/Libs was the answer. How gullible.
No child left behind spends an inordinate amount of money to mainstream kids who don’t need it and shouldn’t have it.
I agree, aptitude segregation should be the norm.
Actually IDEA is the law which mainstreams kids and it was passed long time ago.
You know you may be onto something there. Using similar blueprints means buying materials in bulk, being about to use the same materials from school to school when it comes to maintenance and construction, eliminating or at least tamping down the ego-driven empire building when some self important politician wants their name on a building, no need for high-priced architects, etc. You might have to initially design a structure that is amendable to add-ons but heck that’s not a problem at all. Sometimes thinking out of the box means merely pointing out the obvious.
Money Tree, in looking at the times of your posts, I wonder where you work and why they allow so much time on personal business. Oh, and as to the summer for teachers, that is unpaid. Or is your money tree the county?
Projections are the student aged population decreasing in Harford over the next couple of decades…we won’t need all those teachers anyway. Classrooms with 40 kids are a figment of someones imagination. This demand has nothing to do with the condition of schools and everything to do with the conditions of teacher’s wallets. Cry me a river…
I think it is safe to say money tree either has no kids or has a job that required no education.
At least the teachers that demand thier steps are being honest and not trying to hide behind “it’s for the kids” because it’s not for the kids. If teacher’s wanted to get rich they shouldn’t have chosen a public service part time job…consider at least you have pretty decent retirement and health care benefits – certainly superior to the private sector. Consider yourself lucky.
The Money Tree,
Since when did trying to keep your head above water and pay off your college loans equate to wanting to “get rich”? Furthermore, since when did teaching become a “public service part time job”? Teaching is full time, last I checked, especially when you consider the number of hours that teachers spend going beyond what their contract stipulates. At least you are correct in saying that teachers provide a public service, for which they themselves have to shell out as much as $60,000 in college costs in order to even have the priveledge to call themselves public servants.
Not that this will mean anything to you. I’ve read your posts. You will probably respond with some venomous “they knew what they were getting into” tripe, or a cliched “cry me a river” comment.
Knowledgeable,
So are you saying that they didn’t know what they were getting in to when they signed the loan documents? I would very much like to know what they were thinking as far as how they were going to pay off that loan. I very much suspect that they were thinking at all.
When did teaching become a part time job? Since the onset of public education…enjoy your summer.
Jaguar Judy,
I suspect they were thinking that giving back to the community is worth the financial trouble when they signed the loan documents. Was this foolish? Are you really going to be that contemptuous of teachers for wanting to help the next generation but be able to sustain a decent living at the same time? Is this selfish? As I said to The Money Tree, I think it would be an extreme exaggeration to say teachers want to get rich off the taxpayers, as teachers themselves are taxpayers as well. I put it to you, what would be your grand solution, Jaguar Judy? Sacrifice eduation so you could hold onto more of your own money? How would that money be spent? How would it benefit the next generation of children who in turn did not receive the very best education from the most qualified teachers available?
Thanks for the kind thoughts, Money Tree, but my summer will be spent working. As a teacher, I can’t afford to take time off, because the county doesn’t pay enough. Enjoy whatever it is you do.
The top rate for teachers is over 70K per year. That rate assumes 189 days of actual work well below the number of days in the private sector. I think you can achieve that top rate after 15 years…that isn’t such a bad deal; not to mention the minimal contribution towards health care or retirement. No doubt the first few years of teaching requires belt tightening and sacrifice but it does for just about every other profession too. I have a niece that didn’t work for 2 years right out of college – masters degree and all; consider yourself lucky. Since the budget “pie” is stable there is another way to increase available funds for excellent teachers…how’s about we allow for merit based pay? I don’t think most taxpayers would mind one bit that an excellent teacher made over 70K; I wouldn’t but I sure don’t want to pay somebody doing nothing more than going through the motions the same as those that are more effective and make a stronger effort.
it is 190 days and the private sector works about 235 in a year it is not well below!!!!
45 days extra is 9 work weeks, I think that is “well below”: we use this example all the time on here. using CDevs example: 45k teacher=236.00 a day; private sector 45K employee=191.00 per day. and yeah, yeah, yeah, you take your cert. classes and grade papers at night, but kids pencils, etc. . we do get that. HCPS does have a great benefit package that many private employees would love to have. Why all the complaining? It just gets sooooooooooooo old, day after day, week after week.
Cdev, using the figures you suggest, a typical private sector employee works 24% more days than teachers. I’d say that 190 is absolutely “well below” 235.
I will give you significant but not part time job level. I will also say that teachers spent most of the good years in this county hearing the reason you don’t get large COLA’s like everyone else is you get steady predictable increases due to steps. Yet now teachers don’t get those. Additionally Maryland has one of the worst pension systems for teachers. If private sector employees would want this would they be willing to pay additional money into the general fund beside the pension contribution for it?
Money tree is a cyber troll – comments on every damn subject but knows nothing about any of them.
Is Harford County a poor county? I just can’t seem to figure out why we can’t keep up with neighboring school districts. I just don’t get it.
Harford County doesn’t have some of the corporate taxes contributing to the economy like other jurisdictions. Also the growth and zoning decisions that are pushing people out of the area (like myself and many of my neighbors) are older people and people without kids in the school system. I think the situation is only going to get worse as many older residents move out because of all the traffic congestion and not being able to drive around here. When you build a lot of housing and don’t have the corporate taxes to offset the residential tax base (which has also shrunk because of decreased property taxes) you have a problem with paying for the public services.
Believe me, people always move out and more move in, hence why the development envelope keeps building!!!!!
Harford county is easy, drive around certain parts of our neighbor Baltimore county if you want to see what a congested county road looks like.
Certain areas of Harford county are congested for what, 2, 3 hours total of the day? That doesn’t count. The state and county is going to make route 22 a 6 lane super highway because apg traffic can make it high density in a few parts for a total of 2 hours a day. Hyuck.
LOL WUT:
It is much better to be proactive than reactive on infrastructure improvements, APG will only get bigger if there is another BRAC. Also, the roads need be able to accomodate evacuation of the entire facility (and surrounding areas) in an acceptable period.
Kharn, you smoking crack brah?
Nothing has been proactive for BRAC as far as roads, as LOL was saying, there is no point to make super roads just to free up congestion.
The 715 and route 40 project will just flow traffic down to route 7 at the end of the day, decongest a little inflow route 40 traffic in the morning.
715 had a chance to go to 95 back in 1999, but a big cloverleaf ramps were installed instead at exit 85.
SUMTIM BRO:
Another round of BRAC has been proposed for 2015. Right now, the SHA is just playing catch-up with projects they should have done 5 years ago, so they’re building them over-capacity for current needs so they do not have to do it again.
If you don’t like it by all means get another job
If you don’t paid enough, find another job. End of story. Lots of people work two jobs.
By the way, maybe its time to start exercising too?
When teachers were hired, they were told by human resources and their leadership that, while not achieving lofty salaries, they would receive step-based increases in their pay to compensate them for loyalty, longevity and cost of living increases.
I agree that no one should go into teaching to get rich. As the husband of a teacher who has not received the promised steps in our 5 year involvement with HCPS, thanks to cost of living increases, my wife makes less than when she started in 2008. I’m not going to say that that is ok… Do you really think that teachers are the poison in this system?
Very few professions have had salary increases sufficient to combat inflation, teachers aren’t alone in this horrible economy.
Sup brah, would you rather your wife be laid off or have no raises, along with the rest of the county?
Here’s a thought, sell your house and easily relocate to another one of the lower 48 states that fit your agenda through research.
@Money Tree – Most teachers that I have met in this county are actually fairly conservative, reasonable people and would probably support many Republican/Conservative ideas if you all would lay off trying to portray them as freeloading enemies to Conservative principles and the solvency of the county. Most don’t belong to the HCEA and a 1% COLA and is in no way unreasonable. If you don’t like the economic situation in the county then just maybe you should ask the current county executive and county council for some course of action besides positioning themselves to be career politicians at the taxpayers expense. Your many negative posts on the Dagger regarding teachers make you sound like the unreasonable one. The support of my parents and several outstanding teachers throughout my life helped me achieve success. I am and will always be eternally grateful.
If so they should be more than willing to openly support the elimination of thier union and the adoption of merit pay as a basis for salary increase and/or bonus. The conservatives I know are usually abhorant to ideas like those of unions that generally are proponents of “socialist equality”, eg. the HCEA. If you’re good at what you do and work hard you shouldn’t fear standing on your own merit.
We can always depend on the compassion of the free market to protect teachers and other public employees from undue scrutiny and ridicule from overzealous taxpayers who would like to nit pick everything their tax dollars pay for. Not.
I know since clearly the nitpicking occurs now. What makes one think that eliminating the only minimal level of protection they have will be better?
Curriculum keep kids up to date with the world around them. Many new curriculums are federally mandated or were you left behind!
If they did adopt merit pay, what process and aspects of teaching do you think should be used to evaluate teachers? What actions or achievments would need to be present for a teacher to rank highly?
Would merit pay save money, or would it cost more? Would teachers get the same salary as they are now getting, but be given bonuses for rating highly? Or would teachers start at a given base salary and have to rate highly in order to earn the amount they are making now?
Should HCPS ask for less funding under the assumption that few teachers will rate highly, or would they need even more money because the majority of teachers would rate highly and merit the top pay?
Should math and science teachers earn more than others because they teach in a subject in demand? Should Special Ed teachers make more than others because they work with the most challenging students? Should elementary teachers teach more than others because of the sheer volume of work that have? Should art and music teachers get paid less than others because they don’t teach a “real” subject, i.e. one that leads many students to a career as math and science do?
W.T.F.? , your snide remarks are typical from a liberal. If you can’t argue the facts , demean the other person. I’m probably more or a man than you will ever be. Check what’s in your pants, maybe you haven’t grown yet. And that is not an attack like yours, that is an observation.
I have observed you did not address the post which presented a factual response to you.
Nice reply fiik. Void of snide remarks and filled with facts!! Go conservatives!
I believe everyone would have a better view if they spent a couple days subbing….try teaching when kids don’t respect education, and don’t care – they don’t even consider what their future will be without it! Not easy….
Just put up some chain link and change the sign to Harford County Juvenile Detention Center – South Eastern (or Western, as appropriate) Facility.
Knowledgeable,
I would say that anyone who borrows money, for whatever reason, however noble, but has no reasonable expectation of a way to repay the loan is acting very foolishly. As a society we cannot reward foolish actions, no matter how noble the cause in they eyes of the borrower. I do believe we have allowed the cost of higher education to become outrageous with no justification but that’s another topic for another day. I do salute teachers who want to teach because that is their passion and their gift. I don’t and won’t endorse their unwise economic decisions whether educational loans, mortgages, car payments, credit card bills, or whatever. And I don’t sympathize with their whining about having to make more money to pay off school loans. It is what it is and it pays what it pays. If that doesn’t work for specific individuals then go do something else where you will be better of economically.
The problem is the government subsidizing student loans lets people borrow money with just a signature and no contemplation of the consequences or real price, or a plan to pay it back.
If the government limited subsidized loans based on 1) your GPA, 2) your major, 3) realistic salary expectation for your stated career after graduation, things would change.
Gnetlemen, Ladies,
I would respectfully make two quick comments and then ask two questions.
Comments
1. It is a bit odd that a member of the School Board would pledge to work with lawmakers on budget issues. The lawmakers, in this case the County Council, do not have responsibility nor authority for constructing the budget. It is sent to them from the County Executive. The School Board would be better served to pledge to work with the County Executive to resolve budget issues.
2. Mr Burbery, as President of the HCEA, is a single issue advocate. While he may be concerned about other elements of the County Govenrment, he advocates only for those he represents.
Questions
1. How would you advise the County Executive to reconstruct the budget to fully fund the $22M the Board of Education 2014 budget shortfall, ensure that it would accomodate all future budgetary growth, and simultaneously fund all other elements of County government.
2. Where would you advise the County Council to find the $22M to fund the School Board’s 2014 budget, and provide all other required services to Harford County?
Please be specific.
John P. Mallamo
Mr. Mallamo
Comments:
1. With respect to education the County Council has the right and responsibility to correct oversights the budget
2. Yes, I am an education advocate. However, I also believe that the other public servants are not well-served by the current administration and will gladly advocate alongside them.
Questions:
1. & 2.The County Executive’s budget has been deliberately woven into a Gordian Knot. However, I believe the Council will find some funds.
A curiosity for you…Do you know how much the County Government has been expanded under the Craig administration?
Mr. Burbey,
Sir,
You did not provide any specific answers to the questions at hand.
You have placed your fate in the hands of others, who, you hope, may provide some relief. Could be, but unless you have perfect knowledge, perhaps not. $22M is a lot of money, and please remember, it must be “found” year over year.
To your curisoity, yes I do know that the County budget has grown. It has done so within the realities of the economic situation.
John P. Mallamo
That is the trouble with knots they are hard to untie. The specifics will be hard to delineate here, especially if you have not reviewed the entire budget.
Look a little deeper if you think County Government has undergone reasonable growth. I am not talking about the rank and file workers mind you. Look at what is being spent on whom and what…
Mr. Burbey,
Sir,
I would first suggest that you review the solution to the Gordian Knot before you use it in your statements.
Second, which budget lines have grown so significantly that they should be cut and those funds reallocated to the education budget? Will those cuts provide the $22M the School Board is seeking?
John P. Mallamo
Oh I am well aware of the Gordian Knot. My metaphor was intended to indicate that the solution would require out of the box thinking and the construction of the budget was deliberately unethical, evasive and meant to present a quandary to the council. Thanks for the suggestion though. To answer you second question, I would suggest that you reference the June fiscal reports. You are an astute and learned man look for yourself. I think you will be alarmed and astounded. No need to call me sir. Ryan will suffice.
Mr. Burbey
Sir,
Yes, both the County budget and the annual audit/report do provide insight into County funding.
Your use of perjorative terms speak to your opinion. Unless you can clearly back them up with facts, and are willing to go forward with a complaint to the State’s Attorney General, I would caution you, in good faith. to refrain from their use.
Finally, Sir, the question to you again is how would you propose to reconstruct the budget to meet the Board of Education’s requirements.
John P. Mallamo
Why don’t we go to real out of the box thinking: Pay for performance?
Ryan,
According to the HCPS budget, the county government’s allocation to HCPS has grown from $154 million in 2005 to $220 million last year (a 43% increase in just 8 years).
And that doesn’t even include another $5.5 million last year for teacher pensions.
Assuming those numbers are accurate, you do realize that there have bee several schools opened and vast expansion of programing. 2005 was before the new Aberdeen High Math Science Magnet, before the new Edgewood High IB program, before Patterson Mill, before the new Bel Air High…All of these cost money. If your argument is that we should not expand programing that would be extremely detrimental to our students. Education has changed greatly since 2005. Likewise, demands of technology have increased. This all costs money. That is about 5% per year. Your analysis also does not account for the 19% rate of inflation between 2005 and 2013. Similarly, General Fund revenue has grown by 30% during that same time frame from $379 million to $493. While education as a percentage of the budget has fallen 2%. Hmmm…Makes one wonder where all the money is going???
Mr. Burbey,
Sir,
Those are the numbers that are published in the Maryland Overview of Local Governments, 2013 edition, by the State Legislature. Are you suggesting that they are incorrect?
John P. Mallamo
And during that same time period student enrollment has fallen by over 2000 students. Hmmm…. Makes one wonder where all the money is going.
Nope just hadn’t checked 2005 budgets recently.
time to revolt vs. the CE and ask the clowns at the CC to correct the budget? Burbey, you are out of your mind. Please know that the CC doesn’t have the power to override the budget proposed and can only cut from it, not add to it. The teacher’s union would be better served to ask O’we Baloney to reverse the teacher pension obligation back to Annapolis and let the county allocate additional funds to all county employees, not just teachers. This is precisely the reason no one cares about what teachers want, because teachers only bitch and complain when their pockets aren’t being filled with money. Teachers never had a furlough or a cut in pay as the rest of the county workforce had to go through and in addition your benefit package is way better than the county employees with less out of pocket for your greedy members. You are right there are more schools, but less students as well as the state skirting its responsibility to the citizens of Harford County. The CE increased funds towards the school system and HCPS has yet to find any savings or efficiencies in their operations to leave more money for teachers. In my dept, we are now 25% less of a workforce than 6 yrs ago to do more work as regulations have increased and the demand for services has diminished at all. In addition, the taxpayer already pays enough in taxes to meet the county’s obligations and I don’t think they need to add a penny more in taxes.
As an employee of HCPS, I love my job and I would love an increase. But every single raise I have gotten in the ten + years of working, has not added to much. Multiple insurance increases and changes, made by the county, has cost more then the raise has added. Also employees welcome ideas to help save money in the schools without hurting student learning. If you are not in it for the children then maybe you need to move on. Ideas such as four day school weeks during summer hours, cutting back on some holiday / professional days, maybe should be implemented during the year to cut costs. If anyone has a better idea then suggest it please.
A four day school week for students? Kids already have too much homework each night during the five-day week.
Harford County Executive David Craig offers response; “It is Unfortunate that Whoever is Trying to Provide Teachers and Staff with Budget Facts Does Not Comprehend the Budget, Mandates, Rainy Day Funds, or Dedicated Revenue”
http://www.daggerpress.com/2013/05/21/county-executive-craig-it-is-unfortunate-that-whoever-is-trying-to-provide-teachers-and-staff-with-budget-facts-does-not-comprehend-the-budget-mandates-rainy-day-funds-or-dedicated-revenue/
J. Judy ” I would say that anyone who borrows money, for whatever reason, however noble, but has no reasonable expectation of a way to repay the loan is acting very foolishly. ” As a teacher, I completely agree- I also think this is very similar to signing a contract, you honor your contracts. Like the contract all teachers signed agreeing to his or her salary AND the promise of COLA and STEPS.
Many teachers, good teachers, teachers who live in Harford County and were educated HERE while their parents paid their taxes without question, teachers who’ve endured YEARS without a pay raise, WILL lose their jobs . . . .Shame on all those responsible . . . .