From Ryan Burbey, President – Harford County Education Association:
HCEA did not ask the Board of Education to cut 250 positions. I don’t know how Mr. Craig arrived at that number but this allegation has no merit. What we have been saying is, without additional funding, the Board of Education must make the cuts necessary to return to sustainability, as well as, return to honoring contractual salary steps. Without additional funding, the current staffing levels and programing are not sustainable.
Last year, to fund a step and 1%, the Board of Education cut about 60 positions. It would cost about the same this year were the Board of Education to fund our salaries solely through position cuts. These cuts were essentially faceless cuts, which were realized through retirements and attrition. Future cuts will not be so painless. For several years, the Board of Education has been using its fund reserves to fund continuing operations. At this point, those reserves are almost completely exhausted. This loss leaves a substantial deficit in funding. Without additional funding, this deficit will result in additional cuts.
HCEA has not nor will I advocate for massive staffing cuts. I believe that HCPS must increase teaching staff and programing if it is to properly meet the needs of its students. However, if County Executive Craig does not increase funding, further cuts including cuts to staffing will be necessary. While Mr. Craig would like to paint this as the mean ole teachers union making irrational demands, forcing cuts to our schools; that simply is not the case. Without additional funding Harford County Public Schools will not be able to provide a competitive, 21st century education to our children.
This year, over 100 positions were cut. Teachers were laid off with only a few days remaining in the school year; leaving them little time to find new employment. These cuts were made without funding teacher salary steps. Fortunately, due to vacancies via retirements and resignations, which have arisen since the cuts, most of the teachers who were laid off have been called back. Unfortunately, if the funding is not increased these cuts will happen again next year. Since, HCPS is hiring very few if any new teachers, those teachers who were subject to cuts this year could be subject to cuts next year also. This is not an equitable, ethical or sustainable means of running a school system.
If HCPS is not able to provide a secure, stable working environment for teachers, which includes yearly salary increments (steps), our teachers will continue to leave. If new teachers must endure lay-offs and call-backs on a recurring basis, they will also leave. Similarly, HCPS will not be able to attract new teacher candidates in the future if it does not correct its history of not honoring its contract, not properly compensating its teachers and not providing the security which teachers are afforded in other school systems throughout the state.
Ryan Burbey
President-HCEA
Check out Ryan Burbeys facebook postings prior to his appoinitment to the Education union. The guy is a nasty liberal pig.
He goes way left of anything even remotely considered to be liberal. Of course he will deny what he is being accused of. Thats what rats do when they get caught. Squirm and run.
What does that have to do with the issue at hand? His message is clear: David Craig is lying. Regardless of your feelings about Mr. Burbey as a person, no union leader would advocate for the elimination of 250 positions (nearly 9% of its workforce).
Google Karen Lewis
She sure doesn’t like President Obama’s close personal friend R. Emmanuel.
Sleep with dogs and you get fleas.
LOL…..you guys are trolling Burbys facebook account. OMG get a life. That’s hilarious……
omg, That would be spelled Burbey. And we can assume he says what he means, can’t we?
Right on Ryan. Do what you can to ensure that Craig fails in his attempt to be governor. He is an embarrassment to the education profession.
and you did what for education when you were President of the HCEA?
And you are similarly an embarrassment to your profession.
So is Burbey and the HCEA.
Typical politician. David Craig slashes school funding, then tries to pin the consequences on someone else. When HCPS loses teachers, it’s going to because of the cuts Craig made, but he’s trying to distract from that fact by changing the subject to how “brave” he is for standing up to the teachers’ union — just in time for the 2014 gubernatorial primary. Opportunistic “leaders” like Craig and Rahm Emmanuel are why we need teachers’ unions more than ever.
By “slashes school funding,” do you mean increasing by 26% since taking office, and by 35% per pupil? And never decreasing funding from one year to the next despite decreasing enrollment? Yeah, I guess that’s “slashing.”
Sorry but he is right every other County Dept. sees the budget and works within it. They haven’t gotten there steps either. The school Board and Teachers Union put in a fantasy budget every year and expect it to being met without knowing if there is any money to support it. It would be like the general public going to the grocery with a loaded cart before they knew what they earned for the week. Ryan thinks that the tax payers of the county have bottomless pockets to support him and the teachers. So when reality slaps Ryan in the face he will pull our poor children into the fight so we tear up and use them as his pawn. Teachers you will get no where as long as Ryan is at the helm of your run away ship.
How is Mr. Burbey responsible for the County chronically underfunding the school system? How is he responsible for Mr. Craig recommending millions of dollars in capital expenditures for a school the school board did not ask for? How is he responsible for the school system having a superintendent who for four years was willing to sacrifice teacher positions in order to continue to expand Central office? You may not like him, and he certainly has turned a lot of people off in the past with his outspoken and sometimes outlandish comments, but he is not wrong here.
All those things may or may not be true but the central and narrow question here is did the union demand cutting 250 positions to fully fund thier current and missed steps. From his own comments – ” What we have been saying is, without additional funding, the Board of Education must make the cuts necessary to return to sustainability, as well as, return to honoring contractual salary steps.” Let’s assume the cuts required to meet their demands would be 250 positions and that seems about right it’s the same darn thing. Burbey is saying get rid of anybody regardless of who it is including less tenured teachers, janitors and secretaries to create the funds necessary to meet our demands. Does he think that’s any different? Does he actually think not saying the exact number isn’t the same thing and just as selfish? Trust me the janitor holding a pink slip next to a teacher with a $4K raise wouldn’t think so.
From Mr Burbey’s statement:
“HCEA has not nor will I advocate for massive staffing cuts. I believe that HCPS must increase teaching staff and programing if it is to properly meet the needs of its students. However, if County Executive Craig does not increase funding, further cuts including cuts to staffing will be necessary.”
That, kids, is what we call weasel words. Mr Burbey appears to deny that he suggested cuts, but he covers himself in case someone has a recording. Now, my question is, why must funding continue to go up to maintain the number of positions? The salary pool is large enough, with enough retirements/departures every year to keep a well-designed salary schedule working properly without additional funds. Might it be because Mr Burbey plans to kick and stomp until he gets a COLA every year, even in a continued down economy with property tax reciepts plummeting, when other county employees aren’t receiving steps, federal employees are being hit with a 20% furlough and many private businesses are cutting employee hours to below full-time levels whenever possible? Or because he wants to increase the number of teachers (while student populations are decreasing, IIRC), thus increasing the HCEA’s coffers by their union dues or collective bargaining extortions, er, I mean, contributions?
Mr Burbey claims he, and the HCEA, support all students and teachers, but he is obviously putting his own financial interests (read all of his previous whines on Dagger about how he’s underpaid and can barely keep his head above water financially, do you really think someone unable to manage their own money should have an executive role in any organization?) and HCEA’s interests ahead of the students, taxpayers and (250+) teachers.
I continue to stand by my belief that government employees should not be able to unionize precisely due to situations like this one where a group is able to demand additional taxpayer dollars in return for zero improvement in the product they are providing to the public and without regard for the present economic situation. If teachers want more money, they should demand to be converted to pay for performance and let the good teachers earn additional money from the paychecks of the horrible teachers.
Amen, brother! Can I hear a Hallelujah ?
Who has a definition of a “horrible teacher?” Can it be fairly defined with teachers teaching different levels of students in different areas of a county? Should it be a result of a horrible administrator’s definition or dislike of a person?
I totally agree except for one point. The horrible teachers shouldn’t get a paycheck.
Do you know how a teacher is evaluated? It is very hard to be a bad teacher in this day and age. Teachers are no longer protected by tenure; especially now with the new evaluation system. Teachers can and have been outed for not meeting expectations. Again, this county wants a quality educational system on a shoestring budget. You cannot expect your children to receive quality education if you are not willing to pay for it.
Every single other county has managed to fund the scheduled steps… Even less well off counties like Cecil. Why is it that harford is the only one who is failing its tax payers, students, and staff members? That is what the outrage should be about, not Burbey or Craig!
Every other county you mentioned has had lay offs every single year in order to fund the steps for those left.
“Every single other county”? Really? In the past five years, how many steps have teachers in Carroll, Frederick, Caroline and Somerset received?
Harford should be proud to be numbered among the few…
I don’t have the facts to back this statement up….but just believe it please.
Those are the wonders of policy debates.
how does a comment like “the horrible teachers shouldn’t get a paycheck'” get many thumbs down? “For the children” lol
Because basically the union thinks horrible teachers deserve to be paid the same as everyone else. Unions believe in Marxism…take from those who can and give to those who can’t even if those who can’t could give a crap and are phoning it in.
And what facts do you have to back this up?
Teachers union and lots of teachers – too eager to give their governor and state assembly a “pass” for any responsibility. State funding to county – cut. Teachers pensions – dumped on the counties.
So blind and lock step with the dogma of the left. when will these “educated” elitists wake up to the fact their federal and state government are NOT “for the working man.” tax and spend has never been. maybe when teachers go to the gas pumps (up your tax) , and pay their utility bills (no fracking allowed but blow me with wind), or start getting slammed with Obamacare premiums – maybe then they’ll realize – those in power – want power and want their constiuents (dogs) to put out for them.
A lot of anti public education idiots here. A couple don’t even know what a communist or socialist is. I long for the days of thoughtfully curated letters to the editor with a balance of intelligent points of view. This nasty free for all serves no purpose.
To be against the union is certainly not to be anti-education. Interesting you specify “public” because there are other opportunties for providing education – private school and voucher opportunities for instance, but of course the union isn’t interested in that because it’s “for the children”. Rolleyes.
Paul, this forum does have a purpose. I use examples of it in class occasionally to show the students all of the anti intellectualism they are surrounded in. Also many of my students often wondered about how the ” Know Nothing” party originated. I then connect it with Biology as an example of Darwinian natural selection in action as this environment has kept the Know Nothing party alive and evolving
Stu, your “intellectualism” is showing. Never end a sentence with a preposition. You must have been absent in class the day that rule was taught.
Anti intellectual, so in other words a troll? LOL
When teaching Darwinian natural selection do you also point out that Darwinism is a theory which has not been proven in any way or do you just spout the usual disinformation?
Just like it hasn’t been proven that you have a soul or a brain or compassion or empathy
@Stu Chapman
You use the Dagger Press to move your political agenda forward and malign people with whom you disagree?
This is why we need fewer teachers like you.
Stu Chapman has always been a brilliant science teacher. Sorry that you are jealous of his intelligence and skill.
Stu, as you attack the the liberal labeled “know nothings” please do mention that the democrats of the next 100 years were busy running around in sheets.
It’s sad that some that are entrusted to educate are so hindered by their own myopic view of the world in terms of black or white. Apparently anyone who disagrees with your views – any of them and whatever they may be – is a person to be marginalized, shunned and prevented from sharing that disparate viewpoint. Your classes must have some pretty lame debates with both sides representing the same opinion – yours. I suspect in your world, anyone who is against big government or redistribution of wealth (which invariably doesn’t affect those with the lion’s share of that wealth – only those powerless to fight it) is automatically some mouth breathing troglodyte who doesn’t believe in evolution and is worthy of nothing but scorn. Indoctrination by teachers like you is one of the reasons my kids attend private school – makes my life easier when I don’t have to undo the damage some activist teacher causes.
spoken like a true elitist who thinks the measure of a person is determined by the number of hours they have spent on their asses in taxpayer supported classroom, paid by taxpayer funds, living off the backs of taxpayers who must work until they are 65 so that teachers can retire in half the time. for all your pompous prancing the sad fact is the products of todays schools are a sorry lot indeed; most of them unable to properly fill out a job app and too damn self-centered to work a Friday. Look at the recent UN rankings of students globally and ask why we are ranked so poorly. The NEA has failed the students and the teachers unions have failed the students. How many teachers would be in the business if they had to work 50-51 weeks a year and work until age 65 like private industry. no matter how much you bloviate the crop of brain-dead flunkies the public education racket turns out every year is proof you don’t care about ‘the kids’ as much as you do feathering your own nest.
Utlize your education and realize this is not the time to be asking for money. There are a lot of people hurting in this country. Teachers do deserve to be paid more and be given steps, but now is not the time. How come you and others don’t get this? How come you leftists don’t blame O’Malley for dumping pension costs on the counties, money that could have been used to pay teachers? You all just want what you want and don’t care about anyone else. It is for the kids-sure it is, is that why the HCEA is calling for working to the contract. Yeah, that really makes everyone feel good about teachers.
To all parents: check out a private school. There are no discussions about step increases. No ‘work to rule’ garbage. It would also be interesting to see how many public teachers send their children to private school.
Not many; we can’t afford it!
Vouchers would solve that problem.
My kids in private school have frequently had classmates whose parents teach in the public school system – make what you want of that. I suspect there would be many more if it were more affordable or a voucher system were enacted to introduce fairness and freedom of choice.
39% of Chicago’s public school teachers send their kids to private schools.
Stu… And thankfully it attracts a very limited number of numbskulls who like to throw around terms they do not understand.
Please Paul, as the only person here who understands the definition of communist and socialist, please enlighten us commoners.
B,
Would those be the same Democrats that held black folks in slavery until the Civil War when President Lincoln (Republican) freed them? I think that would be the very same ones.
Keesha, the Democrats are still enslaving them with government give-away programs so that they can re-elected.
@Keesha – I believe Lincoln was the Progressive in the situation your using. As an intelligent person you should know that the party labels have often meant little to nothing. The question is on which side of the issue were the majority of Conservatives?
Paul,
Maybe you would like to explain what you did for teachers when you were HCEA president.
As I recall, more than you did.
Big Mouth K, How do you know?
See my reply.
Paul, you were so successful. How come the last two presidents haven’t been?
‘Intellectualism’, The Internet, and ‘Message Board’ should never be used in the same sentence together.
We worked closely with a conservative county executive who had no further political ambition to modernize and streamline teacher benefits. We raised salaries from near the bottom to above the middle. We attempted to educate the Board about the benefits of interest based bargaining. We worked closely with HCPS leaders to improve professional development and attempted to reach some consensus on working toward pay for performance. Yadda yadda to all making moronic statements under aliases. Your stupidity is showing.
Proud to have been a teacher.
Proud to have been Harford and Maryland Teacher of the Year.
Proud to have been HCEA president.
Humble about the love received from my former students,
and you enjoyed retiring as President and not teaching anymore.
Sure. I did 31 years and retired. Chose to take my 25k a year pension and do other things. What’s your problem smart-ass?
Including taking care of my mother and brother. Tell me your point.
Paul, you retired at 55, correct? How many people in business can afford to do this?
Your language doesn’t highlight you as a teacher of the year. Are you losing your class?
No, he isn’t losing his class. He’s probably just losing patience with people such as yourself who seem overly concerned with baiting people into arguments for no reason other than to create arguments.
It’s called trolling, and the simple solution to that is not hitting the ‘reply’ button.
Stu Chapman has always been a brilliant science teacher. Sorry that you are jealous of his intelligence and skill.
I’m jealous of your computer skills.
This county is a joke. Burbey should be crying foul. The teachers and police and for that matter all county employees have been treated like #hit. This all after David Craig announces his race for Governor. What a joke.
This is the internet, not a county council meeting.
The input box in the comment section says “Name” but does not provide anymore specifics. What that means to you does not apply to someone else, again, this is the internet.
If you saw everyones ‘real’ name, would you be satisfied? In what way? Does it make comments more valid?
How do we even know who you are, is really you and not someone else?
The only thing “moronic” I see is complaining on the internet about what names people are using. If it bothers you that bad, stop reading.
Nothing bothers me. I enjoy telling the truth. Meantime to the Joker who asked what HCEA accomplished when I had the honor of being president… You asked. I gave an answer. This 65 year old progressive will never stop advocating for progressive issues. Call me a socialist and I will call you a fascist. Same stupid stereotype.
I call you a liberal socialist. Call me what you want.
You are an asshole.
At 65 years old and retired, you choose to resort to name calling and childish antics with people on the internet?
“Professionals” LOL
Paul, did you teach your students to reply to questions that they cannot answer by using profanity? Wow, what class, and what an example of a public debate. You, who earlier posted about the good old days when people could air their differences in a civil manner. I bet all that you did for the kids is a bunch of baloney also. You continue to lower the image of very good and professional teachers. Shame on you.
@Paul Shatz
I guess from your post you are unaware that fascists are very closely related to socialists.
Leaders of both Italy and Germany from the 1920s until 1945 were former socialists turned fascist.
There is no question that Hitler and Mussolini were anti-capitalists and conservatives are certainly pro-capitalism.
You are not the only one to claim fascism is not socialism, but you and others would be incorrect.
As someone with a personal connection to the Holocaust I don’t need you to give me the true definition of Fascism aka national socialism. Besides you missed the entire point about stereotyping. Nice try but no cigar. Calling people like the president of HCEA is as stupid as me calling a conservative a fascist pig. As stupid as mistaking a member of the British Labour party a commie. A democratic socialist sure. I suppose you consider the centrist Obama a pinko.
the centrist Obama- you really are out there
Ask any liberal and he will tell you the same. Anyhow this wearies me. The point is Harford County has had a great school system supported by tax payers and concerned parents and a mostly excellent professional staff that deserves better than what the current administration. The current president of the union as well as his elected board of directors are doing the best they can under the circumstances.
Paul, so is the county government, yet you don’t have anything negative to say about O’Malley and the state. Why is that? There are a lot of people out there who are having trouble making ends meet. Education is supposed to allow us to see the big picture, yet all you, Burbey and HCEA can say is “we don’t care.” In my mind you do use logic, but rather your self-serving solution- that is not a very educated answer in my mind or others.
Paul, so is the county government, yet you don’t have anything negative to say about O’Malley and the state. Why is that? There are a lot of people out there who are having trouble making ends meet. Education is supposed to allow us to see the big picture, yet all you, Burbey and HCEA can say is “we don’t care.” In my mind you do not use logic, but rather blabber your self-serving solution- that is not a very educated answer in my mind or others.
That current administration that you mention, is that O’Malley and Company?
@Paul Schatz –
While you and many others have a personal connection to the Holocaust; it doesn’t change that socialist ideology has a great deal in common with anti-capitalistic fascism and not with free market capitalistic conservatism.
Mr. Pilkington, thank you for explaining to these so-called intelligent people what kids learn in school.
And by the way, Paul, you may have a connection to the holocaust, but you obviously don’t understand national socialism.
In your mind.
Paul Schatz is really helping the crowd who don’t appreciate Harford counties educators, amirite?
Where are your co workers to help reply to your ramblings? I guess they formed an opinion too after you went with a personal insults.
I am not a fan of either Ryan Burbey or David Craig. I think both of them are to blame for the declining state of the County’s school system. It takes two to tango and neither one of them knows how to dance.
To dance you need a partner. I wish the County Executive was willing to partner and listen to reason. Unfortunately, that is not the case. If I won the lottery, I would give money to the schools but shy of an enormous windfall, I can’t solve the funding problem alone.
You don’t have a funding problem – you have a priority problem.