From Friends of Johnathan Grimmel:
It saddens me to see the recent publishing of the fees imposed by the Board of Education for extracurricular activities. While I do applaud the board on trying to take “cost-saving and revenue-generating strategies in order to balance the budget” measures, I once again think they are cutting and imposing fees in the wrong areas. While $25 is not a lot of money to some, it is for others. a single mother of two will now has to pay $75 (50+25) to send her son to a JV sport and her younger son to another extracurricular activity. Then add on at least $225 for extras such as equipment and the time needed to pick up and or drop off her kids, and multiply it three times for a school year (fall, winter, and spring). Granted, this is just an example, but the burden caused by this fee will be felt by many families across Harford County. aspects of this fee can also be seen in the relationship between after-school extracurricular activities and success and performance in school. Recent studies cite that some programs not explicitly focused on academic instruction do produce positive gains in multiple areas including greater academic engagement and performance to higher graduation rates. (Eccles & Templeton, 2002) By imposing this fee the board is essentially charging ‘a fee to succeed’, and with education already expensive for parents why are we making it harder for them? I implore the board of education to look elsewhere for cuts and or reallocation of current resources to be more cost effective. In the coming weeks, I will be announcing plans on how, if elected, I would work with Harford County Government to make our government more cost affective and to re allocate wasteful spending to the areas we need them most. I urge members of Harford County Government to join me in this dialogue.
Johnathan Grimmel
Citation
Extracurricular and Other After-School Activities for Youth Jacquelynne S. Eccles and Janice Templeton, Review of Research in Education , Vol. 26, (2002), pp. 113-180
The charge is a form of taxation without representation. Hopefully someone can take these clowns to court and eliminate the fee altogether. HCPS must balance its budget with the funds they already have in reserve. They aren’t a taxing authority and they should not have any more money in reserve than what is required per accounting and normal operating procedures. Any funds over that targeted amount are to be returned to the county, state or federal coffers where they came. The CE exposed their scheme and they need to answer to the parents, students and elected officials which the citizens elected. I also noticed that their waiver exempts teachers from paying said fees for their own children to participate in sport activities.
You do have representation…..Your bored of ed member!!!!! This is also not a tax!!!!! This fee is balancing the budget. Perhaps they should simply cut all sports!!!!!!
Cdev,
You are correct that the Harford County Board of Education is suppose to represent the students, parents, and community. It is disheartening to me, that what the Harford County Board of Education is doing, and what they are suppose to do are two totally different things.
Ahhh – I get it now. The screw up the budget and can’t possibly cut anything, so “fees” are their overdraft protection. Enough! We have all been taxed and fee-d to death and our elected representatives continue to squander our money – just spend what you have, not what you don’t have. It’s as simple as that – this fee is another sign of poor management of ALL of our tax dollars.
I don’t have any children in HCPS, why should my tax dollars go towards education.
Because that’s how socialized services work: “From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs.”
Beacause you want to live in an educated society…or do you?
Yeah right I didn’t need the police of fire service at my house I guess I shouldn’t have to pay for them either. And I haven’t been to a county or state park so I shouldn’t pay those taxes either! STUPID!!!
“…they should not have any more money in reserve than what is required per accounting and normal operating procedures.” If I remember correctly that very issue was discussed at a recent BOE meeting and according to standard accounting principles a government entity the size of HCPS and a normal operating budget of approximately 450 million should have a reserve fund approaching 25 million. HCPS has never had a fund balance near that number. The current reserve is in single digits.
You do have representation on the BOE, either through direct elections or appointments made by the Governor – a position you also vote for.
“This is also not a tax!!!!! This fee “….sounds like something I once heard OweMalley say..thats right “Fees are not Taxes!
Public school education – free books, free instruction, free transportation. Still a good deal. It could be a lot worse, ask any private, parochial, or home school parent.
Phil in Bel Air – please go look up the word “free” in the dictionary. Then look at your tax bill and understand what your taxes apply to in the State and County. Our taxes substantiate the funding to run this County – it is incumbent on the elected officials to figure out how to run this County based on that budget. There is no “free” anything, nor is anyone asking for free goodies – just work within the budget! When they screw up and can’t work within their budget, they don’t revise and cut, they add fees so they don’t have to face the ire of everyone at election time because they raised taxes.
There are plenty of people that are not paying a dime in taxes. It is free for them. Say there is a family that is sending 3 kids to school and actually have the same value house as me. I am have only sent one. Who is getting the better deal?
Volunteering at the animal shelter, your place of worship or the library are all free for participants and equally well regarded on college applications. Think outside the box, there are many people and animals in our community that need help and are not associated with HCPS.
I agree Kharn – I suggested that HC students simply vacate all charged activities. I wonder how the financial bunglers would justify their inventory of $700,000 football, soccer, lacrosse turf fields throughout the county? Simple words that everyone seems to ignore – budget, free, fee, tax – don’t be confused. This scheme is the result of poor stewardship of ALL of our tax dollars!
It’s kind of funny how up in arms, ready to sue, and in brawlin’ form many parents are over HCPS’ new fee to play format. Where were all these same anti fee activists on 3/23/2010 when the final death knell for patient-doctor centered healthcare was completed by our President?
I applaud the fees! This is where they can make their kid go cut grass, rake leaves, find a way to earn some money (yes at young ages) to earn their way! My son is in a scout troop and from age 10, I have had him finding ways to pay for his own camping trips, his own gear. Guess what, he just earned and paid for (IN FULL) a trip that cost $1400.00 he found a way, it took a year, but he, at 14 did it! If a parent can afford a $200.00 lacrosse stick, they can afford a little more for their kid to play. Keep in mind that trophy will get them no where one day. Last time I checked Rec. League is not free. So why should school? Our teachers did not get a raise, but instead their kids can play for free – this is fine by me, its the teachers that take the lower salaries to help YOUR SPOILED KIDS learn something other than how to play a video game!
Happy Parent,
You have restored my faith in the parents of today – at least some of them. Way to go.
Alex, trust me, I remember being a kid, I remember earning my way. I remember just a few short (well 20ish) years ago I was riding my bike, playing in the woods, building a fort, running around.
Now I have to put time limits on my internet, blocks on my sons and daughters phones to keep them from using them during school hours – they have them for “In case of emergency use” only.. They are setup so that they can contact me, their mother, the school, and their grandparents if something goes wrong.. that it!
anyway, I feel that parents these days have grown complacent with entitlements. Parents are afraid to spank thier kids, (go look around a local walmart…) I offered a parent my belt one day. they thought I was joking.. it was in my hands..
call me old fashion, please do, old fashion parenting was better!
You offered them your belt? You’re foul. I am glad I wasn’t your kid. I think you are stuck in the Middle Ages.
Good points Happy parent. I was just talking to someone this morning about how the teachers that also coach after school sports receive additional monies. The afterschool time spent is NOT covered in their contracts. Anyone else who works overtime and isn’t salaried would expect payment.
Dead on! They volunteer their time to work with YOUR KIDS, MY KIDS, KIDS OF OUR COMMUNITIES! and not all of them are bad people. 99.999% of them are good hearted, caring people. working for less to do what they love – instilling values into our youth. Values that we all leanred my hannah montanna right?
Teachers are not volunteering time to coach, they receive additional compensation.
Wow! way to go!
happy parent – great advice for kids but irrelevant to the concept of the County budget and our tax dollars.
I wish they would just do away with extra curricular activities, and call it a day.
Regarding Grimmel’s comments that HCPS should find some other place to cut the budget, what would he suggest they cut? The instructional part of the budget? C’mon, Jonathan Grimmel, let me know what you suggest they cut. Sometimes I think our local politicians are evidence that our education system is failing. But then, I meet graduates of our schools serving in every capacity and service in our county and I am grateful for the teachers and the school system.
citizen, he also says “or reallocation of current funds” in case you missed that part.
Our Children are in school to get an education, seriously how many of our students are going to move into the professional sports arena? While I don’t agree with charging students a fee for activities that are core to their graduation requirements I do think fees for sports and other actives has merit. As stated above we already payfor Rec Council activites along with promoting their fundraising bull roasts and other types so why should high school be any different? Why can’t each schools booster club become more focused on all school sports and activities rather than primarily football and help to offset these fees for the children? If there is a point system in the National Honor Society that those students have to make each year to remain active then why not a point system in the booster club that equates to dollars to help offset the costs? A GPA of 3.0 or higher gets you points, volunteering gets you points (those 75 required service hours have become a joke so lets take them back into something viable). I know that the booster club helps pay for some sports attire and the latest and greatest sports gadgets for their chosen teams but really wouldn’t the money be better spent offsetting these fees? What really sickens me is that now this issue is about to become more political than anything and give people like Mr. Grimmel an opportunity to open the door to their “agenda” for getting elected. Just his overstated example alone is enough to show you how he can take an issue and blow it out of proportion. That mom is already paying for that “$225 for extras such as equipment and the time needed to pick up and or drop off her kids, and multiply it three times for a school year (fall, winter, and spring)” so it should not even be included in the formula sir. I applaud the parent that makes their child have at least some accountability for those extras that they want. Children should eventually assist in paying for their college education or better yet become independent adults and so this is a great way to develop ownership and financial accountability skills, somthing that is very lacking in this country and this county
A local Title IX-type funding restriction for boosters would be hilarious. For every dollar spent on football, five must be spent on the other school sports. Suddenly, someone would care about men’s volleyball and golf.
Go ninja go go go go ninja go go go go go go
Wait, what is this Grimmel kid running for? I was under the impression that the developer Mike Euler is putting him up to run for County Council, but based on this letter, it sounds like he is running for the Board of Education.
This 20 year old want to be career politician (Grimmel) has never worked a real job, has no life experience and has never been in a public school. He will be a perfect fit in Harford County Government. I bet he is the only one that can fix the schools.
Grimmel is just another one issue useless candidate that will say anything to get elected.
Seems that you are jumping to conclusions.
Sounds like a shoe in for HR Director for the county.
He’s running in council district D, He’s no even out of college yet. As a capitalist, I believe we need candidates with real-world, work experience in varied fields, not just lawyers. The life long politicians have lost touch…
Is he running for BOE or CC? He may have a shot against gRambo. Of course if he’s a registered Dem., somebody’s delusional.
What on earth makes you think he could beat Grambo at anything?
His website says that he worked on his family farm, for his fathers small business, and volunteered with some school, and also worked for Glassman in Annapolis. to me that seems like some real world experience. But if he is young maybe he will be more in touch then some of these politicians we have in there now.
Give me a break. The “family farm” is rented out to somebody else to farm. And big deal, he was a student page in Glassman’s office. The bigger news would be if Glassman endorsed him, but don’t count on it. He may be a nice and ambitious kid, but he’s done nothing but grow up in a mansion and go to private schools.
Very well said citizen!
if it weeds out a few kids so my kid has a better shot then I am all for it
Change is always difficult. I admit it is less impactful if the change does not affect me. Over time sports and a host of other “non-education” activities have been added to the school program. In most cases, when times were good, these were no charge. But there was a charge and it was on all the tax payers in the County whether or not they directly benefited from the activities. For a retired fixed income citizen of the County, without children in county schools, a tax increase to support education is a burden. But typically we all support better education and don’t object to the taxes required for education. When tax increases are made to ensure “non-education” activities are maintained free of charge it is unfair to that citizen that supports better education but has to help parents and students with the cost of PLAYING a game or attending a chess match for that matter. The fee system is fair to all those who pay taxes in support of education but don’t have children or don’t have children participating in “non-educational” activities. A $25 fee still puts the costs of sports more on the entire tax base than individual parents. Fees are much higher in other states. I support the Board’s attempt to maintain the budget without raising taxes by looking for ways to reduce costs or increase revenue. I hope they will look at the staff, consultants, conferences and travel in the Adminstration, to help find other ways to reduce costs. Finally I support a pay raise for Teachers. If the other county employees can get a 4% raise, then money can be found to support a similar raise for teachers.
High schools should get out of the sports business and allow athletics organizations in each school district to run things after hours at school facilities.
thats an interesting notion Otto but these fees aren’t just affecting sports they affect non sport activities like, Drama, the FFA, and FBLA as well.
there is an easy fix. part 1. all elected officials and the board of ed members get an automatic 50% pay cut. That savings goes towards paying the fee’s on lower income students till it is exhausted. Part 2. sell naming rights and sponsorships to the fields and gyms. This funding should allow the rest of the fee’s to be covered. Any unused funds are placed in a separate account to be used towards the following years fee’s.
and as for the original post of ” I will be announcing my plan if I am elected”.. just put it out there. no need to wait.. if you actually care then there is no need to try to sue the subject to generate cheap voting interest.
FYI: the Board of Ed does not get paid. All of them have other full time jobs except for (I believe) 2 that have retired from years of their own careers and 1 that is minor that is a full time high school student. There is a very small stipend but that just about covers gas money for their volunteer service where they leave their families for many hours every month to try to help make the schools the best they can be. They’re actually there for you. You can assume that just about everyone else working in that room or in Harford Co. government is first and foremost interested in protecting their livelihood and retirement accounts.
I cant stress it enough, THE BOARD DOES NOT GET PAID. The only perk, is that in addition to a lot of meetings & e-mails, they get to spend their free time watching stranger’s children’s graduations and performances. Yippie.
We’re going to be faced with the same money problems next year and new cuts will have to be made. Probably larger cuts. You may not agree with decisions that the Board makes but If you can’t get as far as THE BOARD DOES NOT GET PAID. Then your ability to help make a difference is low. I don’t mean to sound rude but it’s really disappointing how many people don’t get this.