Harford County Public Schools is set to request a $33 million funding increase from county government for the 2015 fiscal year, more than quadruple the amount that county government has predicted its overall revenue will rise next year. If the Board of Education adopts the operating budget request as recommended in December by Interim Superintendent Barbara Canavan, and if county revenue projections hold up, something’s gotta give.
Options for county government include a tax increase, or a shift in funding from its other operations to increase funding for schools.
Absent an increase in funding from the county or other sources, the school board would have to cut spending, including potential cuts to existing operations in order to meet state and federal education mandates, and to address other non-discretionary cost increases. In that case, the devil will be in the details.
With the above in mind, The Dagger brings you the details underlying the nearly $33 million funding increase requested in the superintendent’s proposed operating budget, which is currently under review by the school board. But first, some budget background:
Interim Superintendent Canavan recommended in mid-December that the school board adopt a $457.5 million operating budget request for fiscal year 2015, an increase of $32.7 million or 7.7% over the current (2014) fiscal year.
The increase is comprised of $13.7 million for employee raises (subject to negotiation with the unions), a $10.1 million rise in the cost of employee benefits, plus a $8.9 million increase the “cost of doing business”. The latter includes mandated spending related to the state’s participation in the federal Race to the Top program, the Common Core State Standards, and PARCC assessments. It also includes hiring 70 teachers to reduce class size by restoring staffing to 2012-13 levels; restoring half of previous cuts to funding for library materials, and implementing certain science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) programs in the middle schools where they are not currently offered.
On the heels of Canavan’s proposal, Harford County government on December 17th projected that the revenue it will collect next year from property taxes would be “flat or slightly lower”, and income tax revenue would show a “marginal increase”. Overall, county officials estimated a $7.6 million revenue increase in fiscal year 2015 to help fund county government departments and agencies, including schools. Officials noted that the revenue estimate is preliminary and subject to revision.
The other primary funding source for school operations is state aid, which is expected to rise next year by $2.8 million to $196 million. However, the increase is more than offset by anticipated and planned reductions in funding from other sources. The result is a request for county funding in the amount of $254 million, or a $33 million increase.
That’s a proposed $33 million funding increase requested for schools versus a $7.6 million revenue increase projected by county government.
A mismatch between the school system’s budget request and government funding is nothing new. But the looming gap for next year follows years of declining revenue from the state*, flat funding from county government and rising expenditures.
Here’s how school officials tell the budget background story with numbers:
“Since fiscal year 2010, Harford County Public Schools’ operating costs have increased $55.8 million. In the same time period, revenue decreased $9.1 million for a net budgetary shortfall of $64.9 million. The primary increase in expenditures represent costs deemed necessary to provide mandated services, meeting contractual obligations and to maintain the integrity of the instruction programs.”
Source: Superintendent’s Proposed Budget Fiscal Year 2015.
The increased expenditures since fiscal 2010 included a negotiated salary increase for employees (in fiscal year 2013), a mandated shift in teacher pension costs from the state to the county, and rises in health insurance costs. To make up the shortfall and balance their operating budget, school officials during that time period cut 240 positions, found savings in employee turnover and other areas, and increased use of the school system’s fund balance to pay for operations, among other measures.
Those other measures included cutbacks in bus transportation service for magnet school students and increasing the number of elementary schools on fourth-tier busing. New fees were also implemented for students to play high school sports and participate in school activities in elementary through high school. Upset parents, encouraged by community leaders, threatened lawsuits. Add to the mix, outraged teachers whose contractual step increases have gone unfunded in four of the past five years.
School officials warn that without more funding, next year could mean deeper cuts and more revenue-raising measures. At least one board member has hinted broadly at closing schools with low enrollment to save money.
Thus, the stage is set for the fiscal year 2015 budget.
So without further ado, below is the breakdown and rationale for each item that comprises the requested changes in the unrestricted expense fund (operating budget) as recommended by Interim Superintendent Canavan for the 2015 fiscal year. In addition to increased spending, areas of savings are also identified in these charts, which were included in the 500-page budget published online by HCPS.
A schedule of the school board’s planned budget meetings and public input sessions can be found here, along with a video outlining the timeline and budget development process: http://www.hcps.org/budget/
* State aid is calculated based on student enrollment and an assessment of a county’s wealth relative to other Maryland counties. State wealth formulas distribute aid in inverse proportion to a county’s relative wealth. HCPS reports that enrollment has declined over the past five years by 795 students to a total of 37,842 as of September 2013.
Yet again, wish in one hand, ____ in the other…
Let the trolling begin!!!!!!!!!!
Grandson and son, you two need to lighten up! The County Council is busy right now buying up waterfront property in HDG. They will get to the needs of Schools when they finish. Kharn my favorite grandson, why do you constantly piss people off and trash public education? I didn’t raise your father to raise you this way. You are becoming an ungrateful little SOB. SMH
Someone please explain why Harford County is the only one in the State of Maryland that is unwilling and incapable of honoring the pay scale it has agreed to for its teachers – not just for 1 year or 2, but for 6 years now. Is it that Harford County is the only jurisdiction in the state that is too broke to honor its contracts…more broke than say Garrett or Washington or Dorchester or Talbot. Do we not have the money to buy up contaminated water front property, build spanking new and unneeded emergency operation centers, buy unneeded police helicoptors, build unneeded elaborate soccer fields on every corner, etc., etc., etc. Something is seriously wrong and it certainly ain’t that our teachers are overpaid.
The county does not enter into contracts with teachers. The Board of Education does. Unless and until school districts in Maryland get the ability to levy taxes like they do in PA, this will probably continue to happen. Or, I suppose the county could take over education. But that sounds like an even worse option.
its not just the teachers who haven’t had a pay increase. I am a county employee and have seen no step increase since have been employed here the past 7 yrs. we were presented with a pay scale/step scale the day we were hired….and have yet to see what that scale really does?? looking back, it was just a piece of paper to make the county presentable to a future employee!! working for a county govt., no one is looking to get rich….but for petes sake….it would be nice to keep up with the price of living!!
You are right. County workers have been utterly abused too. We need to fight together.
Cut the waste and get a raise.
James Cook is living the high life at your expense.
Please point out the waste as you see it (other than the before-mentioned HdG land-grab and/or the helicopter). People are constantly referring to waste in school operating budgets; I have been a teacher for nearly 25 years, and while I could certainly find some things that I think were less than ideal as far as purchases are concerned, it has been very difficult for me to find sources of consistent waste that would allow for mass hiring of teachers, or increasing our wages…
Your purchasing departments are a joke. I know many purchasing people in many State and Government agencies. These bozos send out requisitions for goods and services and have no idea what they are even buying. Many of these bids are given to companies who substitute products in lieu of what they are actually suppose to be buying. I know for a fact that your suppliers need to have funds allocated to their accounts so that requisitions can be made from them. Example; if vendor “A” is cheaper than vendor “B” but vendor “A” has not funds in their vendor account the bid will go to vendor “B” because funds are available in that account.
Also they way that many products are bought are based on contracts, like paper goods and trash bags. The agencies ask for price guarantees for up to three years on this stuff. No one in their right mind would quote that far out so because no one has any idea what the “market” will be three years from now. So the vendors over inflate the costs to hedge for the length of the contract so the agencies are paying inflated prices from the beginning and if the market falls, they still pay the higher prices.
Shall we even talk about the examples of the agencies buying snow throwers in the summer when clearly they don’t need them or spring tools in the winter months. The reason they do this is because the HAVE TO USE THE MONEY or they will have it cut from the budget. I know an agency with 20 new snow throwers they don’t even use. They just keep buying this stuff because they don’t want to have their budgets cut.
There is TONS of waste in all of these agencies.
I have worked for alt of places, some bad some good, some managed very well some poorly. I have never in my 20 years of military, manufacturing, retail, production, and government work have I witnessed such corruption, and unorganized chaos then in the school system. I joined the Board of Education with all he right intentions to serve the students of Harford County, where I wen to school and wanted to give back to the schools who helped me along the way. It is purely diversion by design, their is layers upon layers of multi level management involved, in making simple small decisions such as changing a light bulb, that’s just an example. I have seen and witnessed multiple accounts of employees violating local, state, and federal safety violations, I have seen individuals completely ignore the attendance policy, if there is even an attendance policy, who knows its not clear. There is no accountability, Just call out all the time and we will pay a sub everyday to do your job. The budgets are extremely small and not adequate for the basic essentials and equipment to do your job, If you are hired to do a job, based on your knowledge, skills, and abilities and years of experience in that field, your not allowed to make a decision, that is in the best interest of the children, teachers, and community in you buildings. I have never even seen an actual inventory or an EIN tacking system to manage purchases within the buildings, how do you know what you have and what you need? The amounts that it costs to repair items, replace items, There is a whole list of things I would do if I was superintendent.
I would clean house in the facilities department/ custodial crews/ and some of the special education departments . More then 50 times have I observed trades workers commit fraud waste and abuse of tax payers dollars. I have witnessed trades workers for almost an hour at a time sleeping in there vehicles, in a non school system parking lot. I have witnessed many unskilled and un qualified through the state of Maryland, and other trades organizations performing work using wrong, or improper techniques that actually causes more damage then what was there. I have seen contractors and or trades personnel performing work that are school custodians can perform. I have seen the school system and have reviewed capital purchases over $100,000 to buy equipment for a building or a facility and not to Train there school personal or those who would use the equipment on how to maintain the equipment, and or repair the equipment. Preventive maintenance is a none at all, so everything the board purchases is going to break down premature, and cost quite a bit more to replace. The schools have good folks, with good intentions, there is no rules or regulations so quite a few employees will abuse it.!
It seems as though the budgetary issue is just as much about “how much?” as it is “for what?”
If you are at work performing your duties, how do you know what everyone is up to. Are you sleeping in the car next to your coworkers? Just saying.
“Pay to play” was a good start. It was mentioned in the other comments to pay for school bus transportation, advanced placement classes.
What else? Charge students to “Pay to park” their automobiles at the school parking lot if they don’t already.
How about “Pay to conference”? Parent/teacher conference fee.
Pay for “storage”? Locker use fee.
Mmhmm.
“Pay to Conference” is a great idea. In this “social media” age where questions/solutions can be handled over “email” more and more frequently, time is crucial. Parent/Teacher conferences disrupts the maintenance staff routine after the school day is over, and the teacher has to stay after hours.
The big bonus is “Paying to Parent/Teacher conference” keeps out the people who want to waste teacher’s time over non-issues.
Maybe the “rich folk” who wouldn’t mind shelling out $30 to ask dumb questions to a teacher will be the ones who in reality, give the teachers a raise!
What about going after the students who vandalize school property? What about going after the employees who file fraudulent claims that they were hurt on the job, causing the employer to pay out thousands of dollars to someone who just wants to collect a check? What about an increase for the use of are buildings, from outside groups, The buildings should be occupied and utilized to the maximum capacity; however they must have adequate funding to maintain, replace and repair the buildings, along with highly motivated, well educated, skilled, and hardworking employees. We must eliminate the lazies, and the do nothings. Promotions – look there Is a lot of deadweight just hanging around collecting a paycheck, and some individuals who really don’t care about your kids at all. We need to promote, and Use merit based pay increases, and Promotions, the good ol boy network has to stop. Deadweight, the laziest and do nothings and lets sit on are ass and watch everybody else work they got to go. I would give employees a certain amount of time to do something or get out!
“Pay to park”, if not already in place here has begun at some High Schools in the Midwest a few yrs. ago. Reason given: To reduce traffic congestion within these parking lots and (the always but goodie) overall Safety of the students walking through these parking lots.
Maybe this suggestion should be looked into. The Fallston Volunteer Fire Department already charges students of Fallston HS (who are unable to get parking passes for the school lot) for the use of their parking facilities. If students are willing to pay the VFC then why not pay the school?
This is not enough money. We need more. Commissar Burbey will march us forward. Its for the children.
The county CE has needs to come to grips that running a county govt sometimes requires that property taxes must go up or spending in capital pet projects needs to be revised. Having teachers, deputies and employees being paid the same as 5 yrs ago is not acceptable. There has been plenty of growth and employment/income taxes in the county have rebounded. The CE and the council seem to think that we the employees need to finance and balance the budget. Purchasing properties loaded with contaminants, other properties to become landfills and then not using them and the lot on Hickory (across from the Bel Air Fire dept) are sound investments (taken out of the tax rolls and just sitting there). The CE has wasted millions of $$$ in said purchases and all the while claiming that the county can’t afford to propose a raise? The property tax rate has not been increased in the past 8 yrs and the last time it was touched was to decrease it. The county council needs to grow some gnads and stand up to the wasteful county spending and propose a balanced budget that takes into account inflation and the cost of living in Harford County for county employees as well.
Burbey, keep up the good work. You are doing a great job by keeping this subject in the spotlight. Over the years it was a challenge identify who was responsible for salary freezes. We have finally landed in the right spot and point the blame and shame at Craig’s door step. Hopefully with enough pressure, he will see the light. Maybe not.
You know what’s sad? When teachers in backwards, hillbilly, Cecil County are paid better than teachers in Harford and Baltimore Counties! Come on, county council, get your priorities straight!
In 1980 there were 5 High Schools in Cecil County, Harford County had 8. In 2014 Cecil County has 5 High Schools and Harford County has 10. The populations have risen at nearly equal rates but the school system here has grown by 25% more with respect to infrastructure. That has cost associated with it for teachers, administration and facilities and consumes significant chunks of revenue that could have been used for staff in place.
The community and county council demanded new schools be built. Now, we must pay for the infrastructure that was created. Nothing comes for free.
Nothing comes for free. Including a $33,000,000.00 increase.
Ryan why don’t you and the teachers join forces and demand school closings and the sale of property to save money?
Why don’t you as a citizen contact your elected officials and demand this fire sale you believe will solve the problem you created by demanding more and better services while not ponying up the money to pay for it?
I don’t believe closing schools is the answer. We should maintain community schools.
Your memory is flawed. I asked the HdG City Council to support increased funding for schools. I have never advocated for building new schools. I do not think Harford County can afford to build any new schools right now except the Youth’s Benefit project.
This county can not close any schools. Even though there are too many classrooms throughout the county, redistricting in order to work efficiently can not be done. You have to consider that anyone west of I-95 can not have their well to do lilly white children mixing with the poor and ethnically challenged children from the east side. Doing so would undoubtedly lead to irreperable damage to those kids and is proven to lead to miscegenation! We need to protect the gene pool!
Burbey, I remember you standing in front of the Havre de Grace City council demanding a new school be built. Then, you got your ass handed to you. There was no “community” there supporting your demands. Stop talking out of your ass.
Your memory is flawed. I asked the HdG City Council to support increased funding for schools. I have never advocated for building new schools. I do not think Harford County can afford to build any new schools right now except the Youth’s Benefit project.
The county could send the Youth’s Benefit students to other schools and sell the property funding a teacher pay increase. Why do you not support that?
Let me say that i am no fan of the couty executive and how he has treated county employees and employees of the board of education over the past five years while taking care of his friends the developers. However the board of education does need to look very hard at areas where they could save money. for example the manager of communications position is listed at a salary of between 97,000 and 123,000. Look at an elementary principal, middle school principal or a high school principal and their salary. Maybe positions such as communication mangager and others need to be looked at.
HCPS administrators are not among the highest paid in the state. See the numbers at the link below. It tells you the state-wide expenditure rankings.
http://www.hcps.org/boe/docs/2013_Budget_Booklet.pdf
I don’t care about rankings and that publication is an insult. What I and most other taxpayers want to know is how much does a Principal or Vice-Principal earn at primary and secondary education levels and is it tied to teacher salary adjustments? We need a Principal at every school but clearly a manager of a small elementary school with 250 students should earn substantially less than a Principal at one with 500 students. It’s basic business. It’s also clear that the vice-Principal position is overstaffed throughout the county and should be eliminated at every elementary school and reduced to 1 per HS and 1/2 per MS.
All information about administrative pay can be found in their contract.
http://www.hcps.org/BOE/docs/CollectiveBargaining/APSASHC/APSASHC_NegotiatedAgreement.pdf
Since you thought that I would be deterred by reading some contract full of boring details I have added it below. As noted above, it is impossible to give teachers a raise without fattening the wallets of administrators also. First order of business is to decouple the two.
At STEP 1 (LOWEST possible salary)
Assistant Principal Secondary (10 month)
$82,129
Assistant Principal Elementary (10 month)
$85,861
for scale, the HIGHEST possible salary is $103,729 under the 10 month plan
At STEP 1 GRADE 1 (LOWEST possible salary)
$90,506 (12 month)
for scale, the HIGHEST possible salary is $134,476 under the 12 month plan
Teachers’ Salary. The Administrative and Supervisory (A&S) scale is grounded in and tied to
the teachers’ scale. The A&S scale will be adjusted to reflect percentage increases applied to the teachers’ scale times 125%. Grade 1 of the 12 month salary schedule will be tied directly to the highest step and educational level on the teacher’s scale. Grades 2-8 will be adjusted to maintain the integrity of the 3 x 1 salary schedule.
I agree. Having worked with a few, I’m not impressed. Too much money paid for do-nothing positions. That is exactly where the “fat”is in the BOE budget, andiif you don’t believe me, then go sit in on some school community meetings.
I thought it was best if you analyzed it for yourself rather than me interpreting it.
I need a new school in order to teach.
I need a raise in order to teach.
I deserve more money.
I shouldn’t have to pay more for medical care – taxpayers should.
I should not have my pay tied to student performance.
I do it for the children.
blah blah blah !
We usually get a raise when you start seeing political signs go up primary’s are here soon. I love my job benefits and paid vacations sick days wawa coffee, and then to the clock to go home. This place hasn’t changed in years and it never will. It’s an awesome place, sometimes no one even knows your at work. You just come in get a truck and come back at 230 so I have time to change my shoes
I agree. Having worked with a few, I’m not impressed. Too much money paid for do-nothing positions. That is exactly where the “fat”is in the BOE budget, andiif you don’t believe me, then go sit in on some school community meetings.
tell bane to sell his new helicopter and you can use that money for teachers