From Harford County Executive David R. Craig:
These have been challenging times and I appreciate and understand how many of our education professionals feel and how the budgetary decisions that I, the County Council, and the Board of Education make affect them. I’d like to briefly discuss the county budget as it relates to the public school system.
The decline in the economy has severely impacted tax revenues for Harford County. Property tax assessments have dropped substantially in each of the past four years. The same is true of other taxes, but property taxes are half of our revenue. The county did see a very small increase in overall revenue this year of about $6.3 million, or less than 1% of an overall budget of $800 million. This increase, which is smaller than the rate of inflation, must go toward increases in the costs of pensions, benefits, insurance, and other rises in the cost of doing business. Quite simply, there is no “extra” money.
Many of our neighbors are facing 20% cuts to their salaries and even layoffs as a result of federal sequestration. The uncertainty and strain that this places on the household budgets of so many of Harford’s citizens troubles me, and coupled with a national economy that continues to lag, I felt that implementing tax increases to fund growth in the county budget was not a practical or responsible option at this time. Furthermore, dipping heavily into fund balance or the “rainy day” fund, as has been suggested, to pay for costs that will recur and compound year-on-year is not a responsible budgetary practice.
County employees have had to endure a state of frozen salaries just as school system employees have. In county government, we have eliminated hundreds of positions and in many cases have transferred greater responsibility to current workers. The surprise is that during my tenure as county executive, HCPS has increased its staff by over 650 positions even though school enrollment has declined by over 2,300 students.
Not only has the economy been bad but state actions have been severe. Historically, funding for the HCPS operating budget has been divided roughly 50-50 between the state and the county, with a very small amount of federal funding also in the mix. During the past few years, state contributions to HCPS have declined by approximately $10 million. I have never lowered the county contribution. The county’s per student contribution has increased every year I have been county executive while the state is in a reverse mode. (See chart below.)
Yet the local teachers’ union directs all of the letters and emails to me and to the County Council, and apparently none to the governor or the leadership in the state legislature. Coincidentally, many teachers may be surprised to find out that the state recently passed a law requiring that school systems deduct union fees from all teachers who are not union members, and send the money to the union. This state action will probably result in hundreds of dollars less in take-home pay for the nearly 50% of Harford’s teachers who are not union members.
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. They just pick out numbers and use them improperly. Ignored is the fact that the shift of teacher pension costs to the county – $7 million since last year – is a hefty sum that could have been used for a pay raise but was used by the state to further reduce its share of the costs of education in Harford County.
The fact is that I have no control over how the Board of Education uses the money allocated to them. I could put $5 million extra in the county’s allocation and say it is for a pay raise and it could instead be used for new positions, healthcare, or operations. I do not get to vote on or approve their budget. There are many other factors that determine education funding, including the state’s decreases in funding to HCPS, new funding obligations and rises in the costs of doing business, and most importantly, internal budgetary decisions by the Harford County Board of Education.
For 34 years I was a middle school teacher and assistant principal. During 32 of those years I had a second job and for several years had three. I know that it may be of little consolation, but I truly do know and understand the difficulties of trying to make ends meet as a teacher with a family for which to provide.
Despite these trying times, we will continue to work within our means to provide the best possible environment for education in Harford County. I sincerely thank my fellow teachers and school system employees for all that they do on behalf of our county’s most precious resources: our children and grandchildren.
David R. Craig
Harford County Executive
David,
is a man of his word, he is a man of honor! I support David Craig
Well put Mr. Craig. Thank you for standing up for your taxpayers.
That was interesting. Maybe I never thought about that before. I am a retired HCPS employee and I understand the dilemma.
That would be Ryan Burbey. Remember folks he is a Communist. Its for the children silly
I notice that whenever Commisar Burbey is under attack he hides under fake names on here.
I have not replied to any of the postings. I will be sending a formal response to Mr. Craig.
Obviously, David Craig fully understands budgets and funding issues much better than the village idiot living in The State House or his lieutenant.
so 4 out of 5 comments were supportive of david craig. I am sure one person wrote all of those. Guess he wants to get our votes for governor? How come we are seeing all these articles? Hmmmmm must be election season.
It does not matter whether he is running for governor or not. He is right about the school board budget. Statements we’re made by the union and Craig effectively refuted their misstatements. This statement exposes the corruption that exisit in the union that plagues on good teachers and staff. The issue is not Craig. It is Burbey and the idiots in Annapolis.
Oh how I long for a union president with an MBA…
It’s true that Mr. Craig has no control how the school board uses its money, just as he stated. He is also right about several other things that have had an impact on funding, particularly the shift of teacher pension costs to the county. I don’t believe that HCPS takes that sum into consideration when discussions of funding are on the table.
But I think that in all fairness, just as Mr. Craig has no control over any number of factors, likewise for the school board. The cost of healthcare for employees, energy costs, maintenance of plant costs…all these things have gone up in price over the past few years.
One wishes that perhaps the board and the exec could sit down, look at the costs of running the system, come to an understanding of each’s needs and responsibilities, and make it work. The adversarial relationship between parties does not seem to be helping either side.
I’m just wondering why it costs over $10,000 per student per year.
Private schools in Harford are between 6-14k. Something to think about.
Special ed students are included in the average. A dedicated IF adds $30k+ in individual compensation (combined pay and benefits), and they care for a single student. Looking at the average spending for regular and gifted students would show a very different picture of what education costs.
Private schools are able to select their students to weed out the discipline problems, most do not accept the expensive non-gifted special ed, etc. The Highlands School is around $25k/yr per student from what I’ve heard.
Sounds reasonable.
I’d also like to see this fancy chart for other counties. That would be more meaningful.
Yes, but a lot of people don’t understand that when they say it costs X amount of dollars per student, that this is an expression of an average. They think that it means that it costs the school system X amount for each and every student. As you pointed out, some students, particularly those with special needs, can cost the school system an exhorbitent amount of money.
Many people don’t realize that by law, the school system has to foot the bill for all students in its jurisdiction regardless of how costly. And if the school system doesn’t have the facilities to provide for a student with profound needs (children who are sick or injured and require continual medical attention while they attend school), the school system has to pay for them to attend a school that can provide for them, which in some cases may mean sending them to school out of state. Some individual students can cost the school system over 100k per year.
This certainly pushes the average cost up.
JC is about 15K and while it coomes to that amount per student not all students cost the same to educate. Special ed drives that number way up. Special ed is something John Carroll and other parochial schools do not have to deal with.
Noble,
10, 000 is between 6-14,000.
Well the idiots in Annapolis will get re elected and the same policies will be carried forward. This is a democratic state and all the liberals and peace loving people will be kept in office. Children are important and deserve the best, BUT THE HCPS is not the only entity in the county that needs more money. Love it when the paper says the school system needs more money.
Well put Mr. Craig.
It’s all hog wash, if you were in Aberdeen yesterday in the even you would have seen 10 police officer and at least 5 different departments giving out seat belt tickets. While across the street the same old thugs hanging out at the train station/bus stop.
I found this statement most interesting:
“The surprise is that during my tenure as county executive, HCPS has increased its staff by over 650 positions even though school enrollment has declined by over 2,300 students.”
I am curious whether they were part time, full time, custodial, teachers, or admin? Either way, 650 new positions sure do take away from the “Money pie” that “the children” surely should be eating from. how many new computers and text books would those 650 paychecks buy?
When does the gravy train stop. I wouldn’t want to be a teacher but they signed on for the job. Federal govt employees are being furloughed. Maybe teachers would want that for themselves.
We are the gas, wind, water, rain, air that you breathe tax state – when is enough, enough?
A federal employee talking about the gravy train is like an obese person talking about the lack of food at an all you can eat buffet.
You also signed on for your job including potential furloughs, aside from which you’ve likely done very well when compared to the private sector.
Just for the sake of clarification, are you suggesting that a person that enters a given profession surrenders their right to try to improve the parameters of that profession?
Really 650 new positions – someone needs to do an accounting of exactly what type of positions those were…teachers, no problem…but there seems to be a lot more middle management type of positions than ever before
It might not hurt if someone first do an accounting of whether or not 650 is an accurate number. There have been hiring freezes and job cuts (a few) in HCPS over the past few years, and the schools have not received increases in staffing for some time, so that would probably eliminate any of the 650 being teaching or assistant principal positions. In talking with several principals, they haven’t received increases in custodial positions and in some cases are understaffed. That would leave the aforementioned “middle management”. I can certainly see the possibility that they increased the number of supervisors and other such managers, but 650 seems like an awfully large number; just from a practical point of view, where would you put all these people? The board of ed building is really not that big, and I question whether you could fit anywhere close to that number of additional people.
I’m wondering if maybe he means there were 650 total hires, which would include replacing people that left the system.
Don’t get me wrong…I’m certainly not an apologist for HCPS. I would just like to know if this statement is true and what the details are.
I would think the opening of both Patterson Mill and Red Pump would account for a lot of the increase hires.
New schools need lots of new employees.
And Red Pump…excellent point made Peggy sue
Peggy Sue, That is probably the most ill informed thing I have read on this post today. When you open a new school it is attended by existing students from other schools. You move the students and also the proportional number of staff to the new schools.
Middle management? There is no such thing really. A more accurate term is ‘overhead’. You are either a teacher or you are overhead. Cut the overhead.
Amen Jaguar Judy! Look around at business for the past 8 years. Budgets get tight, the economy is tight – is that news??? We the taxpayers have been taking it on the chin at every turn so we tighten our belts. What did businesses do to survive? They certainly didn’t add overhead costs!! This makes my brain hurt… the word “cut” is not only appropriate, it is absolutely necessary for a sustainable public education system. Cut the fat now.
As someone mentioned earlier, per pupil expenditures include special education funding and dollars spent toward Free and Reduced Meals. Years ago someone compiled a chart with both per pupil expenditure(s) as opposed to the other moneys. School system like Howard County doesn’t really spend that much more per pupil than Harford County but much more of our funds are dedicated to other such unfunded mandates.
Additionally, I would venture a guess that many of these positions are Behavioral Specialists (see prior Dagger story) and other such “jobs” that didn’t exist just a few years ago. Inclusion and putting all students in a classroom together has been very expensive. Deaf kids in classrooms for example have their own translator who also go with them to extracurricular activities. I have been on field trips in high school where there are many adults most of whom are there for 1 student. Guess I am just trying to make a point that this is a lot of what taxpayers are now paying for with less money.
My only concern about this letter is that I know Mr. Craig exaggerated one of his facts, specifically about the percentage of teachers who are members of the union. Union membership among HCPS teachers is approximately 65%, not “nearly 50%” as Mr. Craig states. Regardless of my personal opinion regarding unions, this makes me wonder if some of his other facts are exaggerated.
I’m not missing the forest for the trees; I understand there are many facets that effect the budget of something as large and complex as a county, and I respect Mr. Craig’s willingness to inform the citizens of Harford County some of the details that effect the budget. But if Mr. Craig (or any other politician for that matter) wants to retain credibility, I think it is essential that their facts are accurate.
Actually, if you re-read his statement, he said that nearly 50% ARE NOT union members, not that nearly 50% are members, as you suggest. Your point is well taken though, assuming that the 65% figure you cite is correct, and that it also includes part time-teachers (which I don’t think it does). Whether 35% is “nearly 50%” I suppose is arguable, but I wouldn’t say unreasonable by any stretch. His point is that there are a lot of teachers (at least 35%) who aren’t currently paying union dues who now will have money deducted from their paychecks because of a new state law.
You are of course, correct. I stated it backwards.
Whether or not this is an unreasonable stretch or not? Maybe in stating the approximate number of teachers in the union, 35% and 50% are comparable figures. But I bet if someone was paying 35% in taxes and it jumped to 50%, they would have a different interpretation as to the similarities of the two numbers!
The only other thing I really thought about regarding this specific statement was that I didn’t really see what it had to do with his stated purpose for writing the letter. He said “I’d like to briefly discuss the county budget as it relates to the public school system.” I’m not sure what the percentage of union membership in HCPS or the fact that the “fair share” bill was passed has to do with the county budget. In this, I think he was playing a little bit of politics (which is of course, his privilege, being that he is a political figure!).
No matter; I thought it was an informative letter and appreciate his time and effort.
Socrates, the way I read it was that he was making a correlation between the fact that the teachers union has been mum on state actions that negatively affect the education budget and the fact that the state just recently took action to swell union coffers. All unions, whether for teachers or not, are concerned first with the wellbeing of the union. The wellbeing of their members is always secondary.
I’m not sure where one might find such information, but I would be surprised if MSTA didn’t have lobbyists working on behalf of their interests, including state actions such as the ones you mentioned.
Either way I don’t see what this has to do with the county budget and Mr. Craig’s stated purpose for addressing his constituency.
Aye yo, do schools really need multiple vice principles?
Don’t know if they need “multiple vice principles” but they do need Assistant Principals in the schools. The vice principles are usually community based.
sup brah, what are multiple assistant principles used for? Explain details.
Have you been in a high school in the last 20 years? Vice/Assistant Principals do all the dirty work that the Principal doesn’t want to do (discipline, scheduling, parental contact, organizing teacher duties, etc.). Most schools have 3-4 and could use one or two more.
If the VP’s are community based then what is the “Director of Community Engagement” supposed to be doing? His her salary started at $123,000 2 years ago.
There. Their. They’re not the same. Neither are principles and principals. Clearly attention to details is not a strength with everyone.
Sup brah, clearly you still understood the language with spelling and grammar mistakes. Next question, brah?
Would love to know how all of the surrounding counties, including PA, manage to fund education. I can’t wait to watch Mr. Craig lose his run at the governorship. Thankfully most of the state thinks progressively and supports public education. You will not get my vote sir.
Sup my man, many more school districts per townships in the county, plus more tax. Aite brah?
he never had a chance to get your vote
Nor did he need it.
County contributions to per pupil spending for Harford and surrounding counties is :
Balt – 6,648; Carroll – 6,001; Cecil – 4,376 and Harford – 5,701
If you want your child to receive the top funding by county contribution, you need to relocate to Worcester on the Eastern Shore. Worcester county provides $11,389 per pupil funding and you’re right next door to Ocean City. What a deal!
This is very telling data. At a funding level of approximately $1400 per student LESS than Harford County, how is Cecil County paying more to their teachers and providing more steps on their pay scale?
The answer is simple. THE FUNDING FROM HARFORD COUNTY IS NOT THE PROBLEM. The money is there. The issue is with how it is mismanaged by HCPS.
Cecil County does not have the overhead that Harford does. Harford County is top-heavy with assisstants to the vice president to the supervisor of whatever. These six-figure salaries add up quickly and take a bite out of the budget.
Cecil County does not build new schools at the drop of a hat. They refurbish and renovate existing structures. A much cheaper concept that seems to work….anyone see complaints about the physical condition of schools in the Cecil Whig? Me neither.
Cecil County does not jump on every educational bandwagon idea that comes down the pike. Silver and Strong, Instructional Facilitators at every school, CFIP trainings, Performance Matters, etc.
All of these things add up to millions of dollars that could be spent elsewhere within the system.
Don’t blame the county executive. Don’t blame lack of funding. Blame those whose job it is to allocate funds.
Many other states have much much less in the administrative area. In two other states where I have taught, I made more money but there weren’t Instructional Facilitators, multiple principals and secretaries, etc. etc.. The overhead was much less when it was run district by district and really more manageable. HCPS wastes too much money on too many unnecessary expenditures!
Boy…this sure makes Burbey and the Union look bad.
Thats because they are both indeed very bad for young children.
To A Liberal, PA supports their schools by a “school tax”. It is very expensive, but the salaries are higher in PA. There are principals that make 150,000+. My mother’s lives in PA and pays a local property tax and the school tax. Her total tax bill on a home worth 325,000 is about 6,000 yearly. They have a much richer school system pension as well.
School districts in PA are also much smaller and isolated from each other. A district usually has 1-4 high schools, and they set their own school tax, so you can have a very affluent district with well paid teachers and a high tax rate next to a poor district with low salaries. HCPS covers everything from run-down slums in Edgewood to $800k homes in Forest Hill and Fallston, when if Harford were located in PA, it would be at least 4 different school districts.
What about Baltimore Co, Cecil Co, Carroll Co, Howard Co, and Frederick Co? How do they manage to fund their education budget? It’s because they value investing in their future.
So now we’re changing the subject?
What do you mean, changing the subject?
Veteranteach and I were discussing the impact of PA’s school model, you suddenly bring up MD counties and their budgets.
Mr. Craig,
You need to go back to school instead of hopelessly running for governor. You can’t even interpret your own data correctly. You say, “Not only has the economy been bad but state actions have been severe. Historically, funding for the HCPS operating budget has been divided roughly 50-50 between the state and the county, with a very small amount of federal funding also in the mix.”
Let’s do the math:
$5700 County 2014 per pupil spending = 53%
$5100 State 2014 per pupil spending = 47%
I’m pretty sure that is still “roughly” a 50/50 split.
You also say, “The county’s per student contribution has increased every year I have been county executive while the state is in a reverse mode. (See chart below.)” Well, look at the data from 2011 to 2012. The state increased its contribution from $5000 per pupil to $5300 per pupil. Weren’t you CE at that time?
Using the increase in teacher pension costs to counties to argue lack of fuding is simply dishonest. The county has always had to partially fund teacher pensions. That funding was never used as part of the calculation to determine how much funding was provided to HCPS. To now use it as part of your argument in defending your budget demonstrates your lack of intergrity.
All you have is a bunch of excuses for why you couldn’t fully fund the HCPS budget. The reality is education is simply not a top priority for you. You chose not to raise taxes to increase revenue or reprioritize funding from other departments. If now is not a good time to raise property taxes, when is?
I feel sorry for the students that will have to experience the continued decline of education in this county.
Really you think that’s an equal split? Assuming a budget of >221 million that 6% difference is nearly 14 million dollars. Maybe if the budget had a whole bunch less “Directors of Community Engagement, Equity and Cultural Proficiency” making over $120,000 and a bit more good teachers it wouldn’t seem so aggregious. I just want an explanation of what “equity and cultural proficiency” is and why it belongs in a public school.
What is equity and cultural proficiency and why does it belong in a public school? Well, see, first you have someone to whom you owe a big favor. Then you create a position for them to repay the favor. Then you appoint them to the position. Then you give them their first assignment which is to write themselves a job description which explains what they do. Then they write the job description which is so unclear that no one can ever figure out whether they are doing their job or whether there should even be a position. Then the job description is expanded to justify a staff. Then the staff is hired by giving positions on the staff to people who are owed favors. They in turn write job descriptions, etc, etc. And on and on and on. And pretty soon you have . . . . . . . . . . . Harford County Public Schools! TaDa!!!!
That sounds so scary that I’m almost sure it’s true. I kid you not – there really is a job with such description getting paid oodles to create equity proficiency – not math, not writing or speech, or history but darn it they better get their equity proficiency together. In this case I’m pretty sure it’s the adults that get tested…
Notice you left out science. Must be a conservative. Can’t believe I am actually agreeing with some of you but there is a tremendous amount of waste in Harco education system. But I am sure you will find many similarities in Harco government under the esteemed mr Craig.
Key sentence….The reality is education is simply not a top priority for you.
That sure is the truth
Well maybe a better key sentence would be that pouring money down a rat hole to continually support an out of control and bloated bureaucracy isn’t a priority.
Let me simplify it for some of you folks who wouldn’t give Mr. Craig credit for anything anytime anywhere. When you look at the chart Mr. Craig is the blue line and Mr. O’Malley is the red line.
Noble, you are wondering why it costs more in public than private schools. Teachers love to work at private schools and will take less pay to do it because there is less crap from parents and less crap from the administration. Therefore less crap from students. No Burbey and no Tomback and his minions. Just students who want to learn and teachers who want to teach coupled with parents who are interested and involved.
Well stated Jaguar Judy! Isn’t ironic that everyone in Harford County is shocked at how much it costs to send a student to John Carroll (for example)? So what is that shocking cost? It’s $10,000/student, and look what is spent on our public schools. There’s the answer to your why are there multiple assistant principal-type questions – that’s what we’re funding. Administrative costs escalate while the teacher salaries stagnate. Teachers, parents and students all complain…but the political solution is the raise taxes. The bureaucrats go along with it because it results in more “high paying jobs” but it does ZERO to improve schools, the teaching experience or most importantly, the quality of education. It is absolute insanity!
It costs more than 10,000 to go there. You should check your facts.
And it costs well over $15,000 in a public school – check your facts. You are squeezed for all sort of school supplies from grade K – everything from tissues to hand sanitizers. All totalled, there are significant additional expenses sending your child to a public school in Harford County and it is more costly per pupil in the public system. That is illogical.
You may not have read earlier posts where myself and others have explained that the per pupil expenditure is an expression of an average; it does not mean that the school system receives X amount of money for every student they have. They don’t get X amount of dollars more if they have more students, and they don’t get X amount less if they have less students; a change in the number of students enrolled would change the average dollar amount.
As it has also been explained, some students, particularly those with special needs, can cost the county an exhorbitant amount of money to educate; in some cases, costs may be over 100K for ONE student. On the other hand, some students cost next to nothing to educate, other than cost of books, desks, chairs, heating the building they are learning in, etc. Every child doesn’t cost the same amount to educate, and actual costs depends on the needs of individual children.
You mentioned “significant additional expenses sending your child to a public school in Harford County”. Could you elaborate? I have a child in HCPS and while I acknowledge that we receive a list of required supplies at the beginning of each school year, I wouldn’t really define that as a significant expense; don’t quote me, as I can’t recall exactly what the cost of these items were for this past year, but I don’t think it could have been much more than one hundred dollars. Most, if not all items on the list were items that he would be using as an individual, not classroom items (except perhaps the facial tissue). I don’t find it either shocking or exhorbitant that we would have to buy our child his own binders, notebooks, pencils, etc.
Kid goes to JC for 10K?????? What crack are you smoking!!!!!!! Additionally you must pay for books and transportation and if your kid needs special ed services they don’t fund it…..the public schools fund it for you! Yes that is correct if a kid at John Carroll needs speech HCPS pays for that to be done!!!!!
But if you are less fortunate, the school will work with you to make it affordable.
What is defined as less fortunate?
You would have to discuss your family’s situation with John Carroll’s administrators privately.
So now you focus in on the special ed case (enough of you bs crack comments Cdev) – and that’s about the only situation where the public school is more cost effective. From a percentage standpoint, it is less costly annually for the overwhelming major of students if they were able to attend a “John Carroll.” Obviously that’s not possible, but it highlights the inefficiency of our public system. Additionally, look at the facility – as always, the private sector does a pretty good job of taking care of their facilities. If an upgrade is wanted or needed, all participants are well aware of those costs and they have to be managed to a budget…unlike the public trough and all the Me, Me, Me you hear around the County.
You stated that “it is less costly annually for the overwhelming major(sic) of students if they were able to attend a ‘John Carroll'”.
I’m not denying the validity of your statement, but out of curiousity, could you tell me what specific amounts, either in percentage or dollar value, you arrived at that brought you to this conclusion? Also, could you tell me the source of the figures you used and a few details regarding the method you used to calculate this?
What have you been smoking if John Carroll cost about 14K to attend and average Johnny HS student in HCPS costs about 4 K to educate what is the 10K extra value for going to JC plus finding your own transportation and buying your own books. On average public schools cost less than a private school!
CDEV says “the public schools fund it for you! ” I disagree–the public schools don’t fund anything; the tax payer does……..
BTW, JC this year is $14,250.00.
And worth every penny. Has anyone ever asked themselves why in the world parents would pay that amount of ADDITIONAL money to send a student to John Carroll after paying taxes to support the public school system? Hint – it is NOT to get an education on Catholicism.
Correct but my point is still valid. You can not compare tutition at a private school to straight PPC in the public school system, because private schools do not pay for Special ed, Books or Buses. All three of these things are a big compnent of the HCPS budget!
CDEV, you are absolutely right. I for one am not comparing tuition between public and private. I was just confirming JC’s rate.
However, one question I do have is: why don’t we hear private educators, do I dare say, “whine” about compensation?
Just curious.
Well it depends on the school. While a Parochial school pays less etc. They do not always require certified teachers and you get a much lighter teaching load in many cases. I have friends at private schools who teach 3 classes and run 1 club and have office hours. They spend the same amount of time at work as a public school teacher. They said many of their certified teachers are retired teacher who are getting a pension already.
CDEV, It does indeed depend on the school but I can name several private schools in Harco where ALL teachers have at least 2 certifications and advanced degrees. And the tuition is about half of what has been quoted for John Carroll. And none of the teachers are retied from public schools. Plus the school itself is accredited by multiple organizations. Of course there isn’t bloated overhead like HCPS.
Thanks CD.
I am a teacher and know Craig is correct on this issue. He has my support over the “union”. By the way, how can we call the HCEA a union anyway? Isn’t it just an association? Can’t believe a chunk of my pay has to go toward it.
Shockingly, Mr Craig is not being fully honest-I mean correct in his information. While the ‘Fair Share’ legislation passed the state, it has to be part of the negotiated contract and then voted on by all the teachers. I guess that fact slipped Dave’s mind.
You obviously haven’t read the state law then. You should, it’s a real doozy. it actually says that if a teacher has a religious opposition to contributing to a union, then they MUST contribute an equal amount of money to a non-religious charity. You can’t make this stuff up.
And who is Dave anyway?
The real kicker is that the charity must be approved by the union.
It doesn’t. If you choose not to be an HCEA member than you don’t pay a dime!
That used to be the case Cdev, but not anymore. Thanks Annapolis! You should check out SB 422. I even got the link for you: http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2013RS/Chapters_noln/CH_261_sb0422t.pdf
I am aware of that but a few things.
1) it is not automatic and must be negotiated.
2) It has not been negotiated at this point
So when Craig says
“Coincidentally, many teachers may be surprised to find out that the state recently passed a law requiring that school systems deduct union fees from all teachers who are not union members, and send the money to the union.”
He is not being truthful and making it sound like this was a byoff of the union. Poor David is being picked on by his old teacher friends.
Craig will never be governor because few if any state, county or teachers would vote for a person with his horrible track record. Explain why Baltimore county has given steps and COLA’s every year and has lower tax rates????
You’re right, Cdev, Craig is not being truthful and has exaggerated or misrepresented many issues, many different times! He is living in a dream world if he thinks he has any chance at all of EVER being governor of MD. My friends in other counties have no idea who this egotistical, stubborn and power hungry man even is. It is hard, and actually very sad, to believe that David Craig is a former HCPS educator and adminstrator, when he shows such little respect for the current teachers in this county! I will campaign against David Craig in any future elections!
I’m not sure that’s true. Baltimore county has slightly higher property tax rates. 1.1 BC compared to 1.042 to HC.
Yes Brian but they have lower piggy back tax. We have one of the highest Piggy Back Taxes in MD!
You’re right BC income tax is .0283 vs HC .0306..
Put into perspective – at $11,000 per child w/ a classroom of 25 kids the cost to the taxpayers is nearly $300,000 per class. If the teacher is making somewhere between 50K and 70K where in the world does the other $230,000 go?
Money is not distributed in this manner. The cost per pupil figure is an average. The school system gets X amount of dollars and has Y students, divide and you get Z cost per pupil. But this does not mean that Z is spent on each child or that a classroom with 25 students gets Z times 25 for the year.
This certainly doesn’t invalidate your question as to where the money goes and actually raises an even stronger question: if the money isn’t even getting to the classroom, where is it being spent?
One of the biggest expenses any school system has is in the area of special education. Students with special needs can be very costly; if they have profound disabilites and need constant medical attention while they are being taught, it can cost over 100k. Even in a more common situation are students who are mainstreamed into regular classes but need an assistant to help them physically or emotionally during the entire school day. Personnel who do this job may cost the school system 30k in salary and benefits and the school system, by law, is required to provide such services. Given that any school can have several students with such needs, it’s not hard to figure out why special education takes such a large portion of the school system budget.
Once again the graph displayed in this article does not portray the information accurately. Although the numbers may be correct it is made to look like Mr. Craig is throwing money at the school system. This is a biased graph.
As a citizen of Harford County I do not agree with the way Mr. Craig is prioritizing taxpayer money. There are things that Mr. Craig is finding millions of dollars to fund, such as Havre de Grace High School. If we are in such desperate times then why are we spending tons of money on this project? There is one thing I will agree with. Mr. Craig has stated that there is no money. I agree that there is no money. The problem is that we have no money because it is being spent on things that people do not want. Re-prioritize the money and fund things that the community wants. This includes great schools for our children.
How can a graph, which you acknowledge contains correct numbers, be biased? (I also checked the numbers on HCPS’s website and they appear accurate.)
A graph is either accurate or not. I think that the problem is that you don’t like what it portrays, which is that the county has been upholding its responsibility to fund the school system while the state has not.
And meanwhile the BOE has permitted HCPS to add 650 new positions while the student population has declined. 650! That is just insane and there is no justification for it. None.
Read above JJ. Many of those jobs were a result of two new schools opening. If you open new schools, you need people to work in them.
Sarah,
The graph is biased because of the y axis, dummy! If the graph ran the y axis down to zero you would see that the difference between the state and county contributions is not as significant as it appears in the graph on this page. This type of bias is so common because people like you believe whatever they read and just follow the herd. This bias can be found in almost every excuse David Craig uses to justify not fully funding the HCPS budget, when in reality he simply does not have education as his top priority.
And for those of you who think HCPS is a bloated bureaucracy, do you not remember that HCPS failed to provide salary steps for 3 of the last 4 years (saving approximately $30 million – $5 million year 1, $10 million year 2, and $15 million year 3) and cut 60 teachers last year (saving approximately another $3 million)? The cost of a twenty-first century is expensive…ridiculously expensive. If you want it, you have to pay for it. When 100 more teachers are cut next year (saving approximately another $5 million) and class sizes reach 35-40, I hope you begin to realize that.
…The cost of a twenty-first century EDUCATION is expensive…
Mr./Mrs./Ms/Miss THE Teacher
SIr, Ma’am
Please explain why the y axis of the graph should start at 0, not at the first funding increment. Typically, when portraying data on a graph, the axis start at the first meaningful increment. If there was never a year where 0 dollars was expended the curve would look very odd indeed, and would be a distortion.
John P. Mallamo
The graph does not have to start at zero. However, before interpreting what the graph suggests, the axis should be taken into consideration. This was purposefully not incorporated into the interpretation used by David Craig (and unfortunately swallowed by so many of you) so that the funding difference between the state and the county could be portrayed as significant. The difference is not significant, especially if you look at the past contributions made by the state and county. This is either due to an attempt to mislead or a demonstration of ignorance.
Well help us out here Teacher. Exactly how much is the difference? I’m not swallowing anything, including what you have to say. So tell us, what is the real difference?
It looks pretty simple to me. The county spending is going up and the state spending is going down. Is that not true?
Mr./Mrs./Ms./Miss THE Teacher
Sir, Ma’am
Now I am confused. Your first post suggested that the Y axis should start at zero, to better portray the data. In your next post you suggest that it does not have to start at zero to interpret what the chart is saying.
This is what I see in the data.
First there is a difference between state and local funding. I am not going to run any anlayis to determine whether the difference is significant.
Second, the slope of the curve for local funding is positive, and trending upward at slightly increasing rate.
Third, state funding is erratic, trending upward and then downward. The downward slope is steep.
Fourth, from a budgetary perspective, the states funding methods make it very difficult for the county adequately budget.
John P. Mallamo
There are several ways you can bias a graph…..change the scale…..selectively choose your data……
But setting the range of the axis to properly bracket the data is both valid and expected. Showing two lines with barely a pixel between them due to setting the axis from $0 to $100k/student would provide exactly zero information on the subject.
Concerned Citizen,
While you may think that the new HdG is not needed, I think the new Youth’s Benefit school is not needed. Someone else thinks neither are needed. People in Fallston would be outraged if they didn’t get Youth’s Benefit. Here’s the deal. If these schools are the reason there is no money then guess what? The money was spent on education but you just don’t like where. At least it wasn’t spent on roads and highways. Oh! Wait! Other citizen/taxpayers wanted better roads. Anyway, it wasn’t spent on more police and firemen. Wait, Some taxpayers wanted more police and firemen. It’s not just about what YOU want.
That is the exact point I’m trying to make with my statement. Now tell this to David Craig.
Oh, Mr. Craig already knows that it isn’t just about what Concerned Citizen wants. That’s why you are unhappy. Not everyone can be happy and this time it is your turn. And, to some extent, mine because I don’t agree with every dime but that’s how it works either but, at the end of the day, if I had to choose between O’Malley and Craig it would be Craig every time. Same is true for just about any candidate that the Dem/Libs are likely to nominate.
Just FYI…there are no paid firefighters in this county…expenses for equipment yes, but not salaries/benefits…a few paid EMS, yes
You don’t know anything about graphs or data evidently. If you can’t accept the truth, you liberals don’t know what to do with the numbers if they don’t support your position.
As an engineer, it’s surprising you don’t understand statistics. A basic analysis demonstrates that there is no significant difference between the CE’s recommended 50/50 split and the 2014 47/53 split between the state and county funding contributions.
chi square value = (47-50)^2/50 + (53-50)^2/50 = 0.35
critical value at 0.05 probability 1 df = 3.841
No significant difference between the 50/50 split and the 47/53 split!!! (In fact, there is no significant difference until the state only funds 40% of the per pupil funding. So I would say the state is contributing as much as the CE says he expects them to instead of significantly less!)
Is there a difference? YES! Is it statistically significant? NO!!! So don’t use it in an argument to defend not fully funding the HCPS budget. Instead, the CE should accept the financial realities of running a successful county and SLIGHTLY increase local revenues or reduce the services that the government provides. It appears he is in favor of the latter.
Does the 6% difference make up most of the requested amount to fully fund hcps or not. Talk about hypocrisy.
Mr./Mrs./Ms./Miss Conservative Hypocracy
Sir, Ma’am
Your posting presents a ponderous question and a conclusion that may not be supportable with your analysis.
First the question. Is it appropriate to measure the statistical significance between two inputs that are somewhat independent variables? Quick answer is no, although there may be a case for doing so, but only when comparing outcomes. You did not present any outcomes of varying the inputs, and therefore there difference, significant or otherwise, is moot.
Your conclusion was that the county could fund the difference, or cut services. Looking at the first case, and using your logic, either the county, the state or the school board could fund the difference, as it is not statistically significant. The polblem with that logic is that statistical significance is not relevant. It is a fiscal impact, not one of statistical significance. One of the three elements must fund the difference in order to maintain the status quo. If the county funds it, then the County Executive can legitimately claim that he increased funding, but there is no additional funding to the schools for anything else. In order to get more money for teachers, in this situation, the state funding should remain constant or increase. If the school board funds it, then they must decrement funding for some other item in their budget.
As for “slightly” increasing revenues to fund education, that would be the $22M in the 2014 budget. That is not a slight increase. It would be more significant more like an increase of @ $.10 to the property tax rate. It is interesting to note that even though taxes are rising in Maryland, the State has reduced funding to Harford County education. Questionable priorities there.
Are there other potential solutions? Probably
John P. Mallamo
On overpaid teachers from CNN.
http://www.cnn.com/2013/05/21/opinion/granderson-oklahoma-teachers/index.html
IE SAID IT BEFORE AND LIKE I TOLD THE POLICE MAN THAT DAVID SENT TO MY PLACE TODAY AND HAD HIM CALL ME YESTERDAY, IM NOT TO CONTACT DAVID CRAIG OR SEND ANY MESSAGES TO HIS FACEBOOK PAGE, BUT IT’S PERFECTLY LEGAL FOR ME TO MAKE COMMENTS IN NEWS PAPERS AND ON TV STATIONS!!! I JUST WANT AND SO SHOULD EVERYONE ELSE IN HARFORD COUNTY SHOULD WANT TO KNOW IS WHY DOES DAVID CRAIG HAVE SUCH A PROBLEM AND TURNS HIS BACK ON THE POOR AND DISABLED PEOPLE IN HARFORD COUNTY THAT TRY TO CONTACT HIM FOR HELP??? WHEN I TRIED TO ASK HIM FOR HELP I GET A CALL ONE DAY FROM THE HDG POLICE AND THEN THE VERY NEXT DAY I GET A VISIT AT HOME FROM THE VERY SAME HDG POLICE OFFICER TELLING ME NOT TO CONTACT DAVID CRAIG OR TO SEND ANY MESSAGES TO DAVID CRAIGS FACE BOOK PAGE!!! ALL OF THE DISABLED AND POOR SHOULD BE ASKING DAVID CRAIG WHY HE HAS NO TIME TO TALK TO TALK TO THEM AND SENDS THE HDG POLICE AFTER THEM???????
ALSO IF ANYONE FROM THE DAGGER OR THE AEGIS NEWS PAPER OR ANY OF THE LOCAL TV STATIONS GET AHOLD OF ME I WOULD GLADLY TELL MY STORY TO THEM AND THEN MAYBE THEY CAN GET A ANSWER OUT OF WHY DAVID CRAIG SENT THE POLICE TO TALK TO ME INSTEAD OF HIM CONTACTING ME HIMSELF!!??? AND WHY HE COULD NOT HELP ME LAST YEAR WHEN I REALLY NEEDED HIS HELP!!??
I so want to hear your story.
TIS IS TO B IF YOU WERE REFERING TO ME, U CAN FIND ME ON FACE BOOK, Redneck Fisherman
Harassment of elected officials will be met with the full arm of the law. Calling the CE at his home, going by his house or in his private time is not called reaching out to your public officials for assistance, it is called stalking…lol, you sir are a complete tool and B you need to hear his story like you need a whole in your head.
After looking at your facebook page, I am ready to send the cops to visit you too.
but tsa, as some people on here say. They own county employees time and David Craig is a county employee and an elected official!
Well, I looked you up on facebook. Saw some pictures of you making out with a deer (WTF!)
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10152841016725245&set=pb.659690244.-2207520000.1369279105.&type=3&theater
and several posts of yours requesting females to come over for massages. WOW dude.
My personal favorite ” 5 FOOT 5 OR SHORTER HAVE LONG HAIR AND LOVE FULL BODY MASSAGES AND ARE VERY ROMANTIC AND FULL OF PASSION PLEASE HAVE THEM GET AHOLD OF ME ON HERE” No wonder the cops came.
Tin foil, aisle 5.
Has anyone from David.Craig’s office contacted you in regards to your calls to him? Why did a police officer come to your home?
It’s ironic how conservatives want more local control of everything, especially education, and then complain that they don’t get enough money from the state and federal governments to pay for the services that they need. I wonder what Harford County would look like if the state and feds cut all of their funding to it? Based on the posts here, it seems special ed students and those “poor people” in Edgewood would be holding the sh*# end of the stick. Yeah conservatism!
Conservatives want more of their taxes kept local, not sent to the state and fed to be distributed back down after wasted and stolen.
I agree.
I’d love to have PA’s school model, as my area’s taxes would not be wasted on educational expenses in far-away schools that would not benefit my children and it would give better local control. For example, Dauphin and Lackawanna counties in PA are almost identical to Harford for area & population:
Dauphin : Lackawanna: Harford
525 : 459 : 440 square miles (land)
268k : 214k : 244k people
12 : 12 : 1 school district(s)
So split Harford into one school district per high school, with each district electing their own 9 school board members and setting their own tax rate, and we’ll see what happens with teacher salaries and educational spending. I bet the Fallston, CMW and Bel Air districts would have very nice pay scales, while Edgewood and Aberdeen would be selling plasma trying to keep the lights on.
Kharn,
Welcome to the twenty-first century! I didn’t realize that Edgewood and Aberdeen were “far-away” lands that have nothing to do with the success of Harford County’s community. The world is no longer isolated. India and China aren’t even “far-away” anymore. Stop living in the 1950’s. It’s not just about your kids. It’s about all of us. Stop hiding in your boarded up house and help us improve what we have instead of further widening the gap between those that have and those that don’t. Otherwise sooner rather than later those “poor people” living in the “slums” (your words) of Edgewood will end up on your door step (or climb through one of your windows).
My *only* focus is my kids.
We lived South of Rt 40 for almost a decade. I gave up on the area, worked hard to get the resources together to move and paid a premium to be firmly in the middle of the attendence areas for the schools I thought best for my family’s needs.
You can talk all you want about “We’re all in this together”, haves vs have-nots, etc, but at the end of the day we each have a responsibility to provide the best possible opportunities to our children and I do that by focusing my efforts directly on them rather than attempting to help the entire community.
You’re a liar. Your don’t just focus on your kids. You also focus on yourself. You also focus on helping the children of other people like you. You just don’t care about anyone that is not like you or does not have the advantages that you do. I’ll stop short at calling you a racist. You are more of a classist. You would prefer it we went back to the days of segregation, except not based on race, but based on socioeconomic status. I’m sure your family will do well. But your attitude will not improve the state of this county, state or country, which unfortunately for both of us, you live in.
I believe that people that take the initiative to develope valuable and saleable skills and that work hard towards the goal of bettering thier position deserve a better life for themselves and thier children period – otherwise what’s the point. Has nothing to do with race or class or what country you might have been born into. There’s no reason a hard working parent should be put on the same plane with a lazy slob – otherwise what’s the point. If you have kids you have an obligation to make thier lives better by making your own life better and if you don’t get that basic point your kids have very little chance of succeeding. Spare me the race card.
You do realize that children are not born with initiative, saleble skills or good work ethics. Those are learned over time. And whether you learn those or not HAS EVERYTHING TO DO WITH THE CLASS AND COUNTRY THAT YOU ARE BORN INTO. Without public schools and thier proper funding, children that are not born into families that provide the environment to learn those things will be less likely to learn them. Can public schools replace the role of good parents? Absolutely not. Can leaving those children without an alternative opportunity to learn those things lead to consequences that will cost you more than appropriately funding public schools? Absolutely yes. And the race card likely fits you and Kharn both. Just think about some of those racist comments you and your buddies share from time to time. You know what I’m talkin about.
You know what, think of providing quality well-funded public schools as a selfish act. You’ll save money over the long term. No one is asking you to go into those “slum” communities and lend a hand being a big-brother or get your hands dirty with those “lazy slobs”. Just provide the funding for a twenty-first century education that will reduce your tax burden over the long term.
You do realize the taxpayers spend nearly twice as much per student for Baltimore City residents for half the results. The country nor the taxpayer is required to go broke chasing your idea of an equal utopia that doesn’t exist. You aren’t measuring equal input you want equal results and until that happens no amount of spending is too little to folks like you and that think like you. It’s absurd.
Don’t Blame the State:
“You would prefer it we went back to the days of segregation, except not based on race, but based on socioeconomic status.”
This country already has segregation based on socioeconomic status due to the cost of housing. Look at how pissed people are about the Bel Air Walmart, because they do not want the clientele driving around their area increasing the crime rate and decreasing their property values. How many Section 8 apartments are there in Forest Hill? How many $700k homes in Edgewood? Social segregation also occurs voluntarily, minorities (ethnic, racial, religious, orientation, etc) voluntarily gather in certain areas (China Town, Greek Town, Greenwich Village, Edgewood/Aberdeen) even when they could afford to live in other areas, because one driving part of human nature is to fit in. If you are the only _____ (pick from race, creed, orientation, disability, political affiliation, etc) for miles around, things can be very awkward depending how homogenous the rest of the population is.
If you want a real example of this, check out Utah and the Church of LDS. If you’re in an outlying town as a non-Mormon, your child will never play on the high school varsity sports team, they will sit on the bench the entire season, they’ll have very few friends (almost all of whom will be non-Mormon and you’ll have to drive 45+ minutes to get to their houses), you’ll have problems finding work, etc. Non-Mormons are driven to living in the suburbs of Salt Lake City since so many non-Mormons have congregated there they’ve managed to lessen the influence of the Church of LDS and get some concessions to non-LDS social policies adopted.
“And the race card likely fits you and Kharn both. Just think about some of those racist comments you and your buddies share from time to time. You know what I’m talkin about.”
Please enlighten me.
Kharn,
Why did you have to pay a premium to be in an area where you felt the schools were better for your kids? You’ve pointed out many times that teachers are what makes the difference in schools; couldn’t you find a school with good teachers in a less costly area? Why did you think that moving to a wealthier area would mean better schools? Why does it seem that a wealthier community tends to be perceived as having better schools? Is it possible that the quality of teachers is only one factor in the end result?
If not, then why do bad teachers prefer teaching in poorer districts?
Sup brah, tonight at the broadcasted Harford county council meeting Did you see that teacher said he could get 15,000 dollar raise by going to Howard county, and 6,000 dollar raise in Cecil.
By all means brah, help yourself and your family out by moving to better income.
He isn’t lieing. Other counties are honoring the steps people didn’t get a 13 year teacher in HCPS gets paid on step 9 but goes to Baltimore County and gets a large bump with higher earning potential!
Sup brah, I never said anything about being deceitful. By all means apply and get paid what you are inclined to get.
If a 13 year teacher applies to Harford as a new employee, they also start on step 13.
I know several people who came to teach in Harford County from other school systems, and each of them lost a few steps. I can’t recall offhand exactly how many (so please don’t quote me on this) but I think it was two, maybe three steps. I do not know if there is a standard formula used in determining how many steps HCPS will honor or if there isn’t, how they determine what step a hiree with previous teaching experience wil be placed on. I’m not aware of any instance where they honored all previous experience.
Not anymore!!!! Plus the teacher who has been here and loyal gets step 9. Cecil and Baltimore county are going to take our counties better teachers who are young especially since we will be letting alot of them go.
Not true. I left BCPS on step 11. Spent several years at home with my children. Accepted a position at hcps while their posted pay scale for my step was $55,000. After accepting, I was told that I actually was going to be paid at step 7…backing me up to keep me equal to the number of years their employees had been “frozen,” so it would be “fair.” In this economy one doesn’t walk away from a done deal but feeling a bait and switch based on their advertised scale not being honest was less than professional. I have children and am pleased with a lesser commute than hcps and still grateful for the job.
lesser commute than BCPS
And did you try to negotiate?
You’d also had a break in service, which would cause your skills to degrade or be out of date with current standards.
Do you think it might be possible that this individual made sure they were up to “current standards” before they re-entered the classroom? How much negotiating power do you think one teacher has in a system that employs almost three thousand teachers?
Well by all means, go to one of those counties and stop griping about your money.
After reading how much per student is spent on students in Baltimore (The Baltimore Sun from yesterday), I am wondering how much Harford County allocates per student? If I remember correctly the Sun said it was $15.xx per student. I don’t remember if this was Baltimore County or Baltimore City.
Does anyone know the figure is here for Harford County?
Thanks
oops the problems trying to read the article on my cell phone and not being able to see the graphics that answered my own question
FR THE PERSON B, YOU HAVE NO CLUE WHAT WHEN ON THE LAST 2 YEARS THAT IVE TRIED TO CONTACT DAVID, ARE SO CALLED COUNTY OFFICAL!!! I WAS GOING THROUGH A REAL MESS OF A DISCRIMNATION CASE AND CONTACTED HIM SEVERAL TIMES FOR HELP AND ALL I GOT RETURNED FROM HIM WAS NOTHING ,ZIP NOTTA, ALL IT WAS, WAS HIM SEENDING HIS GOONS TO SHOW UP AT ONE OF MY COURT DATES SAYING IM NOT ALLOWED TO CALL DAVID OUR COUNTY VOTED IN OFFICAL!! BUT INSTEAD OF HIM TAKING THE TIME WHICH OF ONLY TAKEN A MIN OR 2 AT THE MOST TO EITHER TELL ME THAT 1. HE COULDNT HELP ME, OR 2, GIVE ME THE NAME OF OTHER ELECTED OFFICALS THAT HELP OUT THE POOR AND DISABLED!!!! IN EVERYONE SINGLE ONE OF MY CALLS TO HIM OR WHEN IVE MADE COMMENTS ABOUT HIM IN ANY OF THE PUBLIC NEWS PAPERS AND TV STATIONS I HAVE NOT EVER 1 TIME EVER PUT THE MAN DO9WN OR LIED OR THREATEND HIM IN ANY WAY SHAPE OR FORM WHAT SO EVER!!!!!!!! IM JUAST A VERY POOR DISABLED GUY THAT NEEDED BACK THEN AND TO THIS DAY STILL NEEDS HIS HELP BUT INSTEAD OF HIM BEING A MAN AND TALKING TO ME ABOUT THIS HIMSELF HE HIDES BEHIND HIS STAFF AND THE LOCAL HDG POLICE!!! AND AS FAR AS THE LAME COMMENTS ON MY FB PAGE, YES SOME OF THAT STUFF IS IN THERE THAST YOU POSTED!!!! LIKE I TOLD THE HDG POLICE THAT CAME HERE YESTERDAY IM NOT A COWARD AND HIDE WAM AND HOW MUCH I NEEDED DAVID AND HE PRETTY MUCH LET ME GET DISCRIMNATED AGAINST BECAUSE IM A DISABLED WHITE MIDDLE AGE MAN THAT THAT IS VERY POOR AND DESPERATLY NEEDED HELP AND HE COULD NOT FIND ATLEAST 30 SECONDS TO GET ON THE PHONE AND HELP ME!!!!! AND I LOVE HOW YOU GO PICKING THROUGH MY PAGE AND TRY TO FIND ANYTHING NEGIATVE TO BRING OUT AND THE WORSE YOU COULD FIND WAS ME TALKING ABOUT NEEDIND MASSAGES FOR MY SPINE BECAUSE 1 HAVE 7 MORE SPOTS ON MY BACK THAT MY DR’S WANT ME TO HAVE OPERATED ON AND ALSO 1 MORE OPERATION IN MY NECK!! SO TYPICAL THEARPY DOES NOT WORK JACK ASS SO THE ONLY THING THEARPY EVER DID AT ALL THAT EVER DID ANY GOOD FOR ME WAS WHEN I WAS GOING THROUGH THE MASSAGE THEARPY NOT THE REGULAR THEARPY THAT WAS MESSING MY BODY UP WORSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! SO 1 MORE TIME FOR THE ONES OF YOU THAT ARE SLOW AND CANNOT UNDERSTAND THINGS,
1 CALLED THE MAN SEVERAL TIMES BEGGING HIM FOR HEP AT HIS OFFICE AND HE NEVER CARED ENOUGH TO GET BACK IN TOUCH WITH ME!!!
2 WHOEVER MADE THE SMARTASS REMARK THAT I DRIVE BY DAVIDS HAME REAL SLOW TO BOTHER HIS IS A COMPLETE DOWN RIGHT LIE AND YOU SHOULD BE SUED FOR SLANDER!!!
3 EVERYTIME IVE ASKED HIM FOR HELP HE IS NEVER THERE FOR ME TO TALK TO!! AND I FIND IT FUNNY HAT LAST YEAR WHEN I REALLY REALLY NEEDED HIM OUT OF THE SEVERAL DOZEN CALLS I MADE TO HIM OVER A 3 MONTH PERIOD THAT AFTER EVERY SINGLE TIME I WAS TOLD THE SAME THING THAT HE DOES NOT HAVE TIME TO HELP ME AFTER I MADE IT POINT BLANK CLEAR THAT I SO DESPERLATLY NEED HIS HELP BECAUSE I HAD THE RICH TAKING ADVANTAGE OF ME A POOR DISABLDED PERSON AND TO THIS DAY I STILL NEED HIS HELP AND I KNOW FOR A FACT THAT IF HE WOULD TAKE JUST A FEW SECONDS OUT OF HIS SO CALLED BUSY DAY OF TRYING TO APPERAR IN EVERY PAPER AND LOCAL TV STATIONS AND JUST SPEND A FEW SECONDS HELPING ME NONE OF THIS WOULD BE GOING ON!! I WOULD NEVER OF LOST MY APPARTMENT BECAUSE OF A NEIGHBORS LIES JUST BECAUSE I WOULD NOT HAVE SEXUAL RELATIONS WITH THE SICKO OF THE WOMAN THAT STARTED THE PROBLEMS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I ALSO WANT I KNOWN THAT THE POLICE OFFICER THAT CAME TO MY PLAVE YESTERDAY SAW FOR HIMSELF THAT IM NOT ONE OF THESE ANTI GOVT PEOPLE!!!! I BELIEVE IN OUT GOVT AND THE FACT THAT THEY ARE TO BE THERE WHEN SOMEONE IN THEIR DISTRICT NEEDS THEM SO DESPERATLY JUST FOR DAVID CRAIG TO TURN HIS BACK ON ME*( AND SAY GO LIVE IN THE STREETS THAT HE NOT HELPING ME!!) HE DID NOT SAY THESE WORDS, BUT AS I STATED THERE IS SO VERY VERY VERY VERY VERY VERY VERY MUCH MORE TO GO WITH MY STORY AND RE TOLD TO THE LOAL NEWS PAPERS AND TV STATIONS AND THEN THE REPORTERS THEMSELVES CAN GO TO HIS AND ASK HIM FACE TO FACE WHY HE DIDNT HELP THE DISABLED AND POOR MAN THAT NEEDED HIM WHEN I NEEDED HIM SO VERY MUCH!!!!! AND BECAUSE OF DAVID NOT BEING THERE FOR ME I LOST MY BIG 4 WHEEL SCOOTER THAT ALOT OF YOU SEE DISABLED PEOPLE USING IN HDG AROUND THE PARK!! NOT TO MENTION THAT I LOST MY APARTMENT OF ALMOST 5 YEARS BECAUSE HE WAS SO BUSY THAT HE DIDNT TAKE A FEW SECONDS TO HELP ME!!! SO RIGHT NOW IM ON THE R=A-P PROGRAM AND IT ONLY LAST FOR A YEAR AND NOW I WILL HAVE NO WHERE TO LIVE WHEN MY YEAR IS UP IN THE NEXT FEW MONTHS SO AGAIN FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO DONT KNOW EVERYTHING WHY DONT YOU SHUT THE HELL UP UNTIL YOU KNOW ALL THE FACTS ABOUT MY CASE!!!!!! AND BELIEVE ME SOME TIME VERY VERY VERY SOON IM GOING TO HAVE IT PUT ON EVERY NEWS CHANNEL AND NEWS PAPER THAT I AN FIND THAT WILL LISTEN TO ME!!! MAYBE THEN AFTER ALL THE PEOPLE IN ALL3 SURROUNDING COUNTIES WILL ALL STOP AND ASK HIM WHY HE HATED THIS POOR AND DISABLED MAN AND WHY WAS IT HE COULD NOT EVEN FIND THE TIME TO GIVE ME A MIN OR 2 OF HIS TIME!!!!!?????????? AND NOW BACK TO MY FACE BOOK PAGE NONE OF IT IS TRYING TO BASH ANY GIOVT OFFICALS, THAT PAGE IS THERE FOR ME TO ENJOY AND FOR ME TO MAKE SILLY LITTLE VIDEOS FOR ME TO SEND THOSE SILLY LITTLE VIDEOS TO FAMILY THAT LIVE DOWN IN WVA ANSD CANT AFFORD TO MAKE IT UP HERE AS MUCH AS SHE WANTS TO!!!! SO FOR THOSE OF YOU JUDDGING BWEFORE YOU KNOW THE WHOLE CASE THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH IT SHOWS HOW MUCH OF A BIGGOTT SOME OF YOU ARE AND HOW YOU ACT JUST LIKE DAVID DOES, SCREW HIM, IF I IGNORE HIM ENOUGH MAYBE HE WILL GO AWAY, AND YES WHEN IT COMES TO DAVIDS OFFICE IVE NOT CALLED IT AND HIS FACEBOOK PAGE I MADE A MISTAKE AND SENT SOMETHING TO IT AND WAS TOLD BY THE COP YESTERDAY NOT TO DO THAT ANYMORE AND THAT IF I ANT TO TALK TO DAVID I NEED TO DO IT THROUGH THE PUBLIC ARENA AS IN NEWSPAPER TV STATIONS AND RADIOS!!! SO AS SOON AS I CAN IM GOING TO BE SITTING DOWN HERE AT MY APARTMENT WITH EVERY NEWS PAPER TV AND RADIO SHOW I CAN GET TO LISTEN AND IM POSTIVE AFTER THEY HEAR EVERYTHING THAT I HAVE TO SAY THAT THEY WILL HAVE SOME GREAT ASS STORIES ON MR DAVID CRAIG AND WILL HAVE SOME VERY VERY VWERY SEARUIOUS QUESTIONS FOR HIM TO ANSWER!!! EITHER ON RADIO NEWS PAPER OR ON LIVE TV AND LETS SEE WHAT KIND OF LIES HE WILL TRY TO USE TO BACK PEDDLE TO TRY AND GET HIMSELF OUT OF THE MESS HE’S GOTTEN INTO AND THEN HE CAN FINALLY ANSWER THE QUESTION. DAVID CRAIG WHY ARE YOU SO NASTY AND UNCARING TO THE DISABLED AND POOR THAT YOU ARE SUSPOSE TO BE HERE TO PROTECT!!!!!????? YOU SURE AS HELL WAS NOT AROUND WHEN I WAS BEING DISCRIMNATED AGAINST AND REALLY TRULY NEEDED SOME ONE TO HELP PROTECT MY AND OTHERS RIGHTS THAT WERE STOPMED ALL OVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
WTF?
I have a feeling the less response the better. Shhhhh.
Hopefully not a product of HCPS.
dude, are you on crack? I think the CE is probably afraid of your azz!!! What would you have the CE do? he doesn’t work individual cases or questions and I doubt that he could even help you out. You need a shrink or a straight jacket.
Some interesting facts to think about when considering funding, budgeting, teacher salaries, et al. Most information comes from the U.S. Census Bureau, 2010; salary information is based on the 2009-2010 school year, the most recent I could find.
There are 3,143 counties in the United States. (Source: U.S. Census Bureau)
Maryland is the wealthiest state, with a median household income of $69,272. (Source: U.S. Census Bureau)
Harford County is the 42nd wealthiest county in the U.S. (Source: U.S. Census Bureau)
Harford County is the 12th wealthiest county in Maryland, with a median household income of $77010 (Source: U.S. Census Bureau)
Harford County is 11th in per pupil expenditure, at $5701 (Source: MDE)
Harford County is 20th in starting teacher salaries at 41,171 (Source: MSEA)
The highest starting salary is Montgomery County (46,410); the lowest is Carroll County (40,400)
Harford County is 12th in salary for teachers with a Masters Degree plus 30 credits and 30 years of service, at 79,688 (Source: MSEA)
The highest Masters + 30 credits and 30 years of service salary is Montgomery (101,095); the lowest is Garrett (68,220) (Source: MEA)
Average starting teacher salary in U.S. is $35,672 (Source: NEA)
Average starting teacher salary in Maryland is 43,003 (Source: NEA)
Starting teacher salary in Harford County is 41,171 (2009-2010 school year; Source: MSDE)
I just noticed that I inadvertently listed the starting teacher salary in Harford County twice. My apologies.
As a former HCEA President AND Maryland State Teacher of the Year who has gone on to greener pastures I must say that between the letter from Craig and all of the comments here….geez what a hell of alot of hot air by a small group of people.
To those who whine that teachers are fighting, perhaps unsuccessfully, to maintain compensation commensurate with the work load and responsibility of what they do, spend a year as a teacher, perhaps third grade and then perhaps you will understand.
To those teachers who choose not to be a member of the union for religious reasons – baloney.
For others who choose not to be members (because state law does give you that choice) I really wish you had to negotiate your salary and benefits on your own because those who have paid to be members over the years did the work for you and you are just being cheap.
I guarantee you that when times are once again good, Harford teachers ill continue to lag because that’s the Harford way. And my goodness, if David Craig ever becomes governor, then the Harford yahoo factor gets to occupy Annapolis. good grief.
Former HCEA President AND Maryland State Teacher of the Year Paul Schatz,
Why is it boloney for teachers to object to belonging to the union on the basis of religious ideas?
There is a strong tradition in this country, owing primarily to Protestant sects of various sorts, of objecting to unions or unionism based on principles of conscience. Clearly there are some people – those of religious convictions and otherwise – who conscientiously object to certain views held by your union and its MSEA/NEA parent. They can’t in good conscience support them.
Again, why is this baloney?
Show me in the bible where it says no unions? It is an excuse and nothing more. Your lack of participation in the union weakens the profession in Harford County.
Additionally, HCEA, MSEA, and NEA hold no views. They reflect the views of what the majority of their members believe.
Paul,
I don’t think the claim I made was “the Bible speaks against unions”. And besides, I’m not a Protestant evangelical so the Bible doesn’t function that way for me.
My point is that people do in fact have religious reasons for option out of certain organizations. I don’t understand why you condescendingly consider it boloney.
“The NEA holds no views”. Now that’s funny. I have heard many teachers on this board say that if the HCEA wasn’t connected to the NEA they might pursue membership. The NEA has a clear agenda on social ideas that impact the classroom. I don’t think that can be denied. The question is are those good changes. Some, including those who object on religious grounds, say no.
Parents and citizens – you should look into the NEA and some of their views. You’ll be shocked.
And it is a damn shame that other county employees have had their compensation frozen. With conservative in control of of public office, business thrives and the working people suffer the consequences. I say this full well knowing that there are Harford countians in far worse shape than public employees. The history of giving teachers and other public employees the shaft has a long history going back decades. Meanwhile, business get tax incentives and breaks. Why is Harford the only place along 95 that does not have a hotel tax? The answer is obvious.
Paul Schatz:
At least you and I agree on something: Teachers should be able to negotiate their salaries independently of each other. Unfortunately you see it as a way to punish non-union members, and I see it as a way to reward high-performing teachers.
Just thinking:
There are 2,906 teachers in HCPS. If each teacher took one hour to negotiate their contract, it would take 363 eight hour workdays to complete negotiations. So, I imagine you would have to hire a few people to do nothing but negotiate. When would you do the negotiating? In the summer only, or throughout the year?
If you did it in the summer, you would have very limited time to meet with every teacher, so you would have to hire considerably more people to handle all the hours required. But then, those people would only be employed during the summer, and I wonder if you might have a difficult time finding people qualified to do this sort of job and be willing to be employed only two months each year.
If you did it during the school year, you would either have to do it during the school day, in which case you would have to hire substitute teachers to cover classes while each teacher went to negotiate, or you would have to do it after school hours, in which case you would have to find people willing to work only in the evening, and less than 8 hours per day (I’m thinking 3:00-9:00, which is only 6 hours and would add up to 484 work days), in which case you would not be able to fit all teachers in during the school year. Also, would you want to negotiate with someone in September for the following school year, essentially before you know how the teacher will perform this year?
Do you think a plan like this would save money or cost more money? What percentage of teachers do we think would be “high-performing” and would we have the funding to pay them all should we have better teachers than we anticipated? Would we pay them more than what they are already making as a reward, or would we make it so that they have to perform highly in order to make what they are being paid?
Every teacher has at least one observation a year, which includes a follow-up meeting.
Ideally, the principal of each school would be empowered with an annual operating budget, and able to dispense it for salaries/bonuses as he/she felt best, but such a ludicrous idea would never work in the public sector.
Ales R:
You stated that “It is the rare union member that decides that he or she is going to do a great job even though their financial recompense is the same as the poorly performing member. There are a few. Only a few.”
There are 2906 teachers in HCPS, approximately 65% of whom are union members. That is roughly 1889 HCPS teachers who are members of HCEA.
Could you be more specific as to what you mean by “rare”? Please tell me, in your estimate, how many of these 1889 teachers have “decided” they are going to a great job, and how many have “decided” that “since there is no incentive to do an outstanding job then why try?” Is it five? Have only five teachers decided to do a good job? Is it seventeen? Or is it forty-two? Or maybe we could think in percentage: is it 2%? 3.7%? Based on your choice of words, I think it is safe to assume that a very small number of teachers have “decided” to do a good job.
By the way…how did you come about this conclusion? Do you work in the schools and see teachers work every day? Have you known or heard teachers to say “I don’t think I’ll do a good job, because thanks to the union I don’t have to”? Or was it one of those “conclusion based on assumption” things: “Union members are lazy; teachers are union members; therefore teachers are lazy”?
We do not agree. If you want to try to negotiate your own salary etc go to Mississippi or some other non negotiating state, Crappy schools, crappy compensation, crappy results.
Kharn, If we have teachers negotiating their own salaries then how in the world would the union ever be able to protect the ones that perform poorly? And if they can’t do that then what in the world would their purpose be? Except to offer political support to the Dem/Libs directly and thru the NEA and MSEA. And how would Burbey ever get a job? What the union knows full well but would never admit is that since there is no incentive to do an outstanding job then why try? Average is good enough. It is the rare union member that decides that he or she is going to do a great job even though their financial recompense is the same as the poorly performing member. There are a few. Only a few.
@Paul…, no one doubts that teaching is a challenging and hard job but no other county employees are getting raises nor is the Sheriff office, libraries or HCC getting supplemental funds to pay for raises either. You would have my sympathy if teachers had furloughs or had other increases to their out of pocket costs as most other employees had to endure. Even if the CE would give more money to HCPS, there isn’t a guarantee that the Board would allocate the funds to raises either. Hard to argue that in a not so healthy economy that there would be raises for any public sector employee when the private sector is not really doing that well either. You sort of have to wait for this economy to recover some before you go about demanding more when the governor and Annapolis just sent a teacher pension bill back to the counties to fund.
Burbey responds: http://www.daggerpress.com/2013/05/23/burbey-mr-craig-you-do-not-understand-what-education-has-become-since-you-dedicated-yourself-to-politics-full-time/
like I said, I just wanted the man to take a few seconds and talk to me on a official capacity!! and to the smart asses that talked about my face book page, that page has nothing to do with any of you!! the reason I told the person to go to my face book page is because it had my contact info on it!!! not some smart ass that is a low life that wants to hide behind a computer screen and be a internet tough guy!! AGAIN THE REASON MY PROFILE TALKS ABOUT MASSAGES IS BECAUSE MY BACK IS SO MESSED UP FROM A SPINAL FUSION THAT DID NOT HEAL THAT IM NOW IN NEED OF 8 MORE OPERATIONS FROM IT!!!!!!!!! MY DR’S HAVE TRIED PHYSCAL THEARPY FOR SEVERAL YEARS AND THE ONLY THING THAT HAS EVER HELPED ME WITH MY SPINAL PROBLEMS WERE THE MASSAGE THEARPY THAT IVE HAD AT DIFFERENT TIMES!!!! so you go ahead keep hiding behind your computer talking bs Mr. or Mrs. computer tough guy or gal!! until you have live one day in my shoes you have no clue what I go through!!! if most people were able to change places with me for just one day, I guarantee 90% of the people that traded places with me would blow their heads off or walk out on interstate 95 during rush hour begging the first big rig run them down!!!!! if any of you felt any of this pain you might have the smallest understanding of the misery that I go through each and every day!!! and as bad as it is I still get my ass out of bed every single day and put a smile on my face and go out and do what I can to help my father and anyone else that might need help!!! BUT WHEN I NEEDED REAL HELP FROM A ELECTED OFFICAL I GET IGNORED JUST BECAUSE IM POOR AND DISABLED!!!!!!!! NOW LIKE I SAID YESTERDAY IM ALLOWED AND IT’S PERFECTLY LEGAL TO ASK QUESTIONS IN THE PUBLIC FORUMS, LIKE NEWS PAPERS, TV STATIONS AND RADIO!!!! SO AS IVE STATED I WENT TO DAVID CRAIG AND WAS IGNORED AND ALL I WANT FROM HIM IS TO SIT DOWN LISTEN TO WHAT MY ISSUE WAS AND IS AND IF HE CANNOT HELP ME, FOR HIM TO POINT ME IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION FOR A POOR
DISABLED MAN TO GET HELP FROM!!!!! THAT SHOULD NOT BE TOO MUCH TO ASK OF OUR ELECTED OFFICAL!!!! PUT IT THIS WAY, WITH HIM JUST BEING WHERE HES AT NOW AND IGNORING SOMEONE BEGGING HIM FOR HELP, JUST IMAGIN HOW MANY PEOPLE HE WILL IGNORE AND TURN HIS BACK ON IF HE WAS TO BECOME GOVONER OF MD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THINK PEOPLE, THINK!!!
SOME OF YOU NEED TO GROW UP AND UNDERSTAND WHAT ITS LIKE TO BE POOR DISABLED AND DISCRIMNATED AGANIST ON A DAILY BASIS!!!
To Alex R and his comment, “Average is good enough. It is the rare union member that decides that he or she is going to do a great job even though their financial recompense is the same as the poorly performing member. There are a few. Only a few.”
You really should get out and visit schools. I am a teacher in HCPS ( not at a “good school” either, but a Route 40 school), a union member (mostly so my family can be afforded the opportunity to have vision insurance), and a damn good teacher! Please don’t make assumption about things you know nothing about! Given the current state of financial affairs in HCPS, perhaps I shouldn’t try so hard to make the county’s less desirable students into productive citizens in this county. Perhaps I shouldn’t bust my butt everyday and become one of the “average” teachers! Or perhaps you should come to my school and as a concerned citizen of HC volunteer, so that perhaps those average teachers can have a little more time to plan better lessons! Let me know when you want to come in!
As I said, there are a few, only a few. If you are one of them kudos to you. And kudos for being in a ‘Route 40’ school where they need all of the best teachers. And I have been there and done that.
SPICEY NACHOS FOR LUNCH MMMMM THAT GOOD.