In the third and final part of our interview with gubernatorial candidate David Craig, the Harford County executive reflects on his time in office, criticizes the state’s process for funding school construction, and dismisses Maryland’s number one ranking in education.
Dagger: You are running for governor, but you will be Harford County executive for another year and a half. How will you ensure that the demands of running for your next job won’t interfere with the job you have now?
Craig: “It never has in the past. I’ve done it 20 times, and I’ve never let the elections of any situation I’ve ever run for interfere with the fact that I have a job, and that I do the job and get it done. “
Dagger: Do you have major initiatives planned between now and the end of your term?
Craig: “…What we did is the two-year plan and we’ve accomplished probably 40% – almost 50% of what we had in the plan. We’re going to present that plan again in September to the county council….An update, it’s not going to be anything new, we’re going to show here’s where our goals were; here’s what we achieved; and here’s what’s left for the last 12 months.”
Dagger: Is a new Havre de Grace High School going to get built – will it break ground before you leave office?
Craig: “It doesn’t matter when they break ground, as long as it gets done….What do you think, if I’m governor, do you think it’s going to get built?
The only thing that offends me about [my support for a new Havre de Grace High School] is people say it’s because I went to school there and [my] children went there. [That] had nothing to do with why I [built new schools] for every other place in this county. People who hold that [view]…are so jealous of Havre de Grace High School because it’s the only high school in Harford County to be a national school of excellence.”
Dagger: Baltimore City Schools just upended the usual process for funding school construction, in which local school systems get allotments from available state funding each year. Instead, Baltimore City got a promised revenue stream that will allow it to borrow $1 billion to modernize about 50 schools…
Craig: “I’d be shocked if they were able to get that many.”
Dagger: Do you think other school systems should be able to get a deal like that, or are there are other ways to improve the funding process?
Craig: “I believe the present governor talks about one Maryland – shouldn’t they all be treated the same?”
Dagger: So you think that other local school systems should be able to tap into a guaranteed revenue stream to borrow money?
Craig: “We have it. It’s called the tax dollar. They didn’t need to do that [for Baltimore City]…I do support construction of new schools…We’ve done almost a third of a billion dollars in Harford County, and some of that was forward funded, and the money never came back to me. It went over to the school board. If it had come to me, I could have paid bonds off and then I could have actually borrowed more money…So it’s there, it’s called a property tax.
I don’t support the way they did it [for Baltimore City] but I support the construction of new schools or the repair of new schools…And another thing, there’s been no particular real evaluation of what schools needed to be torn down there. Look what we’re doing here.”
Dagger: What are we doing here? What is the status of the countywide evaluation of school facilities?
Craig: “It’s moving slowly.”
Dagger: Why is it moving slowly? Some have said there’s foot dragging on your end.
Craig: “There was a disagreement in the procurement office about how to move forward on certain things, but it’s moving forward.” But if you go to Baltimore City, they have 200 schools. Do they need them all? The school population continues to decline. There was no evaluation of should we close down a school, should we build a new school, should we renovate a school? And they have to have a better evaluation…”
Dagger: Getting back to the state process for funding school construction – does it work or does it need to be fixed?
Craig: “It needs to be fixed. We have an issue that 35 % of [the cost of school construction is] because [the state has] a requirement for prevailing wage.” http://www.dllr.state.md.us/labor/prev/
Dagger: You’ve dismissed Maryland’s number one ranking in education as coming from a trade publication and politicians. What must Maryland do differently to truly be number one?
Craig: “There is no number one. … Different organizations use different criteria for how they rate you number one…That’s totally useless information because – so what if you’re number one? If your child didn’t graduate, do you care if Maryland is number one? …Conversely, if you’re in a state where you’re [ranked] 50th, but your child graduated and went to Harvard… do you care about that number? …Rankings don’t matter.”
Dagger: Do you think we have a top system?
Craig: “I think we have a very good system.”
Dagger: How do we improve?
Craig: Turn more back to the teachers, and to the school that the children actually go to. If you look at parents, they’re more concerned about their particular child and their particular school and specifically, their teacher and their particular principal.
The success of education really comes down to one person – the principal of the school. The principal of the school is able to attract good teachers and keep good teachers there… [Interim Superintendent] Barbara Canavan was an excellent principal. Staff people would come [to Southampton Middle School] and never want to leave…They talk about testing and success… Let’s say your child is autistic and you know they’re never going to learn Trig, but [the school helps] your child progress through school and come out and be able to live independently. You’re happy about it. So, rating everybody according to one size fits all – you know, when you teach, you have 130 kids. The success of every one of those children is different… They learn differently, they have different desires …it varies from child to child, even in your own family.
Students in high school particularly, and even in middle school, I believe, that after their first semester, [if] they haven’t done well, start them over again…Otherwise you keep pushing forward and they just keep going down, and down, and down. You could offer better summer programs for kids like that. Rescheduling is another thing… I still have the calendar from when I was in 10th grade… I’m sorry, we didn’t have vacations for Martin Luther King or President Washington. We were in school that day. All those vacations that have been added… When you have a student and you’ve been teaching them something…you gotta do it every day.
That whole thing with the calendar – they go for the last week in August, and after that there’s no full week.”
Dagger: You’ve been in office, it will be 32 years, and now you’re seeking the state’s highest office. Everybody does things they’re proud of along the way and of course you’re going to talk about those. What mistakes have you made that you think you’ve learned from, and that you’d be able to bring to the governor’s office?
Craig: “You just don’t learn about mistakes, you learn about the good things you do. You learn both ways, if you watch what you do. I can’t say they’re mistakes. The first time you do it, you learn how to do things differently.”
Dagger: Can you give an example?
Craig: “The ability to work with people to get things done is probably the most important thing. Everybody thinks it’s more about politics. It’s more about personal relationships with people and being able to work with them.”
Fluff….
fluffer
Craig: “It doesn’t matter when they break ground, as long as it gets done….What do you think, if I’m governor, do you think it’s going to get built?
That statement really bothers me.
? He’s saying he doesn’t care when it gets done, but as long as he’s around it’s going to get done. How is that at all bothersome?
The only part that bothered me is when he refused to admit to any mistakes. Come on man – we ALL make mistakes! I’d rather have the guy whose comfortable enough in his shoes to admit them. At least THAT guy will learn from them and get bette.
Are you lost? Glad that he wasn’t my teacher. Next candidate please!!!!
Impressive brain power at work! Great answer!
“Jealous” What a ridiculous thing to say.
Dagger: Is a new Havre de Grace High School going to get built – will it break ground before you leave office?
Craig: “It doesn’t matter when they break ground, as long as it gets done….What do you think, if I’m governor, do you think it’s going to get built?
The only thing that offends me about [my support for a new Havre de Grace High School] is people say it’s because I went to school there and [my] children went there. [That] had nothing to do with why I [built new schools] for every other place in this county. People who hold that [view]…are so jealous of Havre de Grace High School because it’s the only high school in Harford County to be a national school of excellence.”
Other people are not jealous of Havre de Grace hs than are people jealous of every other school that has received recognition for outstanding achievement. Wasn’t it just recently that Mr. Craig complained about Havre de Grace hs not making the list of Harford Co. schools in some national ranking? Just maybe some people have a different opinion on the need for a new high school of the size and expense he wants built. Taxpayers concerned about fiscal responsibility and accountability from county government don’t need to hear their views being ridiculed and accused of jealousy because they simply disagree. That is a very self centered point of view for Mr. Craig to take.
Cannot stand this guy.
Next candidate, please!
why do administrators always get a pass, and teachers always get demonized? what attracts *truly* great teachers isn’t the bureaucrat who bosses them around, it’s the love of the profession. thank god craig doesn’t have a shot in hell.
“what attracts *truly* great teachers isn’t the bureaucrat who bosses them around, it’s the love of the profession”
You missed the point. While your statement is very accurate in itself, Craig was referring to their choice in schools and the ability for a school to recruit and maintain the *truly* great teachers.
He was in no way inferring that a principal could create them. Just that a great principal is more likely to have and maintain them.
The same goes for any business. Great leaders & managers don’t create great employees. They just accumulate them.
“Turn more back to the teachers”….I think he has just turned his back to the teachers.
To be number one in education we should stop allowing those who indoctrinate our children into collectivism from attempting to “educate” our children, or run their teachers union.
To little to late! So NOT voting for Craig!!!!
I am a lifelong Harford County Republican. I will never vote for Craig in any election. Teachers deserve way better than what he did to them over the past six years.
Turn more of what back to teachers? If teachers have more turned on them, will they be paid more? Holidays have been added over the years, but total number of work days stay the same. Do you want teachers to work more days? Will you pay them more? One thing I do agree with is that education is about each child and not about being number one.
Lame duck Dave is at it again, guy is so full of it and the worst part he actually believes his own nonsense. Bye Bye Davey Good riddens !!!
Oh my goodness! Jealous of HDGHS! That IS funny! Craig, you had your chance and missed the boat. The teachers, unfortunately, helped vote you in once upon a time. Nothing you say now counts. This school system is on self destruct. If there are not some positive changes happening soon, my grandchildren and my teacher children, are in trouble. And, I do agree with the principal being a key to a good school. Some schools in this county are going down fast because of bad principals. Who is going to take that problem and fix it before the good teachers all exit?
The responses in this interview just comes across as so juvenile. I’m trying to be open minded, but I cannot see him as a governor for this and many other reasons.
I’m truly bothered by his inability to even cite a single mistake he’s made. I mean – come on – give me a break. He makes mistakes every day. If he doesn’t – he isn’t actually doing anything. Just man up and answer the question.
That said, I love his point on here about turning more back to the teachers. Too much of our educational system is now governed about numbers. Numbers that don’t reflect the actual success of the system. It’s all about reports.
While I’m a big fan of reporting (I make a living doing it), reports are useless unless they are accurate representations. So to that I say – turn back to the teachers and fix your reporting.
Oh, and when you make a mistake along the way – man up!
Well, one thing about David Craig is that he is consistent in his inability to face what decisions he has made as county executive. He really believes this stuff. Hard to believe that Craig thinks he can be governor of Maryland as he continues to insult the citizens of Harford County!
Craig is never going to win the governor seat. He is a RINO with no principles and pays lip service to the teachers while blaming others for budgetary problems. Someone needs to call him out publicly the next time he is on WBAL or any other radio show. This guy is a joke.
Hiring a kid fresh out of college with no HR experience to be the County HR director was not a mistake? Spending $11K of taxpayer monies to send him to Harvard for 3 weeks to pad his resume is ‘just doing things differently’?
Craig was only a part time teacher and administrator and not a very good one at that. Has never funded education or payed county employees what they are worth.
If you feel you’re not “payed” what you’re worth, maybe you should find somewhere else to get paid?
It is reporting and candidate quotes like this that will give Mr. Craig’s opponents additional even more information to attack him. Based on reader responses to this three part series of reports Mr. Craig may have a hard time carrying his own county should he even make it out of the Republican primary election.
The primary race is going to be interesting because this forum has a lot of negative things posted about Craig from which his opponents can quote or distort. He wrote a struggle was “The ability to work with others.” Not a good line for him because he hasn’t worked with the BOA to improve funding.
And the entire discussion is a one way street; IMPROVE FUNDING! How about improve spending? How about figure out how to get by with what you have, like the poor slobs who finance this operation?
Another RINO.
buthose things seem to gett I would like to know is when are you going to call these final teachers back to work and how could you let a principal who probably can’t even do his job in the first place and has so many things
covered up during and after the school year. Those thing seem to get brushed
under the rug. These should be the questions that need to be assed.
David Craig needs to concentrate on finishing his term as County Executive. Mr. Craig received a very unfavorable response at the HDG 4th of July Parade. Now he wants to be Governor. His hometown doesn’t like what he has done as a politician for our county. It’s time for him to drop out of the race and find something else to do.