From Harford County government:
Today Harford County Executive David R. Craig offered his suggestions related to the Harford County Public Schools budget in an open letter to the President of the Board of Education.
The Board recently enacted budget amendments to reconcile their budget request with the federal, state, and local funds available for FY 2014. The Board made several of the amendments with very little public input or advanced notice. The changes made included altering magnet program transportation, the addition of more elementary schools to a fourth tier bus schedule, and the levying of fees to participate in extracurricular activities. These decisions have created a significant hardship for many parents and students.
After having some initially positive meetings with various board members, discussions between the two agencies had appeared to hit a stalemate. The County Executive’s offer to have his budget team look at areas where funds can be saved and to publicly embark upon a more collaborative working relationship was politely declined at this time. “In lieu of such a meeting, I am writing to you to share some of the areas which my budget team and I believe should be reviewed,” Craig stated in the letter.
Among the areas where the County Executive feels that the Board should focus is in the school system’s $13 million unassigned fund balance, as well as in the dozens of instances where line items appear to have been “overbudgeted” without a clear justification regarding the amount. The County Executive also offered recommendations for how the process can be improved upon in the future.
“I sincerely hope that we can forge a more collaborative relationship over the coming months, because our children deserve better,” Craig concluded.
A copy of the letter is available below and on the Harford County Government website:
August 12, 2013
Mrs. Nancy Reynolds
President, Harford County Board of Education
102 South Hickory Avenue
Bel Air, Maryland 21014Dear Board President Reynolds,
Thank you for meeting and speaking with me several times over the last week with regard to the relationship between county government and the school system. Having worked with both you and the new interim superintendent for many years as teachers and school administrators, I know that we will work well together. In addition to meeting with you, I also had meetings last week with Board Members Thornton, Frisch, Fitzpatrick, and Krchnavy, and I thank them for their time.
I left our initial meetings feeling very hopeful that we could address both the short and long term issues related to the school system’s budget. Unfortunately, my offer to sit with you and school system staff in order to try to work through these issues and to publicly embark upon a more collaborative working relationship between our two agencies was politely declined at this time.
In lieu of such a meeting, I am writing to you to share some of the areas which my budget team and I believe should be reviewed. All realize that the county executive has no current legal authority to dictate how the Board of Education spends the funding which the county contributes. I strongly believe, however, that as the chief elected official with a fiduciary responsibility to all the citizens of Harford County, it is my duty to clarify these issues.
The Board recently enacted numerous budget amendments to reconcile your original budget request with the funds available to you for FY 2014. Among those amendments were several that were hastily made and which were made without sufficient public input or advance notice. Specifically I am referring to the changes in magnet program transportation, the addition of more elementary schools to a fourth tier bus schedule, and the levying of fees to participate in extracurricular activities.
These changes have a net effect of saving or providing new funds to the Board of Education of just over $1 million in the FY 2014 budget. Many citizens who have spoken to me have wondered how the school system can take such drastic steps to save a relatively small amount of money, while at the same time they have a $25 million fund balance sitting in reserve, of which $13 million is unassigned at last report (HCPS Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, FY 2012, Page 73) This raises other major issues, such as why the school system’s unassigned fund balance has grown more than 14-fold over the last decade, and why the school system needs to carry such a large fund balance at all.
If I were a parent who must make highly inconvenient and costly changes to my family’s daily schedule, I would have serious questions about the need to save $115,000 on magnet transportation, or $500,000 with a fourth tier bus schedule when there is $13 million sitting unused and unassigned in a school system account.
The school system’s fund balance is very different than county government’s. County government is a taxing and funding authority with bond and other obligations to meet. In addition, using county government’s fund balance in such a manner would be creating an expense that would recur and compound over time without an offsetting revenue source.
An outside observer could look at the amount of the Board’s fund balance and say that clearly the Board has been over-funded, since they seem to end most years with significant unused money. I know that this is not the case, however, it does beg the question as to why the school system feels it needs an unassigned fund balance at all, let alone one that is almost as large as county government’s. Furthermore, none of the other outside agencies that depend upon funding contributions from county government, such as the Sheriff’s Office and the library system, carry over substantial unassigned fund balances.
Putting aside the issue of the school system’s fund balance, there are many other areas in your budget where my budget office has indicated savings can be easily found. There are dozens of examples of line items that appear to be “overbudgeted” – that is, the amount of money budgeted far exceeds the amount spent in the recent past and with no indication as to why they have been budgeted as they have.
For example, the line item for Legal Fees under the Executive Administration Office category is budgeted for $59,000 in FY 2014, despite the fact that less than $8,000 was spent under this item in each of the two most recent fiscal years reported (Harford County Board of Education’s Proposed Budget Fiscal Year 2014, Page 130). Another example is the line item for Mileage Reimbursement of Instructional Staff under the Education Services category, where $61,951 is budgeted despite the fact that $18,051 and $13,131 were spent in fiscal years 2011 and 2012 respectively (Harford County Board of Education’s Proposed Budget Fiscal Year 2014, Page 159).
While neither one of these examples yield a large amount of funds by themselves, they are indicative of the type of overbudgeting that is rampant throughout the school system’s budget. I have addressed similar issues in my own budget in the past, which have resulted in good savings and efficient spending.
Some of the Board members with whom I have met are under the impression that it is too late to change the budget, but this is not the case. Budgets are changed frequently throughout the year in order to adjust to changing circumstances. In fact, the school system’s budget was changed several times just last year (Board of Education of Harford County, Decision on Transfers Between State Categories for the FY 2013 Budget, June 10, 2013).
In some of those conversations, the issue of budget timing came up, as Board members have asked that the process be completed earlier in order to allow more time for the Board to reconcile its budget. I am required, however, to send the proposed budget to the County Council on April 15, after the General Assembly has adopted the state budget and adjourned. The County Council is then required to pass county government’s budget by June 15.
I have always met with the superintendent and willing Board members early in the calendar year, usually in January, to discuss the school budget and to give a fairly accurate indication of the contribution we will be able to provide. This last year was no different, as the former superintendent was provided with a good indication of how much the Board would receive well before the date that my budget was submitted to the County Council.
Requests
Pursuant to my comments above, I respectfully ask that the Board of Education:
1. Reverse amendments to the FY 2014 budget related to magnet program transportation, fourth tier schedules, and payments to participate in sports and student activities. These decisions were made without public input, and were made without sufficient advance notice to allow parents and students a chance to make necessary arrangements;
2. Provide me and my office with clarification as to why the Board feels that carrying a total fund balance of $25 million and an unassigned fund balance of $13 million is necessary; and,
3. Provide me and my office with clarification as to why so many line items in the Board of Education budget are routinely overbudgeted, and in many cases are more than double what was expended in any of the prior three years.
Recommendations
In addition, I recommend that the Board of Education and the interim superintendent:
1. Study the transportation and pay-to-participate issues this fall, allow for a public comment period, and provide months of advance notice if indeed these changes are to be incorporated into the FY 2015 budget;
2. Establish a Board Operating Budget Subcommittee that meets regularly throughout the year to discuss budgetary matters, and which has regular contact with my budget office and the County Council;
3. Establish a Board Capital Budget Subcommittee that meets regularly throughout the year to discuss funding for capital projects, and which has regular contact with my budget office and the County Council;
4. Establish a Citizen’s Budget Advisory Committee, as county government has done, to provide transparency and to allow for citizens with expertise in budgets and finance to comment and ask questions; and,
5. Follow the example of the County Council by voting on budget amendments at a Board meeting subsequent to the one in which they are introduced.
I further recommend that the County Council consider directing the County Auditor to examine the school system’s budget in more detail than has been done in the past, and to work with the school system’s budget and financial professionals in answering whatever questions this may yield.
In conclusion, I thank each of you for your attention and for your ongoing dedication to education in Harford County. As you know, my door is always open to the Board and to representatives of the school system, and I look forward to establishing regular meetings with you all. I sincerely hope that we can forge a more collaborative relationship over the coming months, because our children deserve better.
Cordially,
David R. Craig
Harford County ExecutiveCc: Members of the Harford County Board of Education
Members of the Harford County Council
Interim Superintendent of Schools Barbara Canavan
More election year antics.
This man is a liar, joke, and an embarrassment
I don’t always agree with Craig and think he is generally disingenuous. With that said he makes some great points in the letter. Big government loves to over budget so they don’t have to loss future funding. HCPS doesn’t want to let on that they can afford to function with less for fear that they would be required to forever. Unfortunately the plan has failed under Craig who doesn’t believe in big government. It’s time for the BOE to recognize this and make sound financial decisions instead of saddling its over bloated budget on parents, students, and teachers. Free sports, reasonable transportation plans, and adherence to teacher contract with step increases. All possible with responsible budgeting.
Craig is a poster child for big government. Like any good politician he knows when to shift to the right for the primary. If he wins the primary he will revert to his usual big spending positions.
Since Mr. Craig brings up the fact that there are available monies in the HCPS budget, what about the millions the county is hoarding that could have alleviated all these cut backs and funded a raise?
Maybe if the County has millions it doesn’t need then it should stop collecting so much in taxes.
I wholeheartedly agree with many points in Craig’s letter delivered by Mr. Thomas. However, was Mr. Craig on vacation or was he campaigning elsewhere. Why not come yourself Mr. Craig?
I think that the entire atmosphere of the meeting this evening was extremely defensive on part of both the County Executive’s office and the School Board. It seems the BOE is not giving an inch to parents on the buses. The combo of increased walkers, 4th tier, and the depot stops for Magnet schools is saving less than 1 million dollars. At what cost is this to parents and students? The personal cost to my family is over $4000 and great inconvenience. The board and Craig need to combine the time and talents of their staff and solve this problem for our county parents. Time to put pride and rhetoric aside!
It is also time to answer pointed questions about logistics asked by parents as well. Last weeks emailed letters to Magnet School Parents really does not address issues such as emergency closings and other issues parents have specifically asked questions about. This issue does not personally affect my family, but is an embarrassment to our county.
Why not come yourself? His presence was politely declined when he asked to have a meeting of all parties regarding the budget and funding. Read the letter. So why would he feel welcome? If he had come it would been as a private citizen and then there would have been no end to the headline “CRAIG CRASHES BOE MEETING!!” The BOE and HCPS have money and taht fact is reported in their own statements.
Alex, I see your point. However, the reading of the letter was political grandstanding. Perhaps a shorter statement and comments alluding to the letter would have been more appropriate.
Supportive Parent, What would be ‘appropriate’ would be for HCPS to stop screwing over parents and acting like they have no money when they do have money but the just choose to not use it. They just wanted to stir up parents and hoped to deflect the blame to the County. And Craig caught them with their pants around their ankles.
While I am deeply saddened and concerned for the families affected by these changes, I also say to all of them, this is what we deal with year after year as employes of the BOE. Each year our paychecks are eroded further and further, yet we are constantly vilified as greedy complainers. We are the people who educate and care for your children day after day and do it because we love the careers we’ve chosen. We’re just like you. We can’t afford to do our jobs and care for our families with no salary increases to even remotely keep up with the cost of living. When the “pay increase” we received last year is lauded by the BOE, it fails to mention the increases in contribution to retirement and insurance premiums. Essentially we lost pay once again. No one wants to talk about us.
Now that county families are being treated by the BOE in the same callous manner as their employees maybe we can come together and work for fair salaries and top notch services for our students and families.
HCPSEmployee,
Well, at least you got the ‘villain’ right. It is the BOE and also the HCPS leadership. Craig’s letter says he offered to meet with the BOE and school leadership and it was ‘politely declined’. He also points out that HCPS, by their own reports, has at least $13 million in reserves that are unassigned. That means they decided to charge for activities and make transportation cutbacks while having money available in reserve. He also points out areas in their detail budget where they have over-budgeted even in the light of significantly less actual expenses in prior years. This is typical public entity budgeting or over-budgeting and parents and teachers are paying for it.
So a guy running for Governor writes a letter with a bunch of made up numbers and people simply assume its factual. Wise up folks. The government is not your friend regardless of the supposed party affiliation of the person in question. Pay attention; very close attention…
Well if the numbers were made up, they were made up by HCPS. Mostly the numbers come from them.
Do you really believe that Mr. Craig wouldn’t spin the numbers to suit his our purposes?
I think what Judy is saying is that he didn’t need to spin any numbers. The numbers created by HCPS speak for themselves and show HCPS to have stirred up parents by adding to their costs and causing them great inconvenience when they didn’t have to do it. I believe HCPS knew full well that what they were doing was unnecessary.
How do you know the numbers are made up? What is your source?
Those who were at the meeting saw each and every point made by Mr. Thomas torn apart. There is no 13 million unassigned. 7 million of the number was used toward the 2014 budget and the remainder is required by the county government to be held for unexpected health care expenses. Craigs’ office is counting on the “letter ” being published and read . They expect very few people will hear about the misstatements corrected at the Board meeting . I was surprised Mr. Thomas could read the letter with a straight face.
The $7 million came out of the Board’s assigned fund balance carried over from the previous year (FY13) , not the unassigned fund balance. This is all spelled out in the HCPS budget, but I guess they are hoping that no one would read it.
Jewell’s assertion that the school system needs a large fund balance because of bond obligations and to protect their credit rating is nonsense, since the school system neither floats bonds nor is rated by any rating agency. He is counting on the ignorance of board members to not call him out on it.
You are incorrect. The money was spent it is not for bond obligations but for health obligations since the county self insures!!!!!
But Obamacare means we will all pay less.
That has nothing to do with it. The county self insures, that means they collect money for benefits from employees and makes their contribution. They turn that over to the plan administrator who than pays out from that pool of money. If all the money was to be spent in a year on doctor visits etc. than the county would have to make up the difference. If their is a surplus of money the money must be saved to use on benefits because county employees paid income taxes on the portion of the money that was put up as their benefits. That is what is left in this surplus. It is a restricted fund. So to suggest Obamacare has anything to do with it is obtuse and ignorant!
Health insurance deductions for employees is pre-tax for federal and state income taxes.
Don’t be a obtuse, CDev. The HCPS itself lists the funds in question as not restricted. So either they don’t know the difference – which I hope is not true – or you are throwing up a smoke screen by talking about different funds.
County and state employees pay taxes on the portion their employer kicks in for their benefits. It is called the state pick-up. They are not a restricted fund like title 1 money but some employee paid tax on that money. It is the reserve fund so that a run on healthcare does not bankrupt the county. Essentially it was money the county saved by employees not getting sick!
Cdev
No one pays taxes on employee healthcare. The employee gets to pay their portion of health insurance with pre-tax dollars.
Employers pay with real money and it’s an expense item on their P&L.
This expense money that was not spent in previous years, is what makes up the fund balance. It is being held in case there is a run on the benefit fund. It was contributed for health benefits. On a teacher W-4 there is an extra box marked state pick-up this is the amount of benefit money paid by the BOE. The teacher must pay state taxes on this amount. The main point is this amount in the “extra fund” is our safety net as a county so we don’t find ourselves cutting programs mid year to fund benefits because the health plan did not have enough money. It would be irresponsible to not keep this money, which was realized in savings from previous years, and fund one more year of status quo. All it would do is leave us open to a big issue with benefits and since the county exec is likely to flat fund the budget again next year have you experiencing these cuts and more next year. The County exec is not asking the board of ed to do the more with the same amount he is asking them to do more with less. Wake up people because if the budget is flat funded again, except for a pet project or two of Slutzky and Craig you will see more cuts like this. Imagine a fee to ride the bus to school if your kid does not have an IEP!!!!! No Sports, No Field Trips, No Magnet programs, etc….these are all things on the table!
Cdev
First off you need of use paragraphs you DSOB.
Second show me the State of Maryland requirement that employees pay post-tax for health insurance.
Cdev, People thought that fees and transportation cuts would never reach Harford County. I think they now realize that we are not immune from these economic woes. You forgot to add that closing some schools may need to be given serious consideration.
HDG goo point. Many counties had pay to play for a while. Some significantly higher. They could also cut lunch service for non FARMS kids, charge materials fees for advanced classes, there are plenty of things people think are required and they are not. These things are all going to be looked at. My guess is the BOE didn’t think he would do this again to this level. They probably had to identify easy cuts. Next year they will have a list of many ideas and what saves them what.
BTW Mr. Pilkington, I am on an I phone. Please excuse my lack of paragraphs, I however will not continue discourse with you until you stop talking to people like a middle school locker room!
Cdev –
I had no idea that being on the telephone prevented your ability to hit return and make a paragraph.
Get back to us the taxation of employee health benefits in the State of Maryland when you get a chance.
How can you find the documents that actually tell us what is spent? Isn’t that kind of thing open to the public? I am just curious as to why Mr. Craig would write a letter with such misinformation just so the board can refute all of his information in a public forum. Or is the BOE telling a fib? Where is the proof so we can see and determine who is telling the truth?
This is the problem in education… politics.
Odd how the board took the time to refute only a single public comment. The members listened to all of the other comments without the slightest acknowledgement, yet this comment/letter was addressed. Seems a bit shady and premeditated to me.
Yes the comment they refuted was the largest part of his argument which was they have unspent money! They don’t they spent it over the last two years. The remaining fund balance is to cover the fact that we self insure.
Sorry, CDev, but the point was that HCPS has money in set aside accounts that IS NOT, repeat, IS NOT, in restricted accounts. Health care reserves are RESTRICTED. Sorry to shout but either you don’t know the difference or HCPS doesn’t. I have to assume HCPS does know the difference therefore would not mark health care reserves as unrestricted. Otherwise the auditors would be all over them.
What money. Craig points to a document fro two budgets ago! They spent all the money they could to balance this years budget and make minimal cuts!!!!! You are a fan of Austerity….. This is what it gets you!!!!!
A more intriguing question is why did the County Executive wait until just before the BOE meeting to release his press release and have it read by Mr. Thomas? It is customary for elected and other public officials to be given first preference during the public comments portion of BOE meetings. The same thing happened for Mr. Slutzky and Mr. Guthrie at the previous meeting.
Nothing but a plea for votes!!!! Mr. Craig loves to tear apart those who work in his county, however, makes no effort to cause change himself. Nothing but a blame game!!
Here is how I see the sorry state of our elected and appointed officials in this County. Harford County is planning on spending $632 million in FY 2014. The $890,000 price tag for the bus changes is .0014082 of the County’s planned expenditures. To put that into perspective, its analogous to a person making $50,000 having to come up with $70.41 to put an extra tank of gas in their car during an entire year. Do Craig and Reynolds think we are that stupid – that the County is so broke they can’t afford one extra fill-up during the year? Or that it is impossible to find the funds in their morass of spending? I heard at the meeting that our state funding was cut because the County’s wealth is increasing. So which is it…are we wealthier or flat broke? You can’t have it both ways.
Actually Grambo was BOE president when the decision was made!
In short Harford County is wealthier in comparison to the other counties because we were not hit as hard during the economic downturn. Because of this the State thinks the county does not need the same amount of money as the year before. So the State reduced the amount of funds given to the county because and they expect the county to make up the difference because the county can afford too. The county did not make up the reduction in State funds or cover the cost of other increased expenses incurred by the school system. That created a budget hole that needed to be closed.
I think you ask a good question but the question needs to be asked of the BOE and HCPS. The7y decide how their budget is spent.
Lets say that the depot stops and pay to play saves the BOE 1.5 million, that equates to roughly 25 teaching positions being saved. That impacts every child and every tax paying parent. The sports and magnet programs impact only a small percentage of students and tax payers. So effectively those who benefit from extra, non required services are being asked to pay more or work harder to keep them around. Sounds fair to me
Actually, they said the magnet depot stops saves a whopping $115,000. Also, there is approximately $450,000 budgeted for extra curricular busses. THOSE are non-academic bus services that are not re-allocated to provide transportation to the magnet schools so students can receive their academic services.
Yes they can cancel all sports, field trips and close Make people pay for Harford Glenn bus run. Do you want that?
I do feel for the magnet school students and their parents. It is just another example of an unkept promise by our government officials. What I don’t understand is where is the risk management in all of this. The parents and students have been laying out a myriad of legitimate and, in some cases, very scary safety concerns. What happens if even one student in one incident is severely hurt or even killed. I’ll tell you what will happen – the County will be sued for $20 million, spend millions in legal fees to defend themselves and end up settling for $5 million or so. All to save $890,000. But I guess they are willing to take their chances with the safety and lives of children.
No, they are only saving 115,000 dollars by cutting transportation to designated bus stops and creating and creating bus depots (the number may not reflect the newly added stops to the libraries, which would reduce the saving further). At the same time they added over 514,000 dollars for transportation for special needs. Stop playing politics with our kids!
You are incorrect. Please show us where that is found it the school system budget.
Maybe, you should have paid attention at the BOE meeting, or did no skip the meeting?
I watched the meeting. You are still incorrect.
There could be a few reasons for the increase in special needs transportation. Since I am sure you are aware that IDEA and it’s myriad of rules are not negotiable. 1) an increase in fuel costs. 2) an increase in insurance. 3) new buses 4) more kids in non public placement. 5) more kids in other schools resulting in increased mileage per run!
The pay to play and depot stops alone save several jobs… Jobs are more important than a few cry baby parents
They could do away with magnet programs all together and save lots of money… That would fix the problem of depot stops! Stop complaining to the Board and complain to the moron politician holding the purse strings! The Board is interested In helping kids and education. Craig is only interested in Annapolis! If you can’t see that take your head out of the sand, this letter was inaccurate grandstanding. (Coming from a huge conservative). Craig is only interested in his own “legacy”
Gee less students, but Burbey wants more money. What a moron.
Yes, but just think, the people who educate our children elected him. So if he is a moron what does that make them?
He was elected in a special election by the association representatives….The teachers as a whole did not elect him.
And the ‘association representatives’ are what? Cafeteria workers? Maintenance staff? Bus drivers? No, wait, I know, they are teachers! What a coincidence.
@ALEX R, Why do you insist on trying to insult every teacher in Harford County? Is this really necessary? If you want to stake out a position on an issue then do so. Validate it with facts and other relevant information in support of your position. Making derogatory remarks does nothing but demonstrate that you are being a jerk!
@not necessary
Are you saying all teachers are great?
Teachers are like most people they want more, and if they can get more they’ll take it.
But the more that they take is funded by taxpayers.
Education in Harford County and the country is failing.
So are teachers just mere bystanders whose hands are tied to make educational results better? I say no, they are front and center and yet they defend the status quo.
Teachers have a great gig and yet they persist in crying loudly when taxpayers and parents expect better results for our children and our hard earned taxes paid to the county.
I’m with Alexa, so go ahead attack me. But better yet give us improved results.
Either you missed or deliberately ignore the point I was making. ALEX R refers to Harford Co. teachers as morons or worse. Nothing is gained by this sort of personal attack on a group of people. This type of inflammatory rhetoric does nothing to advance his opinion. It turns people off and undermines his credibility even if he were to make valid and substantiated arguments.
@not necessary
You need to carefully and slowly read Alex’s comments again.
He has not been inflammatory.
I think it’s you that is being inadvertently or purposely disingenuous.
“the people who educate our children elected him. So if he is a moron what does that make them?” The quote/statement is clear. ALEX R knew exactly what he was writing and the intent to demean is obvious.
@not necessary
Alex made a reasonable point.
You want to demonize Alex and that makes you the attacker.
He also blamed his spelling error on Ryan Burbey his English teacher to be Coy and score cheap points. The truth is Burbey didn’t teach English and I doubt he had him! That sounds like he is being disingenuous and obtuse!
Actually, I don’t think all teachers are morons. And if you would carefully read the thread you would see that. Just the ones that voted for Burbey. That’s my position.
That’s also my position darling Judy. Please tell us whether you got the name Jaguar from the car or from the jungle cat. I am ‘panting’ to know. But Alex you do have to admit that some folks believe anything they are told and Burbey has told them he could get them more money if they would just support him. I don’t think he can deliver but he has gotten HCEA more money by making people who want no parts of HCEA pay dues.
Maybe someone would answered the 514,000 dollar question by supplying the link to the presentation “budget 101” for dummy public, which was presented at the BOE meeting, but hey HCPS do not want a little bit more detailed information on their web site. It would show how missmanaged our money is! The BOE minutes are a joke to leave the parents in the dark.
As of two years ago the Boe became an elected board rather than politically appointed if you don’t like it vote them out next election