From Harford County Public Schools:
County Executive’s Proposed Budget a Disaster for the Children of Harford County
Bob Cassilly is Mortgaging Our Children’s Future for Political Grandstanding
In what has been described as a “worst case scenario” budget for our Public School System, County Executive Bob Cassilly shows he doesn’t care about the children of Harford County, and instead plans to use them as pawns in his game of politics.
The FY2024 budget proposed by Mr. Cassilly reduces the amount of money received by Harford County Public Schools (HCPS) by $19.4 million from the previous fiscal year’s budget and $39 million below the Harford County Board of Education’s request. This is the equivalent of reducing spending by $1,000 per student.
Never in recent decades has a County Executive in Harford County proposed to give HCPS less than the previous fiscal year. This attempt to underfund HCPS is only possible following a law that passed the General Assembly in 2022 allowing for a one-time reduction of Maintenance of Effort. In one of his last votes as a State Senator, Bob Cassilly voted against the law permitting the reduction.
If the Harford County Council allows the budget to pass as it currently stands, there will be significant changes that directly impact students. Without a significant increase to funding, HCPS will see higher class sizes, athletic participation fees will no longer be waived, and teacher salaries will no longer be competitive with neighboring districts. As it stands now, the budget will make it near impossible for HCPS to continue to attract the best recruits possible to work in our schools and to continue to support the outstanding educators already working for our students.
Mr. Cassilly has further focused his ire on the public school system and attempted to stir political conflict by deliberately spreading fallacies in an attempt to garner support for his budget proposal. He has made numerous false claims, including;
1. Harford County Public Schools has a bloated and overfunded Central Office.
2. Most Central Office Employees are still working remotely.
3. Harford County Public Schools has an available fund balance of $92 million.
4. He is fully funding Harford County Public Schools as required by State Law.
The reality is:
1. HCPS has one of the most efficient Central Offices in the state. Administrative positions in HCPS account for only 3% of the overall budget. Furthermore, data tracked by the Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE) on system expenditures shows HCPS is 24 out of 24 school systems for overall cost spent on administration.
2. Mr. Cassilly is further spreading false allegations that “most” of the Central Office staff works 100% remotely, when only approximately 25 of employees (a small fraction) work 100% remotely. This allows us to avoid having to rent office space to house those employees.
3. HCPS does have a healthy fund balance, but nowhere near $92 million is available for the district to spend. Much of the money Mr. Cassilly is referring to is earmarked for expenditures based on the FY23 budget but has not been spent yet. The unassigned fund balance is approximately $36 million.
4. Mr. Cassilly is misleading the public by stating he is “fully funding” our schools. While he is technically meeting State Law, he is only doing so by utilizing a one-time reduction of Maintenance of Effort. In reality, he is providing the minimum amount allowed by law with a $19.4 million reduction compared to last year.
“Bob Cassilly is mortgaging our children’s future for political grandstanding,” said Superintendent of Schools Dr. Sean Bulson.
“He is pandering to a conservative political base, one that doesn’t believe a quality education is critical to the success of a greater community. This deplorable budget is the worst- case scenario for our children. If it goes unchecked, it will cause a greater issue in the future and further undermine our ability to continue to offer a quality education to the children of Harford County. Your children deserve to continue receiving the best education possible.”
By cutting funding to HCPS, and Harford County Parks and Recreation, and by flat funding Harford County Library and Harford County Community College, Mr. Cassilly has shown he doesn’t believe in the future of Harford County. He doesn’t believe in supporting the needs of our children. Mr. Cassilly is attempting to balance a budget at the expense of our greatest gift: our children.
Maybe stop spending so much on common core crap that by all testing standards is dumbing them down and apply it better. How many millions have been wasted on it? You sound really anti conservative by the way which is alarming for someone who should be publically politically neutral.
Makes me even happier I made the decision to pull my child from Aberdeen High School . It’s a dangerous joke of a school . It is letting down some of the kids who need the most help . Ask about their attendance rates , if the teachers even bother to help the kids . My child saw his IEP teacher twice in 4 months . Cassilly should send his kids/grandkids there & let me know how it goes . What a joke
If you were to be shown the 10’s of millions of dollars that are wasted by HCPS , you would be infuriated. Trust me. I’m sure the county executive knows how mismanaged things are at schools like Aberdeen. It angers him as much as you, I’m sure. The students and teachers are at the bottom of HCPS’s concerns list. At the top of their concerns list are the disgracefully overpaid administrators, the unions and those with extreme cultural agendas. Don’t fall for the smokescreens.
Hi,
This is a curious post.
Can you elaborate even a little about maybe even a couple of the tens of millions of dollars of waste? I’ll trust you even more if you offer something specific.
Students and teachers are at the bottom of the list, got it. Then in the next breath you say the unions are at the top. Since the unions represent the teachers and advocate for the students… doesn’t that put them at the top also? Please clarify, thank you.
I may tend to agree there are overpaid administrative positions, but I’d like to see some specific examples. A comparative analysis would also be helpful. For example, if a decision maker affects 5000 people in the system on multiple levels (teacher, student, community) how does a similarly responsible administrator in the private sector get compensated? Effectively they are competing in the talent pool, thus, being able to lure the best would have some level of translation.
I looked over the budget proposals – what extreme cultural agendas are being funded? Be specific.
I think you have offered some legitimate concerns that need to be discussed. I’m just curious about the details, otherwise you are only making the smokescreen more intense rather than clearing any air.
Appreciate it, thank you.
You actually wrote “the unions advocate for students”? That’s hilarious.
Hi Money Tree,
Happy to entertain.
So, I looked over the websites to educate myself before posting. I see the references made in the OP and investigate. Then I survey the headline to gain a pulse of what is happening.
I learned there are some odd things occurring around the country, but seemingly not here in Maryland or Harford County. So, I will – until led to believe differently – that the entities are representing themselves to their stated missions.
Since class size can affect learning, I see a lack of funding that has an impact there is such advocacy for students.
Demonstrate it is not.
Based on your response I sense you are looking to just pick apart pieces of the issue and the necessary discussion rather than expose exactly what is wasteful and what is being done (cultural agenda) that so many parents are not complaining about.
Perhaps you know Inside Girl and can provide those specifics for the rest of us?
Quality education does not include dei initiatives, pretending people can pick their pronouns, lowered standards for graduation, gender transitioning, and armies of middle management. Insulting your boss, the voter is such a Montgomery county thing to do.
Maryland is one of the champions of education across this nation and Montgomery county is leading that charge and is the reason why MD is top ranked in public education. What are you talking about? Your focus on buzzwords are the reason why this county continues to move backwards, while Baltimore County just approved free school breakfast and lunch for ALL students.
https://thewash.org/2021/12/07/moco-public-schools-experience-dramatic-spike-in-student-violence/
A real role model for all districts
Im so glad i got my child out of hargord county schools. It is a shitshow of education. Everyday fights hell joppa schools have a website fight of the day. Common core is bull shit. We need free thinkers n the public educational system will never allow that to happen.
Cassilly showed his arrogance days into his administration, when he went after Jacob Bennett. Now he is showing his contempt towards the students of Harford County. He was a piece of dirt as a senator and he is already showing he will be a piece of dirt as County executive.
Cassilly type of politics is going down the sewer and may he go there as well. Too bad the students have to be the blunt of his arrogant ignorance.
@ Cp – Harford County has NO choice in whether they follow Common Core, NGSS, or whatever other standards you so despise – if they want to keep the state portion of funding from Maryland, they MUST implement it. With respect to your child, you do realize that his/her case manager has more than just one kid on their case load? If it is written into the child’s IEP to meet weekly, and the case manager isn’t, then yes, you absolutely have a right to complain. Otherwise, realize you are one of many that under-funding the school budget will affect. If HCPS has to cut positions across the board, everyone’s student ratio will go up.
@ Hcc Again, DEI is a federally funded position, and not something HCPS can do anything about. HCPS actually has slightly higher graduation requirements than the state pushes for in terms of credits required.
For all of you reading, this is all easily searchable.
Yes, there are problems in HCPS, but to blame the county for things beyond its control is laughable.
Under funding the budget, will have many, many repercussions. If you can’t keep your current teachers, entice teachers to come to this county, do you really just random, inexperienced warm bodies as long term subs teaching your children?
You wonder why these kids can’t read? Jacob Bennett can’t even read the election rules SMH
Get up to date George says. It’s Cassilly who can’t understand what he reads. The Maryland Supreme court just ruled that Cassilly is not very smart when it comes to understanding what he reads.
The Maryland Supreme Court is an unconstitutional group of BAR Association TRAITORS. When are you going to understand that being bribed with federal funds to implement idiocy like common core into a curriculum is a betrayal to both the parents and their kids? Common Core is designed to make the youth of this country idiots. If the kids grow up to be a bunch of morons the government gets to implement more tyranny than it has already being allowed. It just isn’t worth the bribe of federal funding to betray the kids of their future.
People need to research before they show their ignorance on a subject.
States do not have to use Common Core. So far 48 states have elected to follow Common Core. Of those 48 certain states have decided to implement portions of Common Core. States are not required to use Common Core.
No one said States are required to use common core. However, if you want the federal funds for it then you must implement it. It’s just another federal bribe….
https://www.findlaw.com/education/curriculum-standards-school-funding/no-child-left-behind-vs-common-core.html
Well that should fix the problems…… Our County Exec is a 14 year old passive aggressive girl…..
My kid is currently in the Info Tech Oracle Academy (ITOA) program at Havre de Grace HS and we couldn’t be happier. The program ha s been an excellent learning experience for him as he gets ready to attend college to study Computer Science. Our other kid graduated from Harford Tech’s Cyber program and while in college already is working in the IT field. We have nothing but a 100% positive experience with the Harford County Schools.
Cassilly must be over the target because they’re really trying to redirect and squirm. What happened to the 92M in covid money that went directly to the HCPS administration?
The sooner the government is out of the education industry the better. Government schools are a failed experiment.
Will never understand the ignorance of some people on this comment section. Common Core has much to do with Critical Thinking, something that many making negative comments about Common Core seem to lack.
The Common Core State Standards are a set of high-quality academic expectations in English/Language Arts (ELA) and Mathematics and Critical Thinking that define both the knowledge and skills all students should master by the end of each grade level to be on track for success in college and career.
Critical Thinking doesn’t seem to enter into the minds of most republicans. They are like sheep who are lead the path of whom ever they look upon as the leader.
Take Thomas Armstrong, Ph.D. who heads the American Institute for learning and human development.. He is the main source that has lead many down the path against critical thinking, all because he is the author of many books of fiction and has his own weird thinking that most scholars have a low opinion of. He is also on the lecture tour and one of his main countries is China. If the Chinese are listening to him no wonder they are on the path of ruin just like the USA.
The past events in this country have banded the youth of this country, who have learned Critical Thinking, to step up and organize against the masses of ignorance in this country. May their journey save a country that is divided along political lines simply because have of the country can’t think for themselves. The masses of ignorance that strike out against anyone or any organization that wants to improve the thinking of all, not just the few.
I can’t believe that you think common core has anything to do with critical thinking or a quality education. I have seen the common core math curriculum and it is designed to confuse and make every step in the process take 10 times as much time as it should. Furthermore, the youth are NOT learning skills as you claim and Baltimore City is proof of YOUR ignorance. Out of 23 schools in Baltimore City, who use the same curriculum as HCPS, not one student was proficient in math. You are a liar, a moron and obviously a Democrat. The Democrats want to destroy our country and the Democratic President of the United States has been selling out our country to China and other adversaries, in order to make him and his family rich. The Democratic TRAITOR in charge of the DOJ has refused to indict these TRAITORS and has been covering up the Biden family’s treasonous acts. The Democrats have let terrorists into this country and that is why you are seeing all the train derailments. It isn’t infrastructure, it is terrorists whom are behind this. The Democrats have shipped out all manufacturing from this country of virtually any items that we would need to produce if a global conflict would arise. The Democrats have sold part of our fuel reserves to our biggest adversary, China, and have allowed further depletion of our oil in order to leave us defenseless during a war. The Democrats allowed China to send surveillance balloons over our country to provide China with intelligence to invade us. The Democrats have made policy to allow our nations farm land to be sold to foreign corporations, owned by China, which could leave us with food shortages or the contamination of our food. The Democrats have weaponized the Law Enforcement of this country to attack their political rivals and have created ex post facto statutory law in New York to persecute Trump for felony crimes that weren’t felonies when he did what he did. After reading all this, do you really think anything Democrats do is for our benefit?
Normally I agree with a lot of what you say but this rhetoric would have most fit for a straight jacket.
It isn’t rhetoric…it’s truth.
Growup; there is no way to answer anyone who belongs in a straight jacket.
Below is what happened in Maryland and now is about to happen in Harford County and as usual it will hurt the black community the most. One could easily say that RACISM is alive and well in Harford County Education Funding.
“”” In 2011, we were celebrating Maryland’s No. 1 ranking among schools across the country. Deep and pervasive declines since 2011 in Maryland, beyond national trends, indicate structural problems beyond the pandemic. What has happened in Maryland education, beyond the pandemic, since 2011 that might begin to help us understand the problem?
Shortly after the administration of the National Assessment of Educational Progress in 2011, 20-year state superintendent Dr. Nancy Grasmick retired from her post. Since then, we have had four superintendents.
The state began implementing new college- and career-ready standards, or the Common Core, in 2012, resulting in the development and adoption of new curriculum in local districts.
State assessments have changed three times — MSA, PARCC, and now MCAP.
Teacher production is down, with 33% fewer students enrolled in teacher preparation programs. This on top of Maryland being a net-importer of teachers, needing to recruit from other states to fill classrooms each year.
During the O’Malley years, the governor and legislature defunded the Geographic Cost of Education Index. To balance the pension fund, they also pushed off half of state contributions to local districts, coming directly out of school operating funds.
Governor Hogan failed to substantially increase state investments in public education in eight years beyond marginal increases to keep up with inflation.