Please give us a date for the public hearing on the budget.

How unfortunate that the state can mandate programs but not fund them. Quality of education cannot be measured in dollar signs, but government doesn't seem to understand that. Like every other problem, if you just throw enough dollars at it, the problem goes away. Perhaps if they were better custodians of our tax dollars we would be able to fund the important projects and put the frivolous ones aside.

Tom - the feds do it too. Look at No Child Left Behind.

They should ask Maxwell about the school systems I'll advised investment in a new payroll system. Millions down the drain on a system that does not work.

When the county asked them the wait, maxwell said it was a critical need. How critical is it now that the money is gone, they have a lawsuit over the issue, and they are still using the system that was about to fail any minute.

Care to answer that maxwell?

Gee,are Maxwell and Leopold the only ones that didn't see this coming? I watched while the school budget for 2012 whittled down the students extra curricular activities,equipment maintenance, school buses, etc.and yet, two Art teachers are seeing $86,190. in raises between 2010 and 2012.I studied the budget for 2012 and couldn't believe what I saw! The only wages that stayed the same, or went down, are the support staff.They are the ones that need the raise. Some of their jobs were eliminated altogether! But not the
"Professional" Salaries! And now,the school system wants to add more"Professional" Staff?What else are you going to take away from our children, so that the"Negotiated units"can continue to be raised? Most of the folks I know,haven't seen a raise in 4-5 years! And yet,every employee that makes over $90,000,gets a $30,000 raise like the two Art teachers?Oops,sorry,one is a "coordinator"I know of one useless program that will save the school system about $400,000! "World & Classical Languages" A.K.A.Global Citizenship! Or in layman's terms, Progressive, liberal, brainwashing of our children. If you consider your-self a good parent, research this crock! "Global Citizenship" And "World and classical languages"! Money or not, that needs to go!!!! Try teaching our children to read and write in English first!, and let them decide whether they want to become a "Global Citizen" and read from the Koran! Yep, thats right, if they sign up for Arabic, or Persian languages!

Reading from the Koran is not an issue. If they read from a bible, you can bet the ACLU will be there in a flash.

So just out of curiosity who gets the 12 million in additional salary!? I thought Lottery was going to fix education in MD. I thought the slots were going to fix the education budget. So even though I voted AGAINST both of those things and they passed WHERE IS THE MONEY!? I'm so sick of education in this state if not the nation - the entire system needs to be ABOLISHED and made free market. VOTE RON PAUL!

Absolutely Wonderful. Now the County Council and Leopold have to decide who to short change to satisfy the "Sink Hole" on Riva Road. Do they cut from non-profits, public safety or transportation or overrule the tax cap voted in by the tax payers. The above article tells me that the unaccountable School Board has gained "de facto" taxing authority. Didn't we have a similar discussion back in 1775?

Go to the meetings!! Form a group of citizens to confront them. Be heard in the media. When time to vote, get rid of them.

If our school board is going to be able to raise the tax cap it needs to be accountable to the citizens. The members should be voted in, not appointed by our governor who hasn't met a tax increase he doesn't like.

It appears the issue is bebt service for bonds to improve facilities. Correct me if I am wrong, because the articles written never clearly establish this point. If the debt service is not permitted in MOE, does State Board expect local goverment to simply write a check for new schools? Providing the, unelected, school board authority to override tax cap is a dangerous precedent.

Voting matters little in the blue state - I don't know a single person in my circle that voted for Hoyer or OWEMALLEY - but they both won by a landslide. Delaware gets more appealing every day... :(

For Dio Dingo and Rob Jones: the salaries of some teachers and school administrators are huge compared to the rest of the public service employees. Starting salaries for firefighters is $36,000 per year, just $1,000 more than what would qualify a family of 4 for food stamps in this state. The fact that an art teacher can be making $86,000 doesn't surprise me at all. They most likely have many years teaching and many step increases under their belts.

When the Capital Gazette newspaper runs its issue with the salaries posted of public employees in Anne Arundel County I always compare the number of Board of Education workers making - I think the last time it was those over $75,000 a year - to the rest of the county employees. When I first saw this printed over 20 years ago, the numbers were about even, and the salaries were those people making over $50,000. The last time it was printed the Board of Education employees far exceeded the number of county employees making over $75,000.

Our county is also one of the most "top-heavy" in board of education employees that are not directly related to the classroom. In other words, the support positions on Riva Road are many.

Here's how Baltimore City has chosen to support the children.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/breaking/bs-md-ci-north-avenue-renovations-20120426,0,4904915.story

According to the TAAAC (the teachers organization) our unelected and unaccountable Board of Education has endorsed the teachers petition drive to change the County Charter so we can be taxed more.
"On Wednesday, March 21, at its regularly scheduled meeting, the Board of Education voted to support the petition drive to put the proposed charter amendment on the November ballot." http://www.taaaconline.org/
Thank you Mr. Maxwell: Et Al, you have finally caused me to join the "Tea Party".

Sounds right to me. The republican controlled CC and Leopold got rid of the BINDING ARBITRATION aspect of the CHARTER to denigrate teachers and to back up their broken ideological concepts of balance between protecting "common good" assets and taxation. We have to invest in education K thru 12. That means we recruit the best classroom teachers and pay them a living wage for AA county. A Master's Degree which is a norm for teachers and administrators demands higher wages. The TPARTY crowd would have our state look like MI, where there is TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION on AM soil, and look like WI where children are suffering from drastic education cuts to give rich guys tax cuts and in FL where Super thief in CHIEF Gov Rick Scott is cutting programs to feed children. He alos supported eliminating a SCIENCE AND TECH dept in a state unviversity while increasing the athletice dept budget by $ 2mn is outrageous. Support the TPARTY ideologies: Unfair taxation, starve children, denigrate workers and destroy women's rights to health care decisions. And most of all support TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION on AM soil. That is the real irony, the group that claims to b descendents of TPARTY patriots are really just sheep in wolves' clothing.

Maryellen: first binding arbitration is not and never has been part of the Anne Arundel County Charter. And Master's degrees is a requirement put on our teachers by the administration. I would ask you what is it about a higher education degree that makes a better teacher? It simply means we must pay them more money because they have spent more time in school.

Now lets talk about the TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION you so boldly accused the TPARTY crowd of promoting. How about the fact that Maryland is a one-party state which means that a vast number of citizens who are not in favor of being TAXED OUT THE REAR END are not being represented. And the children are not the ones suffering in Wisconsin….it's the unions who are suffering because they are not, for once, getting their way.

Additionally I dare you to prove that Republicans starve children. Last I knew, many Republicans and TPARTY crowd actually have children of our own and do a pretty darned good job of feeding, clothing and educating them. We actually LIKE kids.

How DARE you accuse TPARTY supporters (and of course by inference, Republicans) of unfair taxation, starving children, denigrating workers and destroying women's health care rights and being sheep???? Are you kidding me?

It is the party of entitlements that is destroying this country. After 6 decades of food stamps, unemployment insurance & welfare, all we've done is create a society that expects to be taken care of. Who pays for all this? Heaven forbid it should be those nasty RICH people. Let's just all be on the public dole and see whose going to pay.

If I sound just a little over the top….well maybe I've just had enough of being accused of nasty evilness just because some socialist thinks we need to become like Europe. This country was not built on communist ideologies…it was built by people who cherished freedom and opportunity more than anything. There are too many people just like you, Maryellen Brady who would take that opportunity away from people by telling them they cannot overcome adversity. You keep people in their place rather than encourage the human spirit that would help them soar above.

I'm starting to wonder if the elections aren't fixed anymore. This general tone indicates virtually no one here voted for Owemalley or Hoyer et al yet they all won by landslides.