It’s probably a safe bet (see what I did there) that you know what ante is. That seed money in the pot is an important part of the poker game. It’s what gets that jackpot growing. And if you don’t ante up, you don’t play. The Howard County Public School System is facing the reality that county residents and elected officials want to win the jackpot without tossing a chip on the table.
In January, HCPSS Superintendent Michael Martirano requested a $964.1M FY21 operating budget for the school system. His proposal funded additional, desperately-needed special education staff; teacher salary increases; and paid down a portion of the health fund deficit he inherited from his predecessor. Before sending the budget request to the County Executive, the Board of Education trimmed Dr. Martirano’s proposal down to $947.8M by increasing class sizes, switching to a gradual, phased SPED staff increase, and paying less into the health fund. Then, in May, the County Council approved a final HCPSS budget of $916.9M for the school system, well short of what Dr. Martirano requested. And the Council simultaneously killed a recordation tax restructure that would have generated more revenue for the schools. Huh.
In other words, we are once again seeing HCPSS receive insufficient funding to meet the needs and expectations of the county, the state, the Department of Education, and its staff and students. And once again, the BOE is left with no choice but to make cuts to make up for the shortfall. One extremely unpopular idea under consideration is to renegotiate the teachers’ contract, despite the County Council having approved the necessary funding for the current contract. This would be like a slap in the face to a teaching workforce that is already underpaid and has been working twice as hard recently due to COVID-19. However, if the BOE chooses a different path to save money, someone or something else will feel the pinch. Someone else will be unhappy. Some other important need won’t be met. Someone else may lose their job. These decisions are excruciating.
These decisions would not be necessary if funding were adequate in the first place. And to have adequate funding, we must have adequate revenue. In other words, tax revenue.
<cue music from the shower scene in Psycho>
Before everyone has a collective aneurysm at the thought of paying more in taxes, let me ask some questions. Is HCPSS not one of the most valuable public assets in Howard County? Do people not move here specifically for the schools? Is it not a high-quality program? Do we not believe that the taxes we pay are directly responsible for the successful school system we have here? Do our children (and property values) not benefit from the investment in our schools? Do you believe that the school system will retain its quality, value, and reputation if we continue to under-fund it and force the BOE to make these terrible decisions?
I can hear a lot of you saying “then make the developers pay their fair share!” And I agree that they need to pay adequate funds into public infrastructure and facilities. But let’s remember that the recordation tax restructure proposed by Council members Opel Jones and Christiana Mercer Rigby, which increased recordation taxes on real estate transactions over $1M while cutting taxes on transactions under $300K, would have shifted a greater tax burden onto developers. The BOE wrote a letter to the County Council in support of the proposal. And yet, because of negative perception toward tax increases of any kind, especially during a pandemic, the proposal was voted down. We lost an opportunity to fund our schools because we didn’t want to raise taxes.
A high-quality school system pays its teachers and staff well; provides top-notch services for special education and English language learners; keeps class sizes at reasonable levels; provides adequate, well-maintained school buildings, technology equipment, and classroom space; provides programs for all ages and ability levels; offers both college-track and vocational options; provides well-trained mental health and social support staff in every school; provides all necessary school supplies and materials of instruction; and offers a wide array of arts, music, theater, athletic, and enrichment programs. Howard County residents demand all of this from HCPSS while balking loudly at tax increases. We cannot have it both ways.
It is time for this county, with the 2nd-highest median income in the U.S., to pay a fair price for what we demand. Let’s ante up and ensure our children get the best the school system has to offer.