Teachers, administrators and parents of students in limited-English-proficiency and special-education programs are urging Harford County officials to fully fund the Board of Education?s proposed $457 million operating budget for 2009.
A public hearing was held Wednesday night at Patterson Mill Middle/High School, ostensibly to gather opinions on what the public would like in the budget when County Executive David Craig meets with his department heads this month. But education dominated the discussion, ranging from requests for increased teacher pay to more teachers at the brand-new Patterson Mill school.
“You?ll find that teachers are not greedy. Because it is a profession that requires so much personal sacrifice, the greedy people leave or never get into it in the first place,” said Brian Rheinhardt, a teacher at C. Milton Wright High School. “But it?s too expensive to live in Harford County on a teacher?s salary. Don?t let the surrounding counties be full of bedroom communities for Harford?s teachers.”
About $20 million of the $29 million total increase in the schools? proposed budget will go toward a 3.6 percent increase in teacher salaries, benefits and retirement, said Board of Education President Tom Fidler.
Others asked the county to give more attention to English as a second language programs, part of the $11.7 million special services section in the proposed budget.
“It is a job we love, and it is a job we?re willing to do, but it is a job we are ill-equipped to do by sheer numbers,” said Dee Whitesell, an ESL teacher.
About 10 staff members serve almost 500 students, she said. At Harford Technical High, 32 students fit into a 16-by-24 classroom, learning without a formalized curriculum, said Elena Morozova, an ESL teacher at the school.
Others urged the county to maintain or add to the $40 million special-education budget.
