Harford public schools Superintendent Sean Bulson called the county’s funding level of the school system a decision that is leading to a “crisis,” and is calling out the county executive for choosing to fund other items at the expense of the school system.

Bulson’s comments were made during a community budget session Thursday at North Harford High School after the school system disclosed it needs an additional $60 million from the county in fiscal 2026 to avoid layoffs and cuts to programs and services. Fiscal 2026 begins on July 1.

Half of the $60 million request includes a $20 million increase in the school system’s wage package for staff and a $10 million increase becasue of inflation-related costs. The remaining $30 million is for county government to cover the money Harford school officials used from from a reserve fund to fill the gap between what they requested from the county and what they were given for the current year’s budget.

If Harford school officials did not move the $30 million from the school system’s savings — commonly referred to as a fund balance — cuts to personnel and programs would have been needed to balance the budget. The school system does not have enough in its fund balance to cover the $30 million for a second year.

“Since we used $30 million in our budget that isn’t being replaced, that has to go into our ask to the county,” Bulson said.

Dozens of parents and guardians of Harford school students attended the presentation where Bulson said he believes the county has the money to adequately fund the school system, aside from inflation-related increases. This is contrary to what County Executive Bob Cassilly said in a video he posted in October about the need to raise taxes to cover the school system’s requests .

“The county executive has threatened that the school system is asking for an unreasonable amount of money and if he were to fund the request, the county government would have to raise taxes dramatically,” Bulson said. “I firmly believe that this is purely a scare tactic.”

Attendees of the presentation leaned in, squinting at an infographic Bulson presented showing spending trends in Harford County government compared to the county’s funding of schools.

The graph showed that since 2007, county spending aside from education allegedly doubled to $224 million. Bulson said county spending on things other than education drastically grew when Cassilly took office in 2022.

“The county is choosing to spend money on things other than education,” Bulson said. “This county has taken on other expenditures and the school system has been the funding source.”

Harford’s public information officer, Matt Button, responded to the assertion by saying that over the past five years, Harford schools’ revenue from the county and state has increased by a total of $150 million.

In 2023, the county allocated $324.23 million to the public school system. In 2024, that number decreased to $314.85 million because of what school officials said was a loophole in education funding law the county exploited. In the school system’s most recent budget, the county allocated $321.35 million.

Despite the decrease in county funding, Cassilly said he has allocated funding to the school system above Maintenance of Effort — the student population-based formula mandating the lowest possible dollar amount a county government can legally allocate to its school system.

In 2023, the county allocated $30.42 million over MoE. In 2024, the county exceeded the MoE requirement by $10 million and again in the current budget the MoE was exceeded by $6.5 million.

Cassilly has said the county is unable to fill the school system’s $60 million additional request because of minimal state and county revenue growth.

“This isn’t about taxes. This is about decisions made at the county level on what to support,” Bulson said. “I want people very clear on this — this is decisions. This is not a crisis but it is creating a crisis.”

According to the Maryland state comptroller, the state experienced revenue growth of just 0.8% in fiscal 2024. Since Harford is part of what Cassilly said is a “regional economy,” the county saw growth of just 3% at the end of the 2024 fiscal year.

County Treasurer Robert Sandlass said he anticipates about the same growth level next year.

Cassilly has criticized the school system for not reducing its budget to work within the confines of the state’s and county’s fiscal reality.

Bulson explained during his presentation that if the school system is unable to get the additional $60 million, hundreds of positions might be cut since more than 86% of the annual budget funds “student-facing personnel.”

“Teacher salaries are a priority for the county executive,” Button said. “(Cassilly) has repeatedly encouraged HCPS to adjust their priorities to direct funds to the classroom.”

Attendees of the presentation were encouraged to leave comments and concerns on post-it notes for school officials to answer and use as feedback when crafting the fiscal 2026 budget.

A second community budget session is set for Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. in the cafeteria at Aberdeen High School.

Community members can participate in the school system’s fiscal 2026 budget survey at https://forms.office.com/r/UWGe1JGjty. The survey presents scenarios of potential trade-offs Harford school may make to reduce expenses and services. The data gathered will be shared with work groups, committees and the Board of Education to help shape the school’s budget for fiscal 2026. The survey will remain open until 11:45 p.m., Dec. 2.

Have a news tip? Contact Matt Hubbard at mhubbard@baltsun.com, 443-651-0101 or @mthubb on X.