After community members urged him in a public hearing Tuesday night to increase funding, County Executive Bob Cassilly said the additional $54 million the Harford school system is requesting in its next budget just “is not there.”

The hearing at North Harford High School attracted dozens of community members, with about 27 providing remarks to Cassilly and his top budget officials.

Of the speakers, roughly 20 favored additional school funding. Many of the advocates for increased funding were educators who voiced concerns with growing class sizes, increased student needs, and less support for teachers and students inside schools due to past budget cuts.

“I feel if you truly understood what teachers and staff are going through on a daily basis, then you would fully fund our budget,” said Amber Lee Taylor, a elementary teacher. “My class went from 16 students last year to 24 this year. … It is harder to build relationships, communicate with families, and provide individualized feedback to students — all of which are crucial to helping students grow.”

Taylor noted that of the 24 students in her class, 13 have specialized needs, ranging from autism to ADHD, emphasizing that small class sizes are crucial for low-income students performing below grade level and special education students.

Other speakers, such as the president of the Harford County Education Association, Chrystie Crawford-Smick, stated that the Harford County Education Association discovered that since fiscal year 2012, Harford Schools has received $235 million less in county funding than it has requested.

She said that within the past few years the money “has been hiding in plain sight” since Harford County has underspent its budget for a net savings of nearly $58 million in total from fiscal year 2021 to fiscal year 2024.

Money that is not spent in a budget year is put into the county’s fund balance — which operate as a savings account — and can be spent in subsequent years.

Asked after the hearing, Cassilly said the money the county has in its fund balance is used to cover emergencies and shortfalls like if the county’s revenue comes in lower than what officials budgeted.

“The notion that we are hiding stuff in the budget, that’s just not true,” Cassilly said. “Our fund balance is the only real cushion here and you’ll hear the schools say they are running out of fund balance — they don’t need a fund balance because there is no revenue projections for them.”

Cassilly said one thing driving school funding requests are what he considers high adminstrator salaries.

“Let’s go back to the school board’s budget and what they are spending because no one is leaving the school system to come work for me and the reason is, because they are making a hell of a lot more money,” Cassilly said. “The school board is paying their administrative staff salaries like they are competing with Montgomery County.”

This story will be updated.  
 
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