On Wednesday, we looked at the Wicomico County Board of Education’s (WCBOE) attempts to hide information from the public regarding use (and abuse) of taxpayer dollars for travel and entertainment.  We also caught a glimpse at WCBOE to junkets to Disneyland, Disney World, Las Vegas; as well as trips by superintendent John Fredericksen and WCBOE board member Mark Thompson to sunny California.

Yesterday, we saw a disturbing pattern.  If you are a WCBOE educrat, why sit through boring meetings at the central office when the taxpayer will foot the bill for a nice meal.  Why worry that teachers can’t get needed supplies for their classroom (without dipping into their own pocket) when it’s FAR MORE IMPORTANT to eat out, IN SALISBURY, on the taxpayers’ dime.

Today, we’re going to look at at something that upsets me more than all of these other things put together.  While costing the citizens of Wicomico County very little, I was dismayed to see that WCBOE employees have so little regard for the taxpayers that they don’t think twice about leaving large tips when they pick up sandwiches, doughnuts, etc. for various meetings.

WHY NOT?  IT’S ONLY THE TAXPAYERS’ MONEY!

CATERED MEALS

The WCBOE seems to buy a lot of catered meals.  Now I’m sure there is probably a valid reason for some of these.  I don’t begrudge buying a few doughnuts or putting out a coffee pot for a large meeting.  In fact, I resent it a lot less that the taxpayer doling out so that some educrat can go to Starbucks.

Yesterday, we talked about the board members going out to dinner on taxpayer dollars.  Well, it seems that they have meals brought in as well.  Now I know that this shouldn’t be a big thing; but I have a problem with the board of education getting together for a “retreat” where the public doesn’t have access to the meeting.  It’s evidently a practice of the WCBOE to hold “retreats” or “brainstorming sessions” over at the Greater Salisbury Committee’s meeting room having lunch brought in.

Besides the open meetings issue, there is another concern with this particular transaction.  Rather than stating that it was for a meeting of the board, we are led to believe that this has something to do with the GSC (other than their generous donation of their meeting room).  Superintendent John Fredericksen and his merry band need to start assuming that the public will be looking at every financial transaction they enter into.  Given the WCBOE’s utter contempt for the taxpayer, and their penchant for secrecy, they just make us want to look harder at more things.

MAKE SURE YOU LEAVE A BIG TIP … IT’S NOT LIKE IT’S OUR MONEY

Of all of the travel / entertainment transactions I’ve seen, one ticket bothers me more than any other.  I know, we’re talking about $250.  In fact, the $220 for sandwiches, chips, etc. isn’t what bothers me.  It’s the lousy $32 tip!

Last October, there was a meeting that appears to have been with folks from the Maryland State Department of Education regarding school improvement.  While I can argue that this $250 could have been better spent in the classroom than in buying a bunch of state and local bureaucrats sandwiches, I could also make a case for the expense.

Now remember, this was a takeout order.  It was even delivered.  However, ask yourself how much you tip the pizza delivery guy or the chap from the Chinese restaurant when they deliver to you house.  I seriously doubt that you fork over $32.  They do at the WCBOE!

Why not?  It’s only the taxpayers’ money!  This is why this one little transaction bothers me more than any other.  It’s a near perfect example of what WCBOE educrats think about the people who pay their salaries.

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

For the last three days you’ve seen example after example of junkets, feeding the bureaucratic elite, and complete contempt for those of us who work every day to pay the bills over at the WCBOE.  What do you think?

Here’s what I think -

We need quality schools.  We should fund our children’s educations as efficiently as possible and to the best of our collective ability.  HOWEVER, when I see WCBOE educrats using our tax dollars like a personal piggy bank I can’t help but feel a little bit resentful.  When I see teachers forced to buy legitimate classroom supplies out of their own pockets while Fredericksen takes his bureaucrat pals out to dinner on our dime, I can’t help but be a tad upset.  When a classroom teacher is told he or she can’t have a small refrigerator, or a microwave in their classroom because it uses up too much energy but Fredericksen and Mark Thompson set across the continent, I can’t help but think there is a smidge of hypocrisy over at the central office.

In 2007, Wicomico County spent almost $13,000 per pupil.  For less than half that price, you can send a child to a private school.  Last year, my middle son graduated from Holly Grove in a graduating class of 30 students.  He’s doing well at Hampden-Sydney College this year.  One of his classmates is at Brown.  Another at MIT.  Several are excelling over at College Park.  Another is a midshipman at Annapolis.  To the best of my knowledge, every one of J.B.’s classmates that wanted to attend college is doing so.

I realize that this may not be a fair comparison.  Yet, when I look at the top heavy bureaucracy over at the WCBOE versus the lean, efficient, and successful program that all of my children have been blessed to have taken advantage of, I can only wonder.

John Fredericksen claims that he wants more public involvement.  Perhaps he would get more if he quit hiding facts from the public.  Perhaps he would get more if the public thought that their tax dollars were going to educating our children rather than sending educrats to Disneyland.

If you haven’t already read them; DON’T MISS -

Part I  and   Part II

In an era when teachers are being forced to pay for school supplies out of their own pockets, why does Wicomico County Board of Education superintendent John Fredericksen seem to think that the taxpayers should foot the bill for taking county executive Rick Pollitt out to lunch?  How about county parks director Gary Mackes?

It ain’t the $20 John.  It’s the principle of the thing.  This isn’t your money.  To be fair, I don’t know that either Pollitt or Mackes knew that their lunches with Fredericksen were on the taxpayers’ dime.  Maybe they did, maybe they didn’t.  One thing is certain.  The next time any elected official or county employee has a “meeting” with Fredericksen, they would be wise to brown bag it.

DOES ANYONE PAY FOR THEIR OWN MEALS AT THE WCBOE?

Admittedly, the question may be a bit over the top.  However, you do begin to wonder when you look at a very small sample of the WCBOE’s “travel” expenses.  An awful lot of receipts are generated for meals IN SALISBURY.

The whole board, along with Fredericksen, has dinner and charges it to us.  To be fair, I don’t begrudge them a free meal.  One or two of the board members actually work hard (maybe only one now that Sue Hitch has left the board).  They don’t get paid very much for an admittedly thankless job.  HOWEVER, these people are responsible for spending half of the county’s budget.  Their meetings are supposed to be public.  While it would be unfair for me to accuse them of wrongdoing, it still shouldn’t happen.  When the Wicomico County Council takes their 15 or 20 minute lunch break, the door is always open and they don’t seem to mind when people walk in and out.

Besides the whole board, there are numerous instances of Fredericksen breaking bread with one or two board members at a time.  Doesn’t Fredericksen have an office?  Don’t these people have phones?  Again, it’s not the cost as much as it is the principle.  When money needed for the classroom isn’t available, why do these folk believe that the taxpayer should buy their lunch?

Perhaps Fredericksen could take these people out to lunch at some of our school cafeterias?  No, I’m not joking.  My middle boy attends Hampden-Sydney College.  His younger brother is planning on following him.  Almost every day that HSC president Chris Howard is in town, he has lunch in the dining hall with the young men.  Last night, he had dinner with them.  In a fairly short period of time, Chris has managed to form a tight bond with the Hampden-Sydney community.  You see John, when you do it every once in a while it’s a stunt.  When you make it a habit, the students actually start believing that you care.

Why does this crew of educrats have to meet over dinner?  Doesn’t the WCBOE have a conference room?  Is John Fredericksen going to tell us that they were all SOOO… busy and working SOOO… hard that the only time they could meet was at dinner?  Sorry John.  You don’t do comedy any better than I do.

Last October, a whole crew of BOE employees went out to dinner at the Old Mill Crabhouse.  You paid for it.  However, AFTER councilman Joe Holloway started sniffing around David Reeves was asked to reimburse the WCBOE.

Here’s another one with Mr. Reeves.  He DIDN’T reimburse the taxpayers for this one.  It’s labeled “Staff Meeting”.  AGAIN – doesn’t the WCBOE have any meeting rooms?

Now I’m starting to understand Fredericksen’s argument that the WCBOE is an “economic engine”.  By the look of things, several restaurants would be out of business if your tax dollars weren’t propping them up.  It’s our own little Obama-style PORKULUS.

I know, I know – if this were the private sector.  That’s right – IF.  When the educrats give up tenure and their cushy benefits and retirement packages THEN we’ll talk about comparing the WCBOE to the private sector.  When great teachers are paid more than good teachers, and sub-standard teachers are fired, THEN we’ll talk.

BUT … that’s not going to happen.  Why?  The educrats honestly believe that you owe them a living.  You don’t pay them enough.  You dare to make them work ALMOST a whole year for a year’s pay.  You should be grateful that they even bother showing up for work.  After all, with direct deposit they don’t even have to do that.  Why else would you have a system where teachers have to finance part of their classroom budgets out of pocket, but bureaucrats get to eat out on the taxpayers’ dime.

What’s the result?  An increasing number of citizens overlook the hard work and dedication of the vast majority of teachers and instead become resentful of their tax dollars being spent on bureaucratic folly.

But that doesn’t matter – IT’S FOR THE CHILDREN.

Tomorrow – the conclusion of The Big Field Trip.

The Big Field Trip – Part I

The Big Field Trip – Part III

Junkets to Disneyland.  Junkets to Las Vegas.  Junkets to DisneyWorld.  These are just a few instances of where Wicomico tax dollars go thanks to our infamous Board of Education (WCBOE).

Oddly enough, I don’t believe that junkets such as these are the worst examples of the WCBOE’s travel / entertainment profligacy.  I don’t doubt that many of these trips afford some marginal benefit to our public schools.  Some may even be necessary.  Some examples, such as employees going to Hooters on the taxpayers dime are actually amusing.

No.  What frustrates me most is the attitude shown by superintendent John Fredericksen and his merry little band of bureaucrats towards the taxpayers of Wicomico County that I find most disturbing.  To Fredericksen, et al, we are a giant cash register; nothing more.

Eating out at Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse.  Fredericksen going out to lunch with county parks director Gary Mackes or county executive Rick Pollitt and then charging it to the taxpayer.  The response is that this is allowed in the private sector.  This is true.  However, the private sector does not take funds from citizens by force.  Those same people in the private sector don’t have lifetime job security or a retirement package like WCBOE employees.

HIDE THE EXPENSE ACCOUNT

What is even more despicable is Fredericksen’s belief that he can hide this information from the public.  Last summer, Wicomico County councilman Joe Holloway requested information on the WCBOE’s travel expenses for the last two years.  Here is Fredericksen’s response.

Note that Fredericksen (in his most obtuse bureaucratic lingo) says that he would love to comply, BUT, before he could “assist our County counterparts”, Fredericksen must explain that it’s going to cost a small fortune to provide the information to Holloway.

Now, that might be a valid concern – EXCEPT …  Fredericksen wasn’t being exactly truthful with Joe Holloway.  Holloway is tighter with the taxpayers’ money than he is his own (and Joe can pinch a penny).  So, after receiving Fredericksen’s response he didn’t push the matter any further.  Until … at a council meeting in the Fall of 2009 the usual suspects from the WCBOE showed up for a budget transfer.  WCBOE comptroller Bruce Ford had a printout of some expense categories.  Holloway asked Ford how difficult it was to get that information.  Ford replied that all you had to do was enter the account code(s) and the time period and VOILA!

Well, maybe VOILA! for Bruce Ford, but if you are a member of the Wicomico County Council Fredericksen will still stonewall you for a month or two.  But, Holloway did finally get a printout.

Now this may seem like much ado about nothing to members of the government class; but us ordinary citizens are stupid enough to actually expect straight answers to straight questions.  Sorry John – OUR BAD!  I assumed that Fredericksen possessed at least average intelligence.  If so, he should have figured out by now that obstructing the public and our elected officials makes a concerned citizen believe that he’s hiding a whole lot more than a few junkets and that he might be playing a little loose with his expense account.  Furthermore, he makes us want to dig HARDER and DEEPER.

JUNKETS

As I noted earlier, some of these trips may be necessary.  I’m sure Fredericksen and his merry little band will insist that every one was ABSOLUTELY VITAL to the education and well being of our children.  I’m reminded of a congressman I used to work for.  Every time closing Ft. Monroe was mentioned he would stand up on his soapbox and insist that “Ft. Monroe is one of the lynchpins of our nation’s defense!”.  Sure it was.  They had some great waterfront property and a band.  The real work of Training and Doctrine Command (headquartered at Ft. Monroe) was actually done other places (like Ft. Leavenworth).  Just as the generals likeD to live on the water, the WCBOE thinks that every junket is necessary.

Perhaps Fredericksen could explain to the taxpayers of Wicomico County what wisdom he gleaned from his little sojourn to San Francisco.  One thing is for sure; he didn’t learn to be honest and straightforward with the people who actually pay his salary (or our elected representatives).  MayBE John learned some more of that bureaucratspeak?  C’mon John – you didn’t even provide copies of all of the receipts for your trip.

I wonder what (now) WCBOE president Mark Thompson learned from his trip to the left coast?  Well, we don’t know exactly what he did (since we don’t have copies of his receipts either), but he must have enjoyed himself.  It’s my understanding that this is his SECOND trip to the wide open west on our dime.  One thing is for sure.  IF they had a seminar on not lying to the press, Thompson must have skipped that one for the beach.  We need only look at how he handled the “Dirty Book” affair.  It would be generous to say that one out of three statements he made on that matter were even close to factually accurate.

Now here’s one a little closer to home.  Your tax dollars paid for three “educrats” to go to St. Michaels and soak up the hospitality of the Harbourtowne Golf Resort.  As with most of these sojourns on the backs of the taxpayers, there’s not a whole lot of detail.  As best as I can de-cipher the receipts, three bureaucrats were supposed to learn how to better negotiate with the WCBOE’S four “bargaining units” (that’s educrat for unions).  Judging by their performance at the negotiating table, the unions should have footed the bill for this one instead of the taxpayer. – Oh wait!  That was part of their contracts as well (bureaucrats must attend seminar on how to suck up to unions while screwing taxpayers; at taxpayer expense of course).

Given that the “conference” was in St. Michaels, they could have driven back and forth.  Yeah, but it was ONLY the taxpayers’ money.

Did Fredericksen, Thompson, and board member Michelle Wright learn anything by attending the Maryland Association of Boards of Education (MABE) conference?  Couldn’t tell you.  Did they learn anything about looking after the taxpayers?  Sorry, I don’t do comedy very well.

There are lots of examples of more travel by lots of different educrats.  You can download the file here (it’s over 4MB).  Check ‘em out.  Remember – this is a small sample of over 5,000 transactions over a two year period.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

TOMORROW – Part II of The Big Field Trip, where we will be discussing the propensity of educrats to let you buy them lunch and dinner whenever possible – particularly when they are in Salisbury.  Just remember one thing – IT’S FOR THE CHILDREN.

Harken back to the days of the great landfill scandal.  After Sheriff Mike Lewis caught the criminals and States Attorney Davis Ruark sent them to jail it was discovered that the miscreants would be collecting full county pensions.  Shame on us.

By law, nothing could be done about the problem at hand.  However, Wicomico’s county council did take steps to make sure that such an event wouldn’t occur in the future.  If a county employee was found guilty of defrauding or otherwise stealing from the taxpayers they would forfeit the county’s contribution to their pension.

Last year it was discovered that a Wicomico County Board of Education (WCBOE) employee was defrauding the taxpayers (or if you are a lefty – “stealing form the children”).  I’m sure it wasn’t the first time; nor the last.  Assuming that this woman is convicted and sentence to jail, she will be eligible to receive her full pension.  Shame on us again?

Maybe.  The WCBOE bureaucrats read the paper.  Hell, thanks to their “special relationship” they practically run it.  But, I’m willing to give them the benefit of the doubt as to why they didn’t pass a resolution similar to the county’s soon after the county passed their new pension rules.  However, in early December of last year the Wicomico County Council sent a letter to superintendent John Fredericksen asking that they adopt a similar resolution.  Almost four months have passed.  NOTHING.

If the WCBOE doesn’t act, then the next time an employee is discovered stealing from the taxpayer, the fault will lie squarely on Fredericksen and the board.  Perhaps Fredericksen, et al, will argue that their collective bargaining agreements wouldn’t allow them to pass such legislation.  But wait, I thought that it was all “FOR THE CHILDREN”.

Tomorrow – Part I of The Big Field Trip, our expose of waste, fraud, and abuse in the WCBOE Travel Budget

It’s pretty obvious from yesterday’s Daily Times op-ed that Wicomico County schools superintendent John Fredericksen never bothered taking an economics class during his many years of post-secondary education.  Fredericksen seems to be under the delusion that the Wicomico County Board of Education (WCBOE) is somehow an “economic engine” that grows our local economy:

The Wicomico County school system is one of the region’s top three employers, an economic engine with 25 schools and more than 2,500 employees. Our employees support the Wicomico County economy and the communities where they live, magnifying the effect of dollars that are spent on public education.

While I certainly don’t expect Fredericksen to grasp Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations, he should at least take the time to tackle Henry Hazlitt’s Economics in One Lesson.  Government spending CANNOT CREATE WEALTH.  Wealth creation is what grows an economy over the long term.

Government spending is simply the transfer of funds from sources that could be using those funds to create wealth to other sectors of the economy.  No NEW wealth is created.

Yes John, it is true that your “more than 2,500 employees” buy groceries, fuel and other goods.  Yes John, it is true that there is some multiplier effect from that spending.  However, this does not GROW our economy.

Yes John, it is true that we need public schools.  It’s also true that those same employees contribute to the local economy.  However, the money that is being taken from local, state and federal taxpayers to support your bureaucratic enterprise cannot create wealth (which is what creates employment over the long term).  The state and federal taxes that are paid by our local taxpayers is not all going to help government here; it’s going to support various follies across the Bay or throughout the country.

Fredericksen’s argument is akin to the recent argument by Del. Jim Mathias (D-38B).  Mathias tried to claim that replacing our local manufacturing base with government enterprises such as SU and Wor-Wic, along with the non-profit (and non-taxpaying) PRMC is somehow a fair trade.  It isn’t.

POLITICS BUNDLED AS ECONOMICS

While Fredericksen attempts to argue that we should support our local schools not only because of its core mission, but because it contributes to our economy, his real agenda is far different.  As the WCBOE faces its FY 2011 budget, and its primary patron, Wicomico County Executive Rick Pollitt faces re-election, Fredericksen is making a political argument:

We should support our public schools because we have to educate our children AND because this spending is crucial to our local economy.

Yes John, we need to educate our children.  However, the taxpayers have a right to expect you to do so in an efficient manner.  You simply lose credibility with the public by attempting arguments that are not only specious, they are the worse kind of sophistry.

During this week, we will be providing yet more evidence of the WCBOE’s real attitude towards the taxpayers of Wicomico County – we are merely ripe fruit to be squeezed.  If Fredericksen really wanted the taxpayers to support our public schools he should stop pontificating on economic issues – a subject he is obviously less qualified in than your average college sophomore – and start showing the voters of Wicomico County that he is serious about curtailing the wasteful spending and runaway bureaucracy which have been, to date, the hallmarks of the WCBOE.

Tracey Sahler, “Public Information Liaison” (that’s “Spin Doctor at Taxpayer Expense” for you non-bureaucrats out there) for the Wicomico County Board of Education (WCBOE) really earned her pay this week.  She’s proving the old adage “It’s not what you know, but who you know” is definitely true when it comes to the WCBOE and the Daily Times.  Thanks to her relationship with the paper’s managing editor (her husband, Erick Sahler), Daily Times reporter Greg Latshaw will not only print the WCBOE’s spin, but their lies as well.

Sunday, the paper ran a front page story – “Wicomico School Travel Expenses Scrutinized”.  This piece was in obvious reaction to pieces ran last week by both Delmarva Dealings and Salisbury News outlining just a few of the abuses found by Wicomico County Councilman Joe Holloway.  Holloway has spent months attempting to get this information from the WCBOE and has been stonewalled every step of the way.  He has requested copies of the receipts for specific line items and has still not received those!  Yet, what was Mr. Latshaw’s lead for this puff piece?

The Wicomico County school system is viewing every out-of-town conference or business lunch with increased scrutiny as it prepares for big budget reductions.  "We would anticipate the (seminars and conferences) budget to be substantially and significantly reduced," said Superintendent John Fredericksen.

The WCBOE has refused to cut this year’s travel budget – instead choosing to cut from SPECIAL ED!  They have been caught using taxpayer funds for trips to Hooter’s, junkets to Vegas (including tickets to a Toby Keith concert), and dinner at Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse!  It appears that the taxpayers have even been charged for Superintendent John Fredericksen and Wicomico County Executive Rick Pollitt to have lunch.  Yet, Latshaw (and his boss Erick Sahler) want the public to believe that the WCBOE is attempting to be a faithful steward of the taxpayers’ money.

Fredericksen Lies … Again

Quite possibly the biggest whopper in this work of fiction is a quote from Fredericksen:

Fredericksen said the school system is pleased to comply with Holloway’s request for more detailed information and will likely have the information to him by the end of next week.

That’s right John, you’re PLEASED to comply.  That’s why you stonewalled Holloway for months in his attempt to receive a printout of WCBOE travel expenses.  The only reason he received those was because one of your bureaucrats let it slip (at a council meeting) that the only thing required to fulfill Holloway’s request was to enter the necessary codes for travel expenses into the computer and hit “PRINT”.  Fredericksen has previously issued a letter to Holloway claiming that it would cost thousands of dollars to provide the information.  I guess those folk over at the central office are getting paid $1million an hour.

Holloway requested copies of receipts of a small number of transactions WEEKS AGO.  If you are so PLEASED to comply with the request, why hasn’t he received them yet?  If you were so PLEASED to provide the information, why did you call Council President Gail Bartkovich and ask if Holloway’s request was JUST from Joe Holloway or was it from the entire council?  Why did Bartkovich consider it necessary to have the council hold a vote DEMANDING the information?

Sure John, you’re PLEASED to comply.

Fredericksen also claims that overnight travel has been “frozen”:

We’ve frozen all national travel.

Last year, Fredericksen told the county council the same thing.  Yet, when it was brought to the board’s attention that a few members of council had uncovered instances of overnight travel they were told that a “freeze” simply meant that all instances of overnight travel were being “scrutinized”.

THAT’S WHAT THEY WERE SUPPOSED TO BE DOING ALL ALONG!  A “FREEZE” means that the practice has been stopped.  These bureaucrats just don’t get it.  The money they spend doesn’t fall from the sky.  Hard working men and women sweat and toil to provide those dollars.  The least these people can do is spend that money with some sense of respect as to where it came from.

Sadly, the board, Fredericksen, and his top bureaucrats seem to believe that taxpayers exist for one purpose – TO FUND THEIR FOLLY.

IT’S FOR THE CHILDREN

The WCBOE argues that their primary concern is “the children”.  Yet, as Holloway pointed out, teachers are being forced to spend their own money on supplies.  Taxpayer money is thrown away giving retirees INCREASED benefits.  Travel funds (whether needed or not) are being squandered.  Parents are denied school choice and the WCBOE’s four employee unions seem to dictate policy.

This problem is not unique to Wicomico County.  When the Washington Post, hardly a leader of conservative thought, admits that the MSEA (the state teachers’ union) is more concerned about lining their own pockets and featherbedding their own jobs than providing a quality education for Maryland’s children, then you know that things have really gotten bad in the Once Free State.

SPIN, SPIN, SPIN …

Latshaw’s article causes more questions to be asked than provides answers.  Why did Latshaw use up over 1/3 of his article attempting to defend training for WCBOE employees?  I don’t recall anyone saying that there shouldn’t be any training.  Why didn’t Latshaw address the questions that have been asked by some officials and the public, namely wasteful use of travel dollars (concert tickets, dinners at VERY expensive restaurants)?  Why did Latshaw print obviously false statements?

As the 2010 elections become closer, perhaps the WCBOE should give Tracey Sahler another pay increase.  As they become a leading issue of the county elections, they will need for the Daily Times to continue “getting their back”.  Taxpayers are tired of excuses.  They want to see our children educated.  They don’t want to see money wasted on junkets to Vegas.

Wicomico County Executive Rick Pollitt took his anti-revenue cap show on the road this morning.  Speaking before a Salisbury / Wicomico Economic Development (SWED) meeting, Pollitt and a member of his finance staff argued that the county’s existing revenue cap is simply unsustainable.

I would agree that the revenue cap is unsustainable without a genuine re-structuring of the county government.  This point has been argued for several years by Wicomico Councilwoman Stevie Prettyman.

However, instead of moving to re-structure the government we see a “nibbling around the edges” approach.  Perhaps this approach is being taken by Pollitt in the hope that the cap can be repealed in the near term?  However as long as 53% of every county tax dollar is funneled to a board of education that holds the taxpayer in utter contempt, and Pollitt refuses to hold these bureaucrats accountable, Pollitt is left with his current approach of slowly starving taxpayers of services until they might agree to repeal of the cap.

Pollitt, and readers, may argue that modifying the cap or replacing it with a rate cap is the answer.  It isn’t.  One need only look to the soon to be bankrupt state of California for evidence of this.  Thanks to Prop 13 California has enjoyed a rate cap for over 25 years.  However, two things have occurred as surely as the sun rising in the east:

1. Tax bills have continued to climb due to rising assessments.
2. The government continues to grow spending at a rate faster than assessments rise.

Whenever you hear Pollitt, Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, or Wicomico Councilman Bill McCain talk about a “structural deficit” that is what you are witnessing – government simply wants to spend more money than it has at its disposal.  Wicomico County government will never have enough money.  Whatever is available, the bureaucrats will want to spend more.

The meeting will be broadcast tomorrow or Thursday on PAC-14.  Watch it.  Then, think hard.  Do you want your tax bill (or rent) rising by 5%, 10% or more each year?  Do you want to watch county government continue to waste money each year?  If so, support repeal of the revenue cap..

If you want to see your tax dollars wisely spend, attend the public hearing on November 10th and demand that the county council make genuine, structural changes to the county government – AND that they demand the same from the WCBOE.

There is no joy seeing Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley finally admit that the state’s level of education spending is unsustainable.  If O’Malley had confessed that simply throwing money is not the solution to any problem there would be some cause for applause; unfortunately, this is a lesson that O’Malley is unlikely to learn.

There is no question that pain will be felt at boards of education around the once Free State.  The question will be – WHO feels the the pain?

Will bureaucracy take the hit before classroom instruction?  Doubtful.  If you live in a county like Wicomico you will be TOLD that this is the case.  Of course, you are already being told that all taxpayer monies are well spent.  As you will see next week, the WCBOE doesn’t have a very good record when it comes to truthfulness.  This is particularly so when money is being discussed.

Parents (and taxpayers in general) need to contact their ELECTED representatives and start demanding that tax dollars need to be going to EDUCATE CHILDREN, not FEED THE BUREAUCRACY.  Appointed boards seem to believe that they serve employee unions rather than taxpayers and the children they are charged with educating.  The only hope for citizens seeing that their tax dollars are well spent is from their county council members or commissioners.

In the words of that great scholar Gomer Pyle, “SURPRISE! SURPRISE! SURPRISE!”.

The Maryland State Teachers Association (now traveling under the moniker “Maryland State Education Association”) has endorsed Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley and Rep. Frank Kratovil for re-election.

Why would this, or any other supposedly non-partisan group, endorse these candidates over one year before the election?  Money.

We need to remember that the MSEA is no more about education than the United Auto Workers.  They are a union, plain and simple.  Their purpose is to get more teachers hired and negotiate higher pay for those teachers.  Their job is make sure that teachers can’t be fired for poor performance and to ensure that teachers’ work as little as possible.  That said, they are no more concerned with providing quality education than the UAW is with making sure that GM, Ford, and Chrysler build quality cars.

To do so, they need to tie themselves to Democrats.  Wait!  I thought that the MSEA was supposed to be non-partisan?

This is an update to last night’s story regarding the misstatements of Wicomico County Board of Education (WCBOE)  President Mark Thompson.

WCBOE “Public Information Liaison” Tracy Sahler is back in her office today, but she’s hiding the facts from the public.  To understand the extent to which the WCBOE will go to prevent citizens (and even our elected officials) from knowing the truth about what goes on at the corner of Mt. Hermon Road and Long Avenue (the WCBOE offices), we’ll give you a little background.

After reading Thompson’s statements in Thursday’s Daily Times, I decided to do a little research.  A couple of things didn’t ring quite true.  After finding out more about the Reading Forever Fund (an admirable charity) and how it works, I asked two SPECIFIC questions of the WCBOE:

1. Where does the money which is given by schools to the Reading Forever Fund come from?
2. If the WCBOE (or an individual school) did not order the books in question, who did?

What is the response from Sahler?  Initially she attempted to dodge the question by telling me about “the process” that the WCBOE is going through to find out how this happened in the first place.  While I am interested in this, that wasn’t my question.  While I am even more interested in what the WCBOE plans to do to make that there isn’t a repeat occurrence; again, that wasn’t my question.  I also wouldn’t expect an answer to those questions today.

When this was brought to Sahler’s attention, I was told that I wouldn’t receive an answer until AFTER “we have gone through the process”.  In other words, don’t expect an answer anytime soon.

I understand that a committee will meet Monday to make a recommendation to Supt. John Fredericksen as to whether or not the books in question should be permanently removed from school library shelves.  If Fredericksen had been clearer or more forthcoming from the start I don’t think that there would be a huge objection.  That has nothing to do with the questions I have posed to the WCBOE.

Sadly, I think we all know the reason why they don’t want to answer.  It’s highly likely that what board president Mark Thompson told the press wasn’t true.  It’s possible that he may have lied.  Sahler and Fredericksen are hoping that a big announcement that “the problem has been taken care of” will provide cover for Thompson.

Sorry guys.  It simply won’t do.  Time and again we have seen the WCBOE hedge the truth, hide the truth, hide from the truth, or simply provide misleading or false information.  Just today, Sahler attempted to argue that TWO SEPERATE statements make by Fredericksen to the Daily Times should have been interpreted by the reader as one statement.  Yet, when our elected officials request information they often provided misleading data because their request wasn’t SPECIFIC enough.

Is there any wonder why the public has little or no trust in the people running the Wicomico County public schools?