It was just 2021 when the WCBOE went with their Superintendent before the Wicomico County Council to approve "one-time funding" to purchase $30,000 in laptop carts for a school that was requesting more laptop carts than there were rooms in the entire school building. We proved and exposed the misappropriation of their bait-and-switch tactics in this past article. This is a cycle that continually repeats itself. With the school system hoping that the County Council will blindly approve educational funds under the guise of improving education, climbing aboard their abusive financial bandwagon advances just the opposite.
"If only we had more money, education would be improved." - The Cry of WCPS
What would happen if you give a teenager a credit card to buy whatever they want without conditions or boundaries? Would they be responsible? They will go on a shopping spree. The school system is a spoiled brat that has no accountability, and more money is never enough. They will always come back asking for more. Their history of wasteful spending continues year after year. You can see another perfect example of wasteful spending and even more misappropriation in this past article.
As for those laptop carts they needed so badly, here is what became of them. They are no longer used. They have been in storage covered with dust. Thousands of dollars of taxpayer funds have been wasted.
But they must consume the current budget so they can receive 5.63% more funding for next year's budget.
We look to the Wicomico County Council as an accountability measure to withhold funding from the WCBOE when it is warranted. It is definitely warranted at this time.
Counties across the state are holding their school systems accountable, which makes those counties more attractive to move to. The Worcester County Commissioners recently voted 4-2 to withhold funding from Worcester County Public Schools after they were obstructed by the Worcester County BOE and their Administration for simply requesting a more detailed budget. The details can be read in this article.
This year, the WCBOE and its administration did not include money for additional School Resource Officers (SROs) in their regular annual budget, but instead bundled the request for 3 more SROs into an extra funding request of nearly 1.5 million dollars outside of the school budget. This was a political move to force the Wicomico County Council into a position to either approve the extra funding or else appear that the council does not support keeping our schools safe.
Despite being warned well in advance, the Wicomico County Executive is now onboard with the extra funding as seen at the 5:49 mark of this video after stating to us that she would not approve it. As a result, she is now placing the Wicomico County Council in this predicament.
Sound familiar? This is what the federal government does to unethically obtain the things that they want. They bundle it all together to make a political wedge to force officials to give them what they want.
In the end, the people want quality education for their children and to know that their elected officials are looking out for them, while being good stewards of taxpayer dollars. The people also want transparency and accountability, which is not where we are currently. Unless we have strong officials with backbone to represent the citizens, these rogue government offices will continue to be willfully negligent without consequences. This is why we elected those who are in office today. We look to the Wicomico County Council to do the responsible thing, and not provide the school system with any extra funding that will be misappropriated and impact the county's Maintenance of Effort.
"There is desirable treasure, and oil in the dwelling of the wise, but a foolish man squanders it." - Proverbs 21:20
Fellows & Editors
May 11, 2023 - Copyright DelmarvaPTC.org
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