Capital Op-ed

Brandenburg, Amalie, Strong support of schools continues, Capital, May 9, 2017.

Snider Comment

“[I]t would be helpful to address some of the misinformation about school funding often spread this time of year.”

More than 80% of the AACPS operating budget goes to compensation. Under Maryland law, much of that data is covered on an individual level under Maryland’s Public Information Act. But citizens (and school board members) are subject to intimidation, harassment, and interminable delay from AACPS if they seek to use the PIA to access that data. It may thus be termed a “parchment” law (a term that suggests a law that in the real world may be worth no more than the paper it is written on).

To allow citizens to meaningfully analyze how their elected officials are allocating resources, AACPS should be mandated to publicly disclose this raw budget data online so that citizens need not risk the welfare of their families, especially their children, when they try to vet and otherwise analyze public officials’ compensation claims.  For details, see K12Transparency.info.