Regardless of political affiliations, we all want every child in Harford County to succeed no matter where they’re from, how much money their family has, or what they look like.

Months ago, Bob Cassilly promised giving only $15 million over last year's funding, regardless of the Board of Ed's request (which would have been a $27 million cut from the request). Mr. Cassilly then tried to make a side deal with the Board of Ed, seeking select Board members to vote down the Superintendent's proposed budget and to create a new budget that suited Cassilly's agenda with the promise that if the Board of Ed did this, he would increase funding to almost $25 million.

However, the Board of Ed approved the Superintendent's budget as it was written and Cassilly didn't get his way. Now Bob Cassilly is backing out of providing any additional funding and stating he is going to flat fund the budget, which would be over $40 million less than requested. This is after a $29 million cut last year. He is threatening to fund the bare minimum required by law.

Last week, County Executive Bob Cassilly released a statement that because revenue of Harford County's over 1 billion dollar budget fell by $13 million, he must cut all additional funding to the school system. Make no mistake, Harford County government has millions of dollars in reserve assets. The children of Harford County Public Schools are our future leaders, and they deserve better. Underfunding year after year will impact the future success of not only our students, but also our county.

These cuts will take a wrecking ball to our neighborhood schools. Harford County Public Schools has some of the largest class sizes in the state. Cuts to the school system budget will increase class sizes due to the inability to hire additional educators. In addition, cuts to the school's operating budget will impact what resources we have for our struggling students, which will further impact achievement scores.

In total, over the last 12 years, Harford County Public Schools has been underfunded by over $200.9 million, but Bob Cassilly is the ONLY county executive who has ever funded the school system LESS money the year before. A school system cannot do more with less year after year.

Email Bob Cassilly. Tell him to stop playing games with our children's futures and fund the budget as promised.