Mr. Magnanimous

Looks like School Superintendent Kevin Maxwell still doesn't get it.

Anne Arundel County School Superintendent Kevin M. Maxwell proposed a $977.4 million operating budget last night for the next fiscal year, a nearly 5 percent increase over last year's proposal.

That's right, in this economic climate Maxwell wants a five-percent increase in school spending, and once again he wants a massive increase in spending without requisite and appropriate evaluation of already existing program. The state of Maryland probably cannot afford a $46 million increase in spending on a budget in excess of $20 billion and the county is $36 million in the red; Maxwell, as usual, displays and enormous amount of gall and chutzpah to offer up such a gigantic increase in these economic conditions; it's even more than his $920 million proposal of just two years ago, in a better economic time. He learned none of the lessons he should have taken from the responsibile measures seen from Baltimore City Superintendent Andres Alonso.

But never fear. Maxwell offers up a concession:

Maxwell stressed that the budget was conservative in light of the current economic climate, and that there would be no raises for his roughly 60 senior and executive staff members.

Well golly, I feel better knowing that he isn't proposing any increases to his immediate staff members after he has doubled the number of employees making six-figures in his time as Superintendent. Gee, how magnanimous, especially after he got his precious bonus back in October.

Maxwell's budget again serves as a reminder of the tremendous hype that is put into school funding. Sadly, or unelected and nonrepresentational school Board will probably rubber stamp this budget without doing their due diligence. It's just unfortunate that we cannot have the leaders of our school system be responsible stewards of taxpayer dollars, provide a quality education, and actually represent the people of Anne Arundel County...