Loved the story. I had a similar experience. As part of an experimental Peace Corp training program, I was sent to Ethiopia between my 3rd and 4th years in college. Never had been out of the US. In Addis Ababa I was put on a bus for a 2 day journey to the end of the road in southwest Ethiopia and then a day’s walk to a remote village where they wanted a school built. When completed I carved a sign that was hung over the door, naming the school after JFK.

Decades later, working in DC for the association of public universities, I attended the rollout of a USAID higher education program. The chancellors of the African universities involved were there. I approach the Ethiopia chancellor whose university was on the road that I took years ago to get to my assignment. I asked where he was from, and he said the little town where I spent that summer. I told him about the school I had built and its name. He put his arms around me and said that he had graduated from the JFK school. He is a world-renowned epidemiologist. Seldom do one’s efforts create such fulfillment.

Your story brought that back to me.

Many thanks, Tag

I applaud The Blueprint education plan given its vision and mission, its ideology, intentions and objectives to achieve advancements in public education. Albeit, any plan, government or private industry, must be affordable and sustainable within a given revenue stream and budget; if not, it is a bad plan, and should be the subject of an obligated review and amendment.

We all know The Blueprint education plan, now, is a fiscal disaster, creating financial chaos and discontent for not only Kent County, but every County in the State, and the State itself. Everybody gets it, including Gov. Moore, County Commissioners, County Executives, and every school system Superintendent of all 24 jurisdictions in Maryland. Members of the General Assembly, ahem, not so much.

As a matter of record, Moody’s revised its outlook for Maryland to negative, citing “expected structural imbalances and planned depletion of General Fund surplus through fiscal 2025, which threatens to undermine performance relative to peers.” The cash and structural budget outlook deteriorates through 2029 because the costs of education outpaces the availability of funds for The Blueprint.

The purpose with this comment to the above article is to share with readers what future fiscal years forecast funding projections for KCPS looks like, stressing the increased budget challenges not only year-to-year, but also on a with-vs-without The Blueprint plan comparison. I have presented this info before in various letters-to-the-editor and op-eds, but am using a different format this time to hopefully make the financial challenges more clear.

We know the Department of Legislative Services (DLS) has provided three Blueprint funding projections for the 12 years of implementation: the original January 2022 funding projections WITHOUT The Blueprint [it doesn’t exist, no Kirwan Commission, Kirwan Recommendations, nor Legislation creating The Blueprint]; the original January 2022 funding projections WITH The Blueprint; and new January 2025 revised funding projections WITH The Blueprint, showing a 28% increase.

This first analysis is a look at the DLS’s ever increasing funding projections to implement The Blueprint, year-vs-year, based on the January 2025 newly revised funding projections that start at FY26. These are funding projections, not actuals. For FY26, KCPS requested funding exceeded the DLS projection; $21,200,000 projection-vs-$21,499,813 actual, and that is with KCPS using $1,499,660 of a budget surplus fund balance from previous year.

DLS PROJECTED KCPS
FUNDING WITH THE INCREASE FROM PREVIOUS
BLUEPRINT (2025) FISCAL YEAR TO NEXT FISCAL YEAR
FY26 $21,200,000.00
FY27 $23,700,000.00 + $2,500,000.00 more than FY26
FY28 $25,100,000.00 + $1,400,000.00 more than FY27
FY29 $26,800,000.00 + $1,700,000.00 more than FY28
FY30 $29,300,000.00 + $2,500,000.00 more than FY29
FY31 $30,400,000.00 + $1,100,000.00 more than FY30
FY32 $31,400,000.00 + $1,000,000.00 more than FY31
FY33 $32,800,000.00 + $1,400,000.00 more than FY32
FY34 $32,800,000.00 + No increase

This second analysis is a look at a comparison of the DLS funding projections WITH The Blueprint – versus – the DLS funding projections WITHOUT The Blueprint [Kirwan/Blueprint does not exist, no Kirwan Commission, Kirwan Recommendations, no Legislation creating The Blueprint.

DLS PROJECTED DLS PROJECTED
KCPS FUNDING WITH KCPS FUNDING WITHOUT
THE BLUEPRINT[2025] THE BLUEPRINT Difference

FY23 $19,500,000.00 vs $19,500,000.00
FY24 $20,200,000.00 vs $19,600,000.00 + $600,000.00
FY25 $20,400,000.00 vs $19,700,000.00 + $700,000.00
FY26 $21,200,000.00 vs $19,700,000.00 + $1,500,000.00
FY27 $23,700,000.00 vs $20,200,000.00 + $3,500,000.00
FY28 $25,100,000.00 vs $20,800,000.00 + $4,300,000.00
FY29 $26,800,000.00 vs $21,600,000.00 + $5,200,000.00
FY30 $29,300,000.00 vs $22,400,000.00 + $6,900,000.00
FY31 $30,400,000.00 vs $22,900,000.00 + $7,500,000.00
FY32 $31,400,000.00 vs $23,500,000.00 + $7,900,000.00
FY33 $32,800,000.00 vs $23,800,000.00 + $9,000,000.00
FY34 $32,800,000.00 vs $24,200,000.00 + $8,600,000.00
TOTAL $55,700,000.00

The conversion rate for County Real Estate Tax Revenue-to-County Real Estate Tax Rate is approx. $360,000 of Real Estate Tax Revenue for every $0.01 of County Real Estate Tax Rate [per $100 of assessment]. You do the math as to what county taxpayers could see as a probable increase in County Real Estate Tax Rates on a by-year basis just to fund the implementation of The Blueprint, no other County expenses.

Being redundant, any business plan, government or private industry, must be affordable and sustainable within a given revenue stream and budget; if not, it is a bad plan, and should be the subject of an obligated review and amendment.

The world is indeed small, Larry. I’m grateful for my time with QLF, and glad to know it is still in good hands.

I really enjoy your weekly Musings!

I think several good points were made within this article. Bottom line is this, no – no one wants Chestertown or Kent County to turn into Middletown. But what WOULD be nice is something, anything….NIMBYism is well and fine in measured amounts, but not when it is basically retarding any growth whatsoever. As to the point of the article, well waiting 18 months for a perc test is ridiculous. We raised our kids in northern Kent County. They attended elementary & middle school in Kent County. They are grown & married – one with a child on the way -and neither of them live in Kent County? Why – lack of career choices and better schools elsewhere. Look around, those of you with kids who grew up here who are now in their 20’s or early 30’s. How many of the kids they went to school with are still in the area? How many bought houses – hard pressed to say build cause, you know – no perc tests! here? The population of Kent County has essentially been stagnant over the past 10 years.

Thanks both for reading and reaching out, Lynn. I appreciate the effort.

Thank you, Stephanie. Your words touch me as well.

Thanks for your analysis.

I wanted the opportunity to meet you at a resent Kent County event, but I was told attendance was closed to just registered Republicans. I have attended a number of RoK events, but was shut out of this one.

Regards the State, and County Budgets, I have yet to read you pointing a finger at the elephant in the budget room … THE BLUEPRINT EDUCATION PLAN! The $4BILLION/YEAR STATE UNFUNDED MANDATE that is causing chaos and discontent within every County and County Equivalent in the State, and for that matter the State itself.

According to the Dept. Of Legislative Services, singling out our local jurisdiction, the funding that Kent County taxpayers might be asked to make up to implement THE BLUEPRINT are as follows: KCPS FY27 Budget is scheduled to be $2.5 million more than FY26; FY28 Budget scheduled to be $1.4 million more than FY27; FY29 $1.7 million more than FY28; FY30 $2.5 million more than FY29, and from FY30 the increases go up exponentially. All totaled somewhere between 35% and 100% increase in Real Estate Tax Bills just to fund THE BLUEPRINT when all is said and done.

Note: this is not Kent County Commissioner funding, but Kent County Taxpayer Funding.

Every news article about the State’s Budget, and every news article about Counties trying to balance their Budgets have a single common denominator of expense … THE BLUEPRINT EDUCATION PLAN, AKA THE KIRWAN EDU PLAN.

The General Assembly … i.e., Senate President Ferguson, House Speaker Jones and High Profile Committee Chairs Guzzone and Barnes, the people who are truly running the State, have increased and created 338 taxes and fees for FY25, and another 50 tax and fee increases and creations quantified for FY26, some of which you point out, in order to help balance the State Budget.

Lest we forget the huge amount of expense dollars the State has shifted down to Counties; what Gov. Moore called tax cuts. I think the dollar amount for Kent County is $1.6Million of State expanses the State shifted down to Kent county. [I stand to be corrected, as I ‘think’ that is the number I heard.]

Every County/County Equivalent is in Structural Deficit Status now because of THE BLUEPRINT EDUCATION PLAN, AKA THE KIRWAN EDU PLAN.

Please, would you address how Moody’s AAA credit rating for Maryland is now in critical jeopardy because Moody’s realizes Maryland and its Counties cannot financially sustain funding the unfunded THE BLUEPRINT EDUCATION PLAN, AKA THE KIRWAN EDU PLAN mandate.

For those who wish to read a thorough analysis of the funding requirements to implement THE BLUEPRINT, may I recommend you read this Dept. of Legislative Services Fiscal Note.

https://dls.maryland.gov/pubs/prod/Educ/LocalFiscalImpactofImplementingtheBlueprintforMarylandsFuture.pdf

Please note that the Exhibit 2.2 on page 11 was been revised just in time for this year’s General Assembly Session, and the total funding requirements for Kent County increased by a factor of $12Million, 28%.

Within the first 3 pages of this document, Kent County, and a few other Counties, are singled out as being SIGNIFICANTLY FINANCIALLY IMPACTED in the financial effort to implement THE BLUEPRINT EDUCATION PLAN, AKA THE KIRWAN EDU PLAN.

You do a great job of educating readers of The Spy, please educate them on THE BLUEPRINT EDUCATION PLAN!

Mike Waal