Every time Harford County Public Schools leaders talk finances, we have the same thought: Quit lamenting what you don't have and start figuring out ways to pay for what you need.
It's that simple. Crying over spilled milk doesn't clean up the mess it created. Nor, does hand-wringing about the money the public schools aren't receiving for the things students and staff need.
How much money is there to spend? How much more can we reasonably expect? What are our priorities? What can we pay for and what do we have to do without?
Businesses do it every day. The school system should, too.
Budgeting and finances are not complicated, and we understand that just because it's pretty simple, doesn't mean it's easy. It's not.
The incessant moaning from our school system's leadership about the lack of funding is, however, rather unbecoming of a bureaucracy entrusted with not only educating our children, but also helping prepare them for the real world.
The most recent "whine fest" was the annual Harford County Council review of the county's planned share of the next HCPS budget, which was held last week.
Given the chance to complain, school officials, as usual, didn't disappoint.
"It just isn't an even playing field in comparison to other [school systems]," Superintendent Barbara Canavan told the council.
Canavan pointed to the Harford school system's bring-your-own-technology-to-school program for its students as being successful, but limited.
We agree. There are limits to what teachers and their students can do with a hodgepodge of technology that, by definition, will have issues.
Left unsaid, but presumed, from David Anderson's story in The Aegis Friday about the council's review school system's budget, is the technology shortcomings are as bad for the faculty and staff as they are for the students.
Technology, as most of us loathe saying, is the lifeblood of our society. Without it, we're lost and, in most cases, shut down. It will only be more so as our elementary school students today grow into tomorrow's parents.
"Technology is expensive, but it's very, very important especially in these days and times if we're going to continue to be competitive," Councilman Curtis Beulah said.
And, that's why it's no longer acceptable for our school system to treat its technology woes as the fault of county and state governments that won't give them more money.
What needs to be done is simple, but painful. School leaders should figure out what kind and how much technology they need, affix a cost to those needs and include it among expenses.
HCPS leaders wouldn't dare leave buildings unheated because they don't have enough money to buy fuel. Nor, should they leave the occupants of those buildings bereft of technology.
It's past time for our school leaders to be serious about budgeting, especially as it comes to teacher pay and technology upgrades, and to figure out how to pay for those priorities within available means.
That's what every business and household in Harford County does every day. Harford County Public Schools should do the same.