Reducing class sizes and securing funding for employee salary increases were the major topics of public concern during a Harford County Public Schools community town hall Thursday on the school system's fiscal 2018 budget.Just 10 people, many of them parents concerned about large classes in elementary and middle schools, attended the town hall at the school system's headquarters in downtown Bel Air.Several parents talked about their children being in elementary school classes that have 25 to 30 children, leaving their teachers less time to give each student the proper attention.Matthew Lazzaro said there are 29 students in his daughter's second-grade class at Churchville Elementary School."She has come home and complained many a time," he said.The town hall was the first public comment session on next year's budget, one of many opportunities for public comment during the next eight-and-a-half months.Speakers expressed their concerns to HCPS Superintendent Barbara Canavan, Chief of Administration Joe Licata, Deborah Judd, assistant superintendent for business services, and Budget Director Eric Clark."We need to have the pay funded, all the [salary] steps funded, so we don't continue to lose good teachers," parent Hillary Doherty, of Bel Air, said.The school system leaders project $439.6 million in operating revenue next year, compared to $454.3 million in expenditures, leaving a gap of more than $14.6 million.Clark noted the projected revenue does not include any potential transfers from the operating budget fund balance, or cash reserves. The school board approved a transfer of about $5.5 million in reserves to balance this year's budget, he said.That figure includes two last-minute transfers of a combined $823,746 from the fund balance to keep three HCPS swimming pools open for one year and preserve the interscholastic swimming program, plus restore fifth grade overnight visits to the Harford Glen Environmental Education Center.The board amended the budget to include those transfers when the $438.6 million operating budget was adopted June 13 after a six-hour marathon meeting."We don't feel it's fiscally responsible to pay ongoing expenses with fund balance," Clark said Thursday,The school system's priorities for next year's budget include two step increases and a 2 percent cost of living allowance for the second year of a three-year agreement between the school system and its employee unions.Salary and wage increases are expected to cost about $14 million next year, although Judd stressed those increases still depend on funding levels.The majority of the school system's revenue comes from the county and the state, with a much smaller amount from the federal government.Employee health insurance costs are expected to increase by 3 to 4 percent next year, or by $2 million to $2.8 million. Judd said the benefits will not change, and the increased spending is to maintain existing benefits.The school system has also put a request of $7 million for technology upgrades in next year's capital budget – the upgrades are needed for computers and other devices used daily in the classroom, as well as administering electronic PARCC tests, the state's annual standardized exam, according to school officials.Lazzaro, the Churchville Elementary parent, suggested curtailing funding for technology and shifting it to supporting classroom teachers."I'd like to see more money spent to put more teachers in the classroom and keep class sizes below 25," he said.Ryan Burbey, president of the Harford County Education Association, the local teachers' union, said the number of teachers leaving HCPS each year continues to increase, with salaries being a major factor."We are at that point where we can't lose one more experienced person and have to replace them," Burbey said.He stressed that employees must have the assurance that funding will be available for the negotiated salary increases or "we are going to continue to experience an exodus of teachers.Licata noted school officials, as well as County Executive Barry Glassman and the County Council, have made increasing salaries and wages a priority.Cindy Poper, an inclusion helper who works with special needs students at Bel Air Middle School, urged school officials to submit a budget to the county that has a realistic chance of getting funded and avoid the "inevitable scramble" in May and June to make unpopular cuts and reconcile the budget request with the available funding."It creates an excessive amount of public drama and outcry and is an absolute sucking black hole of wasted time, energy and resources on everyone's part," Poper said.Deidre DeRoia, board president of the nonprofit Harford Glen Foundation, thanked school officials for restoring funding to Harford Glen.She said Thursday that there has been "a very positive public response" to capital improvements at Harford Glen facilities."All we're asking is that you keep Harford Glen's overnight program in the FY18 budget, if you can," DeRoia said.