Robinson is the first to acknowledge that his agency needs tightening. A detailed budget priority report requested by lawmakers arrived four months late, just days before the General Assembly begins scrutinizing his budget today. On an evening in his Baltimore office, sitting behind an enormous table almost covered by stacks of files and reports, Robinson notes that changing staff attitudes and entrenched policies are among his biggest challenges. You really can't revolutionize this place. It has to be an evolution.
Money is a problem.
As it is, he will ask for more money in the supplemental budget for computer software to track children the moment they enter the system, an innovation reform advocates say is crucial. He clearly wants to leave a legacy. But he can't do these things if he doesn't get the support in the budget. Kopp and others, such as Del. Kenneth C. Montague Jr., a Baltimore Democrat who has sponsored a package of bills calling for increased agency accountability, also want to make sure reforms are written into law. If we allow this opportunity for some structural change to go by, we might be faced with these same problems down the road.