Thursday, January 31, 2013
Parent and civic groups to take a 'chapter-by-chapter' look at the $2.2 billion proposal.
With the Montgomery County School Board’s budget hearings complete, parent and civics groups are hosting their own forum on the proposed budget for the 2013-2014 school year. The forum, dubbed a “Book Club Budgetpalooza”—a name borrowing from the “book club” discussions hosted by MCPS Superintendent Joshua P. Starr and calling to mind the alternative rock festival founded by Perry Farrell—will be held 7 to 9 p.m. Wednesday in the first floor meeting room of Rockville Memorial Library, at 21 Maryland Ave. in Rockville Town Square. It is hosted by the Montgomery County Civic Federation, the Parents' Coalition of Montgomery County, MD, and the Montgomery County Taxpayers League. “We will go chapter by chapter through the proposed MCPS FY14 …
Monday, January 28, 2013
The council’s Office of Legislative Oversight last examined the gap in 2008.
Friday, January 25, 2013
The council’s Office of Legislative Oversight last examined the gap in 2008.
Montgomery County legislative analysts are preparing to deliver an update next month on how Montgomery County Public Schools have spent the past five years addressing the achievement gap, The Gazette reported this week. The County Council’s Office of Legislative Oversight is set to release the report on the performance gap between white and Asian students and their black and Hispanic classmates on Feb. 26, The Gazette reported. Click here to read the full article in The Gazette. The report will examine the school system’s progress in narrowing gaps in performance on standardized tests and on other measures, such as suspension, graduation and drop-out rates and completion of career and technology education programs, according to a …
Wednesday, January 9, 2013
The hearing on Superintendent Starr's $2.2 billion plan will be held at 7 p.m. Thursday.
The Montgomery County Board of Education will hold a public hearing Thursday on Superintendent Joshua P. Starr’s $2.2 billion operating budget request for the 2013-2014 school year. The hearing, the first of two before the board, will be held at 7 p.m. at the Carver Educational Services Center, at 850 Hungerford Drive in Rockville. The hearing also will be broadcast live on the web and on MCPS TV (Comcast channel 34, Verizon FIOS channel 36, and RCN channel 88). A second hearing will be held at 7 p.m. Jan. 17 at the Carver Center. Click here for more information, including how to testify. The proposed spending plan for fiscal 2014, which begins July 1, is a $48.95 million increase (2.3 percent) over the current budget. Starr’s plan aims…
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
Superintendent remains confident that he can win over the County Council.
Superintendent Joshua P. Starr’s proposed $2.2 billion fiscal 2014 budget for Montgomery County schools could face a familiar challenge—how to comply with a state law on school funding minimums while winning approval from a County Council determined to rein in spending on schools. Starr's spending plan, unveiled Tuesday, is $10 million—less than half a percent—above the funding floor mandated by the state’s maintenance of effort law, which requires counties’ per-pupil spending to remain the same or increase from year to year. But the half percent increase could have major implications. County school budgets that dip below the funding level can have the difference withheld by the state comptroller when passing through income tax revenues to…
The $2.2 billion budget adds teachers and targets middle school instruction.
A $2.2 billion county schools operating budget proposed Tuesday by Superintendent Joshua P. Starr increases spending to manage growing enrollment, seeks to address persistent achievement gaps and invests in a curriculum aimed at meeting new state and national standards. It also sets the school system up for yet another debate with the Montgomery County Council over spending on K-12 education. “This is a responsible budget that allows us to keep up with growing enrollment, while making strategic investments that will benefit our students today and in the future,” Starr said in a statement. “A budget is a reflection of our values and I know that Montgomery County understands the direct connections between the quality of our schools and …
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Weast renews call for county aid, says programs are in jeopardy without it.
A $2.2 billion operating budget request approved by the county school board on Monday sets the stage for what could be contentious budget negotiations between the board and the County Council. “I’m just really concerned what it means for the long-term future of [Montgomery County Public Schools],” board President Christopher S. Barclay (Dist. 4) of Takoma Park said on Tuesday. The fiscal 2012 operating budget request includes no new programs or initiatives but increases spending by $82 million in order to keep up with enrollment growth of more than 3,300 students this school year. The spending plan would put the county in compliance with a state mandate that dictates that per-pupil spending remain the same or increase from one fiscal year…
Kabrina
1:00 pm on Friday, February 1, 2013
I hope there are a lot of concerned taxpayers wanting to know where their hardearned money is being spent are there as well as some reporters who actually report the truth. more ›