Delegate Al Carr Rocks!

Delegate Al Carr wanted some "sunshine" in Montgomery County and today we have it! 

Back in the winter of 2009, Delegate Al Carr was pushing for legislation to require MCPS to create a searchable website of expenditures of over $10,000 to vendors.  The Parents' Coalition advocated for this legislation and supported Delegate Carr's efforts through public comment in Rockville and Annapolis.

The Board of Education lobbied the legislature to raise the expenditure threshold to $25,000 and pushed to delay the implementation of the website until January 1, 2011.  The bill passed the House and then the Senate with the changes requested by the Board of Education. 

And today, the MCPS Funding Accountability and Transparency website is live! 

Some members of the legislature did not see the need for this legislation. One Delegate said that "The information is already there. It is transparent."

Now that the website is up, let's take a look.

Let's say you want to know the annual American Express bill for the 1,400 +/- MCPS credit cards. Go to the Board of Education minutes and search for "American Express." You will come up with a July 14, 2009 Board of Education approval for an American Express contract (shown in image) but no dollar amount.

Now, with the new website you can enter "American Express" (see image at top of post) and find out that in Fiscal Year 2010, MCPS paid American Express $ 5,257,632.

That's $5.2 million in MCPS spending that was not "transparent" in the Board of Education minutes. 

Thanks Delegate Al Carr and the Montgomery County Delegation for pushing through this legislation!