Government - Quick Refresher on Appropriations

I've said before that Montgomery County School System appears to no longer teach government in the schools. This was reinforced after reports of this morning's Ed Committee Meeting for the County Council.

For those of you in need of a refresher, here is a definition of public appropriations law that I like from Answers.com:

The grant of money by a legislature for some specific purpose. The authority to grant appropriations, popularly known as the power of the purse, gives legislatures a powerful check over executive branches and judicial branches, for no public money can be spent without legislative approval. Congress, for example, can approve or reject the annual budget requests of the executive branch for its agencies and programs, thereby influencing both domestic and foreign policy. (See also checks and
balances and pork-barrel legislation.)

Thank goodness government was still part of the curriculum when Phil Andrews attended school in MCPS. I look forward to a follow-up when we find out exactly how those lovely 3,300 fancy whiteboards wound up in classrooms across the county, and whether anyone other than Dr. Weast and those invited to "the table" had a say on whether these tech toys were more beneficial than, let say, special education programs, science labs, textbooks, or teachers.