Cost of new MSDE system could be a good proxy for the cost of implementing a searchable database of MCPS purchases

The main objection by the MCPS BOE to the MCPS spending transparency bill has been that the web-accessible database would reportedly cost at least $50,000 to implement.

In previous postings here, I've suggested that the application could be implemented for about $5,000 using existing MCPS information systems infrastructure.

Coincidentally, the Maryland State Department of Education recently put the child care provider records online in a searchable database. The new searchable child care provider database is technically very similar to the system that the MCPS spending transparency bill requires. It's a search - select - display type of application, with no complex business logic and a simple, read-only interface.

An anticipated benefit of the online child care system is that the quality of child care provider assessments will improve, just as one of the anticipated benefits of the funding transparency system is to improve the accountability of MCPS.

According to an article in the Washington Post about the new child care provider information system:

Smith, the national child-care advocate, argues that more information is better for parents. "You have to trust parents to understand a minor from a major violation," she said, noting that many states have worried about liability and whether parents will misinterpret inspection reports. "Parents understand this more than people give them credit for," she said.

Research shows that inspectors become more precise and careful in their assessments when they are posted online, Smith said. This, she said, is good for parents and providers. "Inspectors got better with their jobs," she said. "It was not that parents all of the sudden got inundated with information they didn't understand."

So how much did it cost for the MSDE to implement the new system? Was it $200,000, as some have speculated that the MCPS spending transparency system would cost? Was it $50,000, as the MCPS BOE has forecast for the spending transparency system? Or was it $5,000, the estimate that I gave for the MCPS system in my testimony to the Montgomery County delegation?

The answer is found in the last paragraph of the Washington Post article:

The state's new system was developed at virtually no cost, Grafwallner said, because it was built with software the state already uses to help parents locate child care.

In looking around the MCPS web site, it is evident that MCPS, too, has the database and web-interface structure already in place to support an application that meets the requirements of the MCPS Spending Transparency bill.