Superintendent Weast told the committee how he spent the federal stimulus funding for MCPS within a week of passage of the federal legislation! Weast neglected to mention that there was no opportunity for the public to comment on his surprise spending plan last year; and, that the Board voted on his plan at the same meeting where it was introduced, skipping the Board's requirement that new business lie on the table. His message this year, send more money! You can read his statement below.
Instructions for submitting written testimony to this Subcommittee are here.
Weast Senate Testimony 012110-Final
I'm confused.
ReplyDeleteWas some of this money spent on the rent-to-own Promethean Boards (under the guise of spending on special education "universal design for learning")?
Why did Weast use ARRA funds to EXPAND the hours-based staffing model? I thought that the ARRA was supposed to be used for one-time-only expenditures. When the stimulus money is gone, is he going to go back to the regular staffing model? Of course not! Meanwhile: what ever happened to the study that was supposed to be done to see whether the hours-based staffing model was actually effective? Remember the idea that it was supposed to be a PILOT? Just another one of those "sounds good so let's put it everywhere-kind-of-"pilot." No studies, no data. What's the point of public testimony anymore?
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