Superintendent recommends against planning board that county council change policy

Gazette:  Montgomery school facility payments back up for debate

...Starr will recommend to the Montgomery County Board of Education on Thursday that it ask the County Council to change its policy that restricts the way the school system spends money it gets from developers that build in crowded areas.
Starr wrote in a memo to the board that he wants the school system to be able to spend the money, known as school facility payments, “more broadly” in the county, and not just in the area, or school cluster, they are collected.
Some of those who were opposed to the change before still say they are not budging, including County Councilwoman Valerie Ervin (D) of Silver Spring.
Ervin said she hadn’t yet reviewed Starr’s recommendations, but it did not sound like a workable solution.
“It gives the school system full authority and full responsibility to determine in a subjective way where the funds get spent,” Ervin said. “I think that would be very difficult for the council to agree on that.”...