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Friday, October 26, 2012

Guest Post: "Vote these Board of Education members out..."

The tearing down of structurally sound schools and replacing them with multimillion dollar grand structures, like Hoover and Cabin John Middle schools, is of great concern to many Montgomery County residents, who feel tax payer dollars should be spent more on better education of our main stream children. Attempts to get information as to who the decision makers are consistently fall on deaf ears.

Two members, Christopher Barkley and Phil Kauffman, are up for reelection. Both are members of the Board’s Fiscal Management Committee. As responsible tax payers who are outraged by their performance we are left with but one choice. Vote these Board of Education members out and demand fiscal responsibility from their replacements. Perhaps, this action will help the other members to take notice and realize that Montgomery County residents demand more of their elected officials.

At a time when Maryland has been operating in the red for many years, expenditures of this sort can and should be cut every which way possible. Every department can help to balance the budget.

Meher Desai

15 comments:

  1. Alas, budgeting is sometimes at fault.

    Money can be provided for reconstruction but NOT for enhancement, renovation, or additions.

    Other times, renovation can cost more than teardown and building new. Montgomery Blair in Silver Spring was an example of that odd dynamic. WHY does renovation cost so much more I would like to know but didn't venture into the fiscal weeds that far at the time. Likely it's an issue of how many man-hours each costs. Renovation is meticulous and detailed. Teardown is unsubtle and while involving lots of heavy equipment, maybe not a tremendous amount of staffing.

    I don't have these numbers and if someone else does, it would be of high interest to get at motives and potential solutions to high costs of building maintenance.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Alas, more fluff.

      Who says "...money can be provided for reconstruction but NOT for enhancement..."? What a bunch of garbage. Jerry Weast tacked an addition on to any school he wanted. Special interest in the school? Got an addition! Jerry Weast moved construction money around as he desired.

      Who says "renovation can cost more than teardown?" When the MCPS numbers on the Seven Locks/Kendale project were audited they were shown to be BOGUS. That's a fact and the report exists.

      No one has the numbers because MCPS just SPENDS. They don't do cost analysis. They have their special architects and construction firms and they funnel them as much business as possible.

      Delete
    2. FACT: MCPS does tear downs on schools WITHOUT EVEN STATE APPROVAL. Cabin John Middle School was to the ground and re-built without any State approval.

      So WHO did that tear down? MCPS. All by its self!

      Delete
  2. If it wasn't approved by the State, and specifically PSCP and the IAC, can the County ever receive state funds towards reimbursement of the construction costs?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Good question. But, here in MCPS land we don't care. We have tons of cash.

      Delete
    2. It's called forward funding. We tear down today, look for money later. Maybe it will come, maybe not. Who cares?

      Delete
    3. Do they carry the "future funding" as an account payable?

      At some point I would think an auditor would ask the validity or likelihood of recovery for of the "asset"?

      Delete
    4. I meant to say "account receivable".

      Delete
  3. I'm sure these steps were followed.

    http://www.pscp.state.md.us/APG/FIN%20APG%20SEC%20203%20Feasibility%20Studies%20-%20IAC%209-22-11.pdf

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. If you are so sure, prove it. Show the documentation that Cabin John Middle School was approved by the State PRIOR to demolition.

      Go ahead.

      Enough with the anonymous rumors. These are documents that either exist or don't. When I looked, they didn't exist.

      Delete
    2. Oh, heck. Look. I have proof. No prior State approval of Cabin John modernization.

      from Howard Freedlander
      date Mon, May 24, 2010 at 1:47 PM
      subject School construction in Montgomery County
      mailed-by treasurer.state.md.us
      Janis Sartucci—

      Thank you very much for your inquiry to our website about construction of a concrete retaining wall along the perimeter of a school construction site. You asked whether the Board of Public Works approved the Cabin John Middle School project in Potomac.

      I did two things in response to your question: I checked documents related to the public school construction capital improvement program, and I communicated with Dr. David Lever, executive director of the public school construction program. First, the Board of Public Works has not approved either planning or funding for this project in the fiscal year 2011 capital improvement program. Though the project is eligible for state approvals, fiscal constraints have precluded approval of this $18,486,000 project. Second, design of the retaining wall rests with the county and the board of education.

      Again, we appreciate your taking the time to write us.

      Howard

      Howard Freedlander
      Deputy Treasurer for External Affairs
      Goldstein Treasury Building
      80 Calvert Street
      Annapolis, MD 21401

      Delete
    3. This said it was "eligible", but never approved.

      I assume the BOE and County Council assume they will never get reimbursed since it was never approved?

      Does this show up as a future collectible on the balance sheet somewhere? Could it affect bond ratings if these funds are never collected?

      Delete
  4. Anonymous, you say that you don't have the numbers. We on the Parents' Coalition are all volunteers. We have kids. We work. We cook dinner. We do the laundry. Just like you and everyone else who reads the blog. Nevertheless, we find out the numbers and we post what we find out on the blog. I would appreciate it if you would find out the numbers and let us know. Getting this information requires time, and persistence. Anyone can do it. Are you game?

    ReplyDelete
  5. re: bond ratings. That is an interesting question. County Executive Leggett meets with the ratings folks up in NYC periodically. Maybe he will know. Or, you could ask them directly. How does this kind of hanky panky affect our AAA bond rating?

    ReplyDelete
  6. re: bond ratings

    I know an uncollectable AR would impact a corporate balance sheet. Just curious if the promise of "future funding" by the State, even if the project isn't eligible for funding because it wasn't approved at the state level, would show up as an asset and, if so, when that "asset" gets written off.

    ReplyDelete

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