Here's some cash that does not show up in the MCPS Operating Budget! That's why we call it a slush fund.
Superintendent Starr is collecting the rent from cell towers that have been placed on MCPS playgrounds, but he isn't reporting this income in the MCPS Operating Budget. Fooled you County Council and Ike Leggett!
The money collected from cell tower leases does not show up in the MCPS Operating Budget, it does not pay for teacher salaries, it does not pay for textbooks, and it does not go into the Capital Budget.
What is this money spent on? You'll have to ask Superintendent Starr! That's why we call it a slush fund. There is no transparency or accountability for how these funds are spent. The money gets handed off to local principals and to the MCPS Real Estate office and none of them are reporting how they spend this cash.
And, Superintendent Starr wants more! He wants 2 more cell tower compounds so he can collect almost $1 million dollars in slush fund cash! The Parents' Coalition has learned that he wants cell towers at Neelsville Middle School and Forest Oak Middle School.
In order for the public to find out how much money had been collected in 2011 in the cell tower slush fund the Parents' Coalition had to "Ask a Budget Question". It took two tries and 4 months to get an answer, but here it is finally.
"Slush fund".
ReplyDeleteI love the term and your hard hitting journalism is sorely lacking in virtually every news outlet there is. The 4th branch of government has fallen down on the job badly since I was a child.
That said, the opposite of a slush fund is a dedicated expense linked to revenue. This can be deemed an "earmark."
When people wring their hands about "government spending", they decry "earmarks" when the alternative is a "slush fund".
If they hate both, then say so, you're a anti-spending conservative. That's fine, in its way, but don't be hoodwinked into thinking "earmarks" are especially evil. At least earmarks are documented. Long live the earmark, and down with the "slush fund"!
Neelsville and Forest Oak just happen to be the two middle schools that are in restructuring due to failing AYP for 5 years straight. Coincidence?
ReplyDeletePlacing cell towers at these two schools will just provide added incentive for teachers to seek assignments at better performing schools. Any teacher who is assigned to work at a school that is not the home-school for his/her MoCo residence receives the benefit of being able to transfer children to schools in the boundaries in which the teacher is assigned. Of course, MCPS does not allow the children of non-teachers to transfer out-of-boundary to schools that might be free from cell towers and/or to accommodate parents’ employment.
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