MCCPTA is the Countywide organization for local PTAs.
PTAs are clubs that require the payment of dues for membership. As of this month, PTA membership represents less than 30% of all Montgomery County Public School (MCPA) parents.
That means about 70% of MCPS parents have no say in setting the MCPS Operating Budget.
Once again we remind the public that under Maryland law the MCPS Operating Budget is to be set by the Board of Education. The Board of Education has not been doing their job for almost a decade. Click this link to read how the MCPS Operating Budget used to be compiled.
It's time for the MCPS Operating Budget to be set by the Board of Education, at the public Board table, in full view of all parents and Montgomery County citizens. It's Maryland law. Let's follow the law.
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Larry Bowers is forming Operating Budget Committees to meet a few times over the summer, by school level - Elementary, Middle, and High School. Meeting dates & times have not been set yet, but will most likely be scheduled during the work day. MCPS would like to have 2 parent representatives from MCCPTA for each school group.
The committee members would be considering Operating Budget items and representing MCCPTA, not their specific school, Cluster or Area. Their input should consider students and schools as a system, from our perspective.
If you are interested, please reply (to me individually) by Wednesday evening. Feel free to invite other parents who you think may be interested. I will take three names (2 members, 1 alternative - first to reply) so that we have a back-up in case the final meeting schedule doesn't work for one of the two representatives.
Thank you.
Frances Frost
MCCPTA President
We elect BOE members to do this job and represent the entire MoCo community, not just the students or the parents of students. The investment of billions by Montgomery County citizens each year demands board members invest more time and energy into a slow, deliberate, and comprehensive examination of all School System spending. The mechanism for doing that is the annual budget process.
ReplyDeleteToday's process elevates the PTA's and the employee unions to a status above that of other stakeholders, and only those who have a vested interest in More and More resources as a part of the process.