Some BOE Members "Appalled" at Council Report, Cite Fee Based Programs as Examples of Closing Achievement Gap

Note that the Student Member of the Board of Education does not vote or participate in the creation of the MCPS Operating Budget, yet he was included on the letter from some Board of Education members allegedly detailing how the Board of Education allocates funds. 

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Board of Education Members Say Report on Spending is Wrong and ‘Offensive’


Board President Patricia O’Neill and members Phil Kauffman, Chris Barclay and Judy Docca along with student member Eric Guerci released a statement rebuking the report, released last week by the County Council’s Office of Legislative Oversight (OLO).
The report, which examined how Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) focuses resources at schools with higher levels of poverty, faulted the school system for not spending $47 million in what’s called compensatory aid at those schools.
The state provided $151 million in compensatory aid to MCPS for the 2014-2015 school year. The money is prescribed for programs in high-poverty schools to help close the academic achievement gap, but MCPS is not legally required to spend the funds on those programs.
After the OLO report came out, Interim Superintendent Larry Bowers said MCPS needed to spread $47 million of the funding across the entire school system to make up for spending shortfalls due to years of tightening budgets.
Board members said “the report blithely misinterprets state education financing” according to the 2002 state law that allowed compensatory aid to be spent at a school system’s discretion.
“More puzzling and troubling, by its own admission, the OLO ignores in its analysis a huge list of well-funded programs and initiatives dedicated to narrowing achievement gaps,” the board members continued, pointing to programs including the Minority Achievement Program and Summer School as well as bringing the International Baccalaureate program to Watkins Mill and Seneca Valley high schools...

http://www.bethesdamagazine.com/Bethesda-Beat/2015/Board-of-Education-Members-Say-Report-on-Spending-is-Wrong-and-Offensive/