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| 1 ton of crumb rubber delivered to Wootton HS. |
No matter that the Booster Club DOES NOT OWN the high school football field. What's a little technicality like ownership of land when state dollars are being handed out?
When did the land owner, you know that group called the Board of Education, hand over this high school football field to a "booster club?"
Why would the Maryland legislature approve a bill like this? One reason would be to allow this booster club to purchase artificial turf with a crumb rubber infill. The Montgomery County Council has said they do not want to purchase any more artificial turf fields with crumb rubber infill, but this money would be bypassing the County Council and the Board of Education! These funds would go straight to parents who could conceivably buy whatever type of plastic grass infill they wanted and would presumably not have to abide by state contracting laws or bid requirements.
Entitled: | Creation of a State Debt - Montgomery County - Damascus High School Turf Field | ||
Sponsored by: | Delegate Kaiser | ||
Status: | In the House - Hearing 3/12 at 1:00 p.m. |
| Synopsis: | Authorizing the creation of a State Debt not to exceed $200,000, the proceeds to be used as a grant to the Board of Directors of the Damascus High School Athletic Booster Club Inc. for the acquisition, planning, design, construction, repair, renovation, reconstruction, and capital equipping of a turf field for Damascus High School, located in Montgomery County; providing for disbursement of the loan proceeds, subject to a requirement that the grantee provide and expend a matching fund; etc. | |
|---|---|---|
| Analysis: | Not available at this time | |
| All Sponsors: | Delegates Kaiser and Luedtke | |
| Additional Facts: | Cross-filed with: SB0987 Bill File Type: Regular Effective Date(s): June 1, 2016 | |
| Committee(s): |
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A wacky workaround in so many ways! In addition to what the Parents' Coalition points out, the biggest contribution is expected from MCPS ($500K). But it's not been approved by the BOE, right? And if approved, this cap. expense might have to leapfrog over other priority projects to meet the bill's funding deadline. The contact named on the bill is not a Booster officer/volunteer; it's an MCPS paid employee: Principal Jen Webster.
ReplyDeleteWhat's the principal's cut?
DeleteWill be sending out emails to my district delegates to vote NO! What an great end-run around local home-rule and the BOE. Rogue principal? Hummmmm
ReplyDeleteMy question is how is this only $200,000? I thought these were a heck of a lot more than that ($500K+). I doubt their Booster does well enough to cover the rest.
ReplyDeleteNo worries. The Board of Education is kicking in $500K. You know the BOE is flush with cash.
Deletehttp://parentscoalitionmc.blogspot.com/2016/03/boe-donating-500000-to-booster-club-for.html
I generally think that a lot of the complaints here are overstated, but this is outrageous. If the state wants to start directly funding schools instead of filtering the money through districts, this is an absolutely bizarre place to start.
ReplyDeleteJoin the "overstated" crowd. This is done all the time. This is how Annapolis spends their time from January to March. We just happened to highlight a few examples of what is standard in Maryland.
DeleteCan this be stopped by Peter Franchot? and the Board of Public Works? oh wait, Del. Zucker WORKS for Franchot. Yes, that is his full-time job. Ah, Montgomery County.
ReplyDelete