Next year’s $5.8 billion Montgomery County budget will not include funding for a dozen new school nurses.
Attempts by the County Council to put $1.2 million in the budget as it debated spending priorities last week didn’t pass although $200,000 was approved for two mental health therapists to serve two schools each.
The council also approved more than $75,000 for the Linkages to Learning program, which partners with schools to provide health, social and community support services.
Council member Gabe Albornoz, who chairs the health and human services committee, said the committee spent the last two months deliberating over the budget and the “needs of the community are outpacing the county’s ability to fulfill those needs.”
“We did our best to reconcile the funding and put back some of the funding,” he said. “We’re going to need more revenue and more resources if we’re going to meet the needs of our growing community.”
From the article:
MCPS has a nurse-to-student ratio of 1: 1,660
Prince George's County school system has a nurse-to-student ratio of 1: 693
Baltimore's school system has a nurse-to-student ratio of 1: 647
The squeaky wheel gets the grease:
ReplyDeletehttps://bethesdamagazine.com/bethesda-beat/government/council-approves-5-8-billion-budget-for-fiscal-year-20/
“The council added $3 million to the Montgomery College budget during the reconciliation process, fully meeting the college’s request of $313 million. Elrich had originally budgeted $310 million, noting that he had increased per-pupil spending due to decreased enrollment.”
Let's hope that this harebrained idea fails to make the final cut as well:
ReplyDeletehttps://bethesdamagazine.com/bethesda-beat/schools/renovating-mcps-bathrooms-into-all-gender-restrooms-could-cost-50k-each/
“If one bathroom in each of the school system’s 206 schools underwent such a project, it would cost the system about $10.3 million.”