Baltimore County Board of Education is told stop-arm school bus cameras have "an excellent chance of financial windfall for the County" even though Montgomery County has not shown any revenue received.

Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) is one of the largest public school systems in the State of Maryland and in the USA.  Vendors often seek to contract with MCPS and then use MCPS as a recommendation for other public school systems to also contract with the vendor.  

Often, this becomes a game of telephone with the terms of the actual contract/deal being exaggerated over time.

Here we see the Baltimore County Board of Education about to vote on a stop-arm school bus camera contract.  They have been told that this contract has "an excellent chance of financial windfall for the County."  The contract with MCPS/Montgomery County is also referenced, yet no financial details are shared.  In fact, all that the Montgomery County public knows is that the stop-arm school bus camera scheme has not generated any revenue, much less a windfall. 

Below is my e-mail to the Baltimore County Board of Education on this topic: 

 

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To the members of the Baltimore County Board of Education:

Tomorrow, the Baltimore County Board of Education is poised to vote on a school bus stop-arm camera scheme from the company now known as BusPatrol America, LLC.  The recommendation form for this agenda item states:

This contract was recommended for approval by the Public Works, LLC “Baltimore County Public Schools Operational Efficiency Review Report.”

The BCPS Operational Efficiency Review Report dated September 7, 2021, states on page 332:

These statements are being used to justify the Board of Education's approval of a contract with BusPatrol America, LLC.

There is no evidence that the Montgomery County contract with BusPatrol America, LLC has resulted in any financial gain, much less a windfall. 

Montgomery County has only had a contract with BusPatrol America, LLC since February of 2020, when a new contract was written removing Montgomery County Public Schools from the revenue stream.  

The new contract was executed after an internal Montgomery County audit was completed in December of 2019. The results of that audit have never been made public.  The internal audit was to evaluate 4 components of the stop-arm camera scheme.  The third evaluation point was:

3. Confirm if (or when anticipated) the break-even point would be reached; 

As the Montgomery County internal audit has never been released to the public there is absolutely no evidence that the BusPatrol America, LLC stop-arm camera scheme has generated any revenue whatsoever for MCPS or Montgomery County, much less that it was a "windfall" for the County.   

Prior to the Montgomery County internal audit, the Montgomery County Inspector General did publicly release a report in June 2019, on the Force Multiplier Solutions aka BusPatrol America, LLC stop-arm camera scheme in Montgomery County Public Schools with regard to the involvement of Montgomery County Police.  Again, that audit showed NO REVENUE had been received by Montgomery County or Montgomery County Public Schools. The Inspector General's report stated: 

Although over $10 million of ticket revenue has been transferred to the vendor, neither the County nor MCPS (based on the contract) has received any ticket proceeds from this program.

​This year, Montgomery County Public Schools began leasing electric school buses.  That means that all of the new buses will need to have new stop-arm cameras, exterior cameras, interior cameras and additional add-ons installed.  These new installations will siphon on years of citation revenue, again pushing any break-even point into the future.  

Since MCPS first contracted with Force Multiplier Solutions aka BusPatrol America, LLC, the cost of these systems has increased as new add on features have been included.  Those add on features ZONAR, BUSPLANNER, TRANSFINDER and FirstNet are now installed with the stop-arm cameras and are paid for out of the stop-arm camera citation revenue stream, even though those add-ons do not relate to the passing of stop school buses.  Those add-ons push the break-even point further out into the future. 

Note:  Montgomery County did not obtain all of these add-ons when they originally contracted with Force Multiplier Solutions.  

The BCPS Operational Efficiency Review Report also assumes that the stop-arm camera equipment will become the property of Baltimore County Public Schools.  That statement was written before any contracts were available and does not follow what has transpired in Montgomery County.  As far as the public has been informed, the stop-arm cameras are not the property of MCPS or Montgomery County. 

​The BCPS Board of Education should not assume that there will be "windfall" revenue generated from a stop-arm camera contract based on the experience in Montgomery County Public Schools, and should not assume that stop-arm cameras become the property of BCPS. 

Janis Zink Sartucci
Parents' Coalition of Montgomery County, MD

Formed in 2002, the Parents' Coalition of Montgomery County, Maryland seeks to achieve the goals of coherent, content-rich curriculum standards; high expectations combined with timely remediation and acceleration; a wider range of educational options for parents and children; greater transparency and accountability; and meaningful community input.