Board of Education to Raid Student Activity Funds. ***Complaint Filed with MoCo Inspector General***

 Mon 6/10/2024 3:41 PM

To:  Megan Davey Limarzi, Esq. 

       Montgomery County Office of the Inspector General 

       ig@montgomerycountymd.gov

In reviewing the Agenda for the Montgomery County Board of Education's June 11, 2024, business meeting we were shocked to read a Resolution that discussed using Independent Student Activity Funds (IAF) as an option for funding a MCPS Operating Budget expenditure.  

Buried in the Montgomery County Board of Education's Agenda Item 6.6 for June 11, 2024, is the following sentence: 

...A total of $14,225,000 is projected to be funded in the FY 2023–2028 CIP, and $10,775,000 is projected to be funded in the FY 2025 Operating Budget or the Independent Student Activity Funds...

https://go.boarddocs.com/mabe/mcpsmd/Board.nsf/files/D5WRBX6A8F88/$file/Cont Apprv RFP 121923 Tech Products Servcs Solutions Ext.pdf

The Resolution does not give any further explanation as to how the superintendent would accomplish this transfer of student funds.  

MCPS Student funds ...IAFs for each school are to be used for the benefit of the student body currently in attendance...

https://ww2.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/policy/pdf/diara.pdf

We have reviewed the MCPS Financial Manual chapter on MCPS Independent Activity Funds (IAF) and do not find any exception that allows the Board of Education to steal funds from student accounts at neighborhood schools.  

IAF funds are raised through student fees at sporting events, student ticket sales at musical and drama performances, yearbook sales, senior dues, field trip fees, memorial funds (deceased students), student parking permits, and student picture sales. We are not aware of any policy or regulation that permits the Montgomery County Board of Education to use these funds to fund the Operating Budget.

If MCPS student funds can be used to fund the MCPS Operating Budget, please advise how that would be accomplished and we will make that information available to parents and guardians so they are aware of how fees they pay into their local school can be diverted by the Board of Education.   

Thank you for your review of this issue.  

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.