Breaking: AGAIN! MD State Board of Education ORDERS MCPS Board of Ed. to Comply with Appellate Court of MD Order to Review $168M Elec. Bus Contract Award

The Montgomery County Board of Education has still not complied with the March 2024, Maryland Appellate Court Order that mandated the Board of Education review the award of the electric school bus contract to a vendor that had a subcontractor that was found to be involved in an embezzlement scheme with 2 of the 3 MCPS employees that ranked the bids.

On Tuesday, February 25th, the Maryland State Board of Education once again issued an Order to the Montgomery County Board of Education to comply with the Maryland Appellate Court Order. 

The BOE's electric school bus contract is an $168 million dollar award that commits the BOE to a leasing scheme for 16 years.  There is a lot of money involved in this scheme.  It should be important to get this right. 

And complying with a Court Order would be a good idea too. 

From this week's State Board of Education Order: 

Full text of Maryland State Board of Education Order:  

AutoFlexFleetInc.OR25-03 by Parents' Coalition of Montgomery County, Maryland on Scribd

In lawsuit, HET MCPS, LLC (electric school bus vendor) says Mont. Co. Inspector General "issued misleading and inaccurate findings."

The company that is leasing electric school buses to the Montgomery County Board of Education has filed a lawsuit against one of the other bidders on the MCPS electric school bus procurement.  

Contained in this new lawsuit is an extensive list of things the electric school bus vendor, HET MCPS, LLC, says were misleading and inaccurate in the Montgomery County Inspector General's July 25, 2024, Investigation of MCPS' Management of the Electric Bus Contract Memorandum of Investigation. (Pages 10 - 16)

The lawsuit also discusses the funds allegedly owed to the Board of Education from HET MCPS, LLC.  (Page 18)

The complaint filed in the United States District Court for the District of Maryland is below.

 

HET MCPS, LLC and HEF-P Bal... by Parents' Coalition of Montg...

7News hears from Md. company that objects MCPS' diesel, electric bus contracts

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Md. (7News) — 7News took a closer look at an Appellate Court of Maryland document that instructs the State Board of Education to remand to the Montgomery County Board of Education for an administrative review of the MCPS electric bus procurement contract.

“We challenged it with a protest and that has escalated to October 2024,” Luis MacDonald, President of Autoflex Fleet told us.

The action was in response to a complaint filed by his Baltimore-based company.

MacDonald explained he was denied the original Montgomery County Public Schools electric bus contract due to flaws in the vendor evaluation and scoring process.

He told 7News favoritism was given to the selected vendor Highland Electric Fleets...

7News hears from Md. company that objects MCPS' diesel, electric bus contracts

MCPS Sets Up "Committee" to Cover for Failure to Follow CESO Transportation Report Recommendations

The Montgomery County Board of Education tried to keep the comprehensive $168,380 Center for Effective School Operations (CESO) report from the public.  But the Parents' Coalition made the report public and ABC7 covered the extensive issues documented in the report.

In response to the ABC7 news story on August 21, 2024, the Board of Education and MCPS quickly set up a "committee" to meet once a month to "discuss" the CESO report.   

However, the CESO report actually had very specific recommendations and actions that MCPS was to take, some immediately.  One of the recommendations was to put a plan in place to implement some of the CESO recommendations prior to the MCPS FY 2026 Operating Budget planning.  

CESO believes that the planning for change should occur in time to support the FY2026 budget development cycle...[Deliverable #6 page 2]

The MCPS FY 2026 Operating Budget planning has already started, and submissions were due in September.  The "committee" has only had a "meet and greet."  

Why is a "committee" discussing the $168,380 CESO report and not the Montgomery County Board of Education?  

Why did the Montgomery County Board of Education shelve this report for 8 months? 

And who is on this "committee?"  Are vendors on this "committee?"  

Read the Report MCPS Does Not Want You to See: CESO Assessment of MCPS Department of Transportation

@mocoboe Paid $168,380 for Comprehensive Analysis of @mcps Transportation, Then Shelved the Report.

Here is the 5 Part CESO report the Montgomery County

Board of Education doesn't want the public to read. 

 

1  

Montgomery County Public Sc... by Parents' Coalition of Montg...

2

Montgomery County Public Sc... by Parents' Coalition of Montg...

3

Montgomery County Public Sc... by Parents' Coalition of Montg...

4

Montgomery County Public Schools, MD: 4 CESO Deliverable 01.31.2024 by Parents' Coalition of Montgomery County, Maryland on Scribd

5      

Montgomery County Public Sc... by Parents' Coalition of Montg...

Coming up at the County Council: Sept. 30th - IG Investigation of MCPS' Management of the EV School Bus 'Contract'

 

https://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/COUNCIL/ondemand/index.html

"I think MCPS has wanted to have a fresh start,” Taylor said. [So he hired back Essie McGuire who approved $168M Electric School Bus Scheme.]

Superintendent Thomas Taylor's idea of a "fresh start" is to bring back an MCPS administrator who failed to supervise the approval of a $168M electric bus scheme that has crashed and who failed to oversee the administration of the MCPS Department of Transportation.  

County Council Staffer Essie McGuire Approved Electric School Bus Scheme for @mcps When She was @mcps Associate Superintendent in 2021

New Montgomery superintendent excited at chance for a ‘reset’ in district

...“I am so excited at the opportunity, like every educator, the notion of having a fresh start. I think MCPS has wanted to have a fresh start,” Taylor said. “Our community wants the school system to be fantastic, and we are excited at the opportunity to reset expectations, reset norms and to focus on our kids and limit distractions.”..

https://wapo.st/3XwKKxB

@mocoboe Paid $168,380 for Comprehensive Analysis of @mcps Transportation, Then Shelved the Report

 

ADOPTED Procurement Contracts 230720.pdf (boarddocs.com)

The Board of Education paid $168,380 for Operational Functionality Consulting Services for the MCPS Department of Transportation in July of 2023.

Then they shelved the Report for a year.  

The Parents' Coalition of Montgomery County, MD made the report public.  

Breaking***Harvard Case Study: "Our first-year [2021 Highland Electric Fleets] contract was never going to be cost-neutral," said [MCPS] Chief Operating Officer Brian Hull.

A Harvard Case Study

Product Description

Publication Date: March 06, 2024

Source: Harvard Business School

Founder Duncan McIntyre developed an innovative service-based business to electrify transportation fleets for school districts and scale through public-private partnerships while contributing to climate change solutions. The case covers the rationale for electric school buses, the leadership of its founder, its growth from one customer to many over five years, and relationships with multiple stakeholders in a complex system. Highland Electric Fleets contracted with school districts in the U.S. and Canada to supply and service electric school buses, offering to lower costs for the districts, even those who were not climate action supporters. Ancillary benefits included providing power back to the electric grid, reducing the use of fossil fuels and emission of greenhouse gases, and cleaner air for children. But just as McIntyre was envisioning expanding to electrify other transportation fleets, supply chain challenges leave McIntyre with the dilemma of how to deal with the possible defection of its largest customer [MCPS] because of buses failing to be delivered in time.

Product #: 324107-PDF-ENG

Pages: 22

Related Topics: Strategy, Entrepreneurship, Social enterprise

New report details failures at Montgomery County Public Schools over electric bus fleet

by Scott Taylor

Wed, August 21st 2024 at 5:12 PM

Updated Wed, August 21st 2024 at 8:02 PM

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Md. (7News) — 7News has obtained a scathing assessment of how Montgomery County Public Schools is handling the nation’s largest fleet of electric school buses.

In the report, which parents have not seen, CESO, an expert on electric buses, informed MCPS that the actual cost of owning and operating an electric bus fleet remains unclear.

The claim of budget neutrality, or no net increase to the district’s budget to transition into electric buses, was constructed based on false assumptions and estimates...

New report details failures at Montgomery County Public Schools over electric bus fleet (wjla.com)

@ScottTaylorTV Never seen report that I have obtained claims @MCPS has major issues with it's electric bus fleet including increased cost, outdated systems & calling the Montgomery County Public Schools transportation system stable but fragile. @7NewsDC @PCMC1

Never seen report that I have obtained claims @MCPS has major issues with it's electric bus fleet including increased cost, outdated systems & calling the Montgomery County Public Schools transportation system stable but fragile. @7NewsDC @PCMC1 pic.twitter.com/DW2ukpKF0L

— Scott Taylor : 7 News - WJLA TV (@ScottTaylorTV) August 21, 2024

$20M a Year ADDITIONAL Cost from "Budget Neutral" @mcps @mocoboe Electric Bus Scheme

This blog post is just a guess because MCPS has no budget analysis to support their claim that the electric school bus scheme they entered into in 2021 is actually budget neutral.

For our analysis we assume that one electric school bus equals one diesel bus.  

We also eliminated all costs in the MCPS Department of Transportation budget on the assumption that all of those costs relate to diesel school buses.  

In place of all of the existing supply, material and equipment costs we substituted the annual lease payment that the Board of Education would be making to HET MCPS, LLC if the entire MCPS school bus fleet was converted to electric school buses at once.  

We used the FY 2021 MCPS Budget Request because that would be the last year that MCPS planned for an all diesel school bus fleet.  

In the recently released Montgomery County Inspector General Memorandum of Investigation the public learned that the annual lease payment for each electric school bus is $38,500.  

We multiplied the annual lease payment by the number of diesel school buses in the FY 2021 budget.  We then substituted that number for all of the MCPS Transportation department costs.  The annual lease payments for 1,378 electric school buses would be $53,053,000.  Adding that number to the cost of Salaries, Wages and Contractual services in the FY 2021 budget totals $137,609,362, which is a 17.2% increase over the funds budgeted in the FY 2021 budget for MCPS Transportation. 

If someone from MCPS or the Board of Education would like to finally explain how the MCPS "budget neutral" scheme is actually going to be budget neutral, we would appreciate hearing from them ASAP. 

"Despite the delays, Montgomery County Public Schools did not end its relationship with Highland Electric Fleets — or enforce penalties for the company’s lapses, the inspector general found"

 

Probe finds ‘wasteful spending’ in Montgomery electric school bus effort

An electric bus company that was supposed to deliver hundreds of vehicles to the Maryland’s largest school district repeatedly missed delivery deadlines and made late repairs to its vehicles, leading to “millions of dollars in wasteful spending,” according to a report from Montgomery County inspector general criticizing the district’s handling of the contract.

Despite the delays, Montgomery County Public Schools did not end its relationship with Highland Electric Fleets — or enforce penalties for the company’s lapses, the inspector general found. Now the district is spending more than $14 million to buy diesel buses as it faces a vehicle shortage...

https://wapo.st/3MvBTXE

MCPS wasted millions of dollars on electric bus program, investigation reveals

BETHESDA, Md. (FOX 5 DC) - A plan to acquire more than 300 electric buses for Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) students has led to "millions of dollars in wasteful spending," according to the results of an investigation released Monday by Montgomery County Inspector General Megan Davey Limarzi.

The investigation explains how in February 2021, as part of its commitment to sustainability, MCPS announced it was replacing 326 diesel school buses with electric school buses, noting that the last of the buses were set to be delivered in 2025...

https://www.fox5dc.com/news/mcps-wasted-millions-dollars-electric-bus-program-investigation-reveals

Once Again, MoCo Inspector General Confirms a @pcmc1 Investigation. Today it's the @mcps Electric School Bus Scheme

Today, the Montgomery County Inspector General released a Memorandum of Investigation that confirmed many of the concerns that the Parents' Coalition has raised about the Montgomery County Board of Education's electric bus scheme. 

But let's look at just one of the false claims that the Board of Education has made about their electric school bus scheme.

Right on the MCPS website it says:

"The school district is on track to have 326 electric school buses by 2025"

But the Board of Education is NOT on track to have 326 electric school buses by 2025.

From the IG's Memorandum of Investigation (Page 2):

"The contractor did not deliver any of the buses expected in FY2022 through FY2024 by August 1st as required by the agreement's delivery schedule."

and on page 3

"the contractor has notified MCPS that they will not be able to meet the delivery goal for the 2024-2025 school year."

 Read the full text of the Inspector General's Memorandum of Investigation below. 

MOI-FY25 MCPS Electric Bus ... by Parents' Coalition of Montg...

BREAKING: MD Appellate Court Orders MoCo Board of Ed to Review $168M Electric School Bus Contract Award

The Appellate Court of Maryland has issued an Order vacating the Judgment of the Montgomery County Circuit Court In the Matter of AutoFlex Fleet, Inc. 

This Order (shown below) mandates that the matter must be returned to the Montgomery County Board of Education for an administrative review of the augmented evidentiary record with regard to the award of the $168 million dollar contract to HET MCPS, LLC for MCPS electric school buses.  

The Court said, "...the Contract must be reviewed in light of the adjudicated facts supporting the convictions of these DOT directors who were integrally involved in managing MCPS' bidding process, evaluating responding proposals, and awarding the Contract to an affiliate of the vendor they were exploiting." (Page 60 of Opinion below)

This litigation began with a protest filed by a losing bidder on this contract.  

AutoFlex Fleet, Inc. filed a written protest of the decision to award the Contract to HET MCPS, LLC on December 16, 2020.  

On March 5, 2024, the Appellate Court of Maryland released a 64 page opinion (shown below) detailing the matter and their decision. 

This litigation has gone from the initial protest by a losing bidder to MCPS (protest denied) 🠞 Montgomery County Board of Education (appeal denied) 🠞 Maryland State Board of Education (appeal denied) 🠞 Montgomery County Circuit Court (appeal denied) 🠞Maryland Appellate Court (Order issued) 🠞 then mandated back to 🠞 Montgomery County Circuit Court 🠞 Maryland State Board of Education 🠞 Montgomery County Board of Education.

Why has the Contract Award protest been sent back to the Montgomery County Board of Education for review?  

The very short answer is because 2 of the 3 (or 4) MCPS employees who reviewed the initial bids for the MCPS electric school bus contract have since been convicted of crimes including felony theft and misdemeanor misconduct in office in relation to a scheme to divert MCPS funds to an off the books account held by a subcontractor on the HET MCPS, LLC (Highland Electric) electric school bus proposal.  

HET MCPS, LLC was the winning bidder of the $168M MCPS electric school bus contract.  

AutoFlex Fleet, LLC wants the facts surrounding the criminal convictions of MCPS Department of Transportation (DOT) Director (Watkins) and Assistant (Ewald) to be reviewed in connection with their protest of the award of this contract.  

The Appellate Court of Maryland agrees with them that these criminal convictions should be part of the review of the awarding of the $168M MCPS electric school bus contract and so the matter goes back to the Board of Education for review with these criminal convictions in the record.  

Note:  There's a whole lot of legal fees being generated to pay for the Board of Education's defense of this litigation, with more to come.  The continued failure of the Board of Education to exert any oversight over MCPS continues to divert education funding away from classrooms to outside legal fees.   

539S2022 Mandate by Parents' Coalition of Montg...

539s22 in the Matter of Aut... by Parents' Coalition of Montg...

MCPS Got ZERO Grant Funding for $168M Electric School Bus Scheme while Texas School District got a $1.58 million Clean School Bus grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Texas School District Goes All-Electric

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Montgomery County's Board of Education will pay out of the MCPS Operating Budget for the use of electric school buses without the benefit of any grant funding.   

The Montgomery County Board of Education is a national leader in making poor financial decisions.  

Parents' Coalition of Montgomery County, Maryland: Breaking: MCPS Doesn't Know if $168M Electric School Bus Procurement Scheme is Budget-Neutral ~and~ Two Sets of Bid Evaluations Surface for Electric School Bus Contract Award. (parentscoalitionmc.blogspot.com)

Breaking: Superintendent McKnight Kills MCPS Electric School Bus Scheme, Orders 90 Diesel School Buses @mcps @mocoboe

We already know what the excuses will be from MCPS' public information office.  So, let's get the facts out right away.  MCPS will still fib to the Board of Education and the public, but readers of this blog will know the truth. 

1. MCPS buys approximately 120 school buses each year.  School buses have a 12 year useful life in Maryland and 1/12th of the fleet is replaced each year.  MCPS has in total about 1,400 school buses. (Annual expenditure $15M - $17M for 2016-2019.)

2. Superintendent Monifa McKnight is bringing a Resolution before the Board of Education on Thursday, October 12, 2023, to purchase 90 diesel school buses for $14,749,919.

3.  Remember that the Board of Education has already approved a scheme to transition the entire school bus fleet to electric school buses. 

4. By FY 2024 the annual MCPS purchase of 120 school buses was to be for only electric school buses as specified in the executed Transportation Equipment Services Agreement.  (Image shown above.)

4. Remember that the MCPS nationally lauded electric school bus scheme was to be BUDGET NEUTRAL. 

5.  Remember that the Parents' Coalition asked for the numbers that showed the electric school bus scheme was budget neutral and we were told that no such documents existed. 

6.  Supposedly, MCPS just bought 64 special education diesel school buses in 2022.   Well, the Resolution didn't say that that the diesel buses were for special education use, but that was the story that the MCPS public information officer told the press when pressed for an explanation.  

7. And this is IMPORTANT! THERE ARE VENDORS WHO MAKE AND PROVIDE SPECIAL EDUCATION WHEELCHAIR LIFT ELECTRIC SCHOOL BUSES.  (MCPS likes to say there is no such vendor. That is a lie.)

The Resolution before the Board of Education this week does not explain why MCPS suddenly needs to purchase 90 special education school buses on top of the 64 special education school buses they supposedly purchased last year.  

If the Board of Education spends $14.8 million this week on 90 special education school buses, they will only be able to add about 33 electric school buses to their fleet based on their annual school bus budget.  (We are guessing at the exact number of electric school buses because it is a complete mystery as to what the cost of one electric school bus is under the Board of Education's scheme.) 

No matter what is going on at MCPS with regard to the annual replacement of school buses the following are clear:

1. The Board of Education's "budget-neutral" electric school bus scheme is no longer "budget neutral." The Board of Education can't possibly transition to an all-electric school bus fleet while continuing to buy diesel school buses and claim the scheme is budget neutral.  

2.  The MCPS nationally touted transition to an electric school bus fleet has been derailed. 

Former MCPS Transportation Director Todd Watkins Sentenced to Probation.

Todd Watkins, the former Montgomery County Public Schools Department of Transportation director, was sentenced Wednesday to 200 hours of community service and will serve three years of supervised probation.

Watkins previously pled guilty to taking advantage of his position as a public official and stealing funds.

Watkins, 56, faced probation to six months in prison for pleading guilty to one count of misconduct.

According to court records, Watkins failed to properly manage the contract for school bus purchases and the use of purchasing cards, enabling Assistant Director of MCPS Department of Transportation Charles Ewald to steal more than $320,000...

Former MCPS Transportation Director Sentenced to Probation - Montgomery Community Media (mymcmedia.org)

CNS: Auditors keep a close eye on school district contracting in Maryland — and if you’re wondering why, just look at what happened in May in Montgomery County.

 

Audits show trouble lurking in school contracts

Auditors keep a close eye on school district contracting in Maryland — and if you’re wondering why, just look at what happened in May in Montgomery County.

After auditors raised suspicions, the district’s former assistant director of transportation pleaded guilty to stealing over $320,000 from the county’s school system over a span of at least five years by misusing district purchasing cards and mismanaging a contract for the purchase of school buses. 

What’s more, several state audits in recent years raised serious questions about contract spending in other Maryland public school districts. Richard P. Henry, Maryland’s inspector general for education, acknowledged the possibility that officials in other school districts could be misusing the school contracting system.

“You know, we don’t find out all the time, but there will always be some individuals who will take advantage of flaws in the system, and you know, possibly profit from it or use it to their advantage,” Henry said.

County or district officials frequently audit local school districts in Maryland. On top of that, the state Office of Legislative Audits reviews the books of each school district once every six years, whereas the Maryland Office of the Inspector General for Education takes complaints from the public and investigates them...

Audits show trouble lurking in school contracts – CNS Maryland