County Council Hires Former MCEA Union President Doug Prouty as Education Committee "Staff."

The Montgomery County Council has a new member of their staff.

The Council hired a new person to be the Education Committee staff person.  

The Council's Education staff person assembles the packets that the Education Committee discusses, reviews and votes on at each meeting.  The staff person can be like an analyst who provides a balanced presentation to the Council members as they deliberate each education matter, or the staff person can just copy some documents and submit a biased presentation.   

We've even witnessed Council staff switch MCPS memos to change the narrative on Board of Education procurements.  We know the Council staff can control what the Councilmembers and the public see as the Council deliberates and votes.  These positions have great influence over the public process.

The Montgomery County Council has now hired former MCEA (teachers' union) president and former MSEA (State teachers' union) vice-president Douglas Prouty as their education staffer.  

You can read Douglas Prouty's resume in this Whitman High School newspaper article.  

Here is the video of the January 30, 2025, Montgomery County Council Education Committee's meeting with Mr. Prouty seated in the "staff" seat.  

Maryland Teachers Union employees earn $181,000 on average

BALTIMORE (WBFF) — The Maryland teachers union is raking in record amounts of revenue intended to improve public education, but Project Baltimore is learning most of that money is not going to students.

A FOX45 News investigation into the Maryland State Education Association, better known as the teachers union, was met with strong reaction this week.

“I’m suggesting what we have seen is the creation of a jobs factory that only cares about 75,000 members they have in MSEA, cares about creating more jobs, than it does elevating education,” said Clarence Mitchell IV Tuesday morning on WBAL Radio.

FOX45 News analyzed MSEA’s federal tax filings and found revenues hit record highs last year of $26.5 million, as student test scores have plummeted. The tax-exempt organization, with a stated mission to “elevate the quality of public education,” has amassed $45.3 million in assets...

Maryland Teachers Union employees earn $181,000 on average | WBFF (foxbaltimore.com)

Maryland's teachers union spent $509,000 on travel, while counties struggle to fund public education

...According to MSEA’s federal non-profit filings, the union spent $509,013 on travel expenses last year. That amount does not include “Conferences, conventions, and meetings,” which is another $35,010.

“There is no justification to spend half a million dollars a year on travel. The receipts need to be provided,” said David Williams with the Taxpayers Protection Alliance. “And this money is going to the unions. It's not ultimately getting to the kids. And the stated purpose of the union is to help the children.”

n the last 10 years, the union has spent a lot on travel. In fact, $509,000 is on the low end. In 2013, the union spent $543,214 on travel expenses. By 2016, that number topped $1.1 million. During the COVID years, the numbers came down. But the union still managed to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on travel as most schools were shut down.

In all, over the last decade, the union spent $6,448,327 on travel expenses. That comes out to an average of $53,736 a month, every month, for 10 straight years. How does that fulfill the union’s tax-exempt mission to “elevate the quality of public education for all students”?

In addition to the travel expenses, Project Baltimore found that MSEA’s revenue and assets have reached record highs. And at least 11 employees of the union earned more than $200,000 last year in total compensation. Meanwhile, test scores in the state have been steadily declining.

“Teachers are always complaining that they don't have enough supplies,” Williams told Project Baltimore. “The union could take millions of dollars that they have and buy supplies for the teachers to make the kids have a better educational experience. The unions are failing the kids. They're failing the state.”..

Maryland's teachers union spent $509K on travel, while counties struggle to fund public ed | WBFF (foxbaltimore.com)

Maryland Teachers Union revenues and assets hit record highs as student test scores plummet

...But it’s not just union revenues that have hit records highs. In 2013, MSEA reported assets worth $16.6 million. By 2022, its assets nearly tripled to $45.3 million. To be clear, this is not the pension system teachers pay into. This $45 million in assets is owned by the union. The money is supposed to be used to “elevate the quality of public education.”

So, how is that money helping students? To find out, FOX45 News sent multiple emails to MSEA President Cheryl Bost and other union officials, asking for an interview or explanation. The union never responded.

“It seems like this money is just piling up. It's going to go someplace, I suppose, at some point,” Basu told Project Baltimore. “But at the end of the day, the test scores speak for themselves.”..

 Maryland Teachers Union revenues and assets hit record highs as student test scores plummet | WBFF (foxbaltimore.com)

Baltimore City teachers union files complaint against school district over work days

The Baltimore Teachers Union has filed a complaint over a decision by the school system’s top leaders to require them to work four additional days at the end of June, days they say the contract does not require.

The fierce tug of war is over whether the teachers had already worked the 190 days their contract required by June 16 when school ended. The BTU contends that it worked four days in March — the 16th through 19th — when schools were first shut down because of coronavirus, but the school system disagrees...

https://www.baltimoresun.com/education/bs-md-ci-teachers-union-20200624-h6mq5qmgyzhrtpj6hffxth2544-story.html?int=lat_digitaladshouse_bx-modal_acquisition-subscriber_ngux_display-ad-interstitial_bx-bonus-story_______

ABC7: Counselor sues MCPS alleging school leaders violated Maryland Public Information Act #SherwoodHS #JackRSmith @mocoboe

ROCKVILLE, Md. (ABC7) — A high school guidance counselor is suing the Montgomery County Board of Education and Superintendent Jack Smith claiming school leaders violated Maryland's open records law.

ABC7 learned Erin McKenna and the Maryland Teacher's Union are suing Smith and the board.

McKenna requested documents most notably a memo in her personnel file, according to a civil court filing. She made the request via the Maryland Public Information Act (MPIA)...

https://wjla.com/news/local/md-counselor-sues-board-of-education-alleging-leaders-violated-states-open-records-law

Breaking: MD State Superintendent Did Not Revoke MCPS Teacher John Vigna's License as Required in COMAR

The Code of Maryland Regulations (COMAR) states that if a teacher is convicted of a crime of child abuse or resigns after an allegation of child sexual abuse that teacher's license to teach shall be revoked.  

The Maryland State Superintendent is well aware of this Regulation as she wrote about it in a May 23, 2017, memorandum.

On June 9, 2017, Former MCPS elementary school teacher John Vigna was convicted of four counts of sex abuse of a minor and five counts of third-degree sex offense.

As of today, John Vigna's license to teach in Maryland has still not been revoked.

That means that his name has not been reported to the National Database for the reporting and dissemination of the names of teachers who have had their licenses revoked.   It also means that if John Vigna were to have his sentence reduced or completed he would be released from prison without notification to other jurisdictions that his Maryland teaching license should have been revoked.  

What's going on Maryland State Department of Education Superintendent Karen Salmon? 

How many other Maryland teachers have not had their licenses automatically revoked as required by COMAR?  Where are those teachers today?  Are they in classrooms or activities where they have direct contact with children?

MSDE Superintendent Karen S... by on Scribd

2015 State Teachers' Union Investigated Cell Towers on School Grounds @MSEAeducators

Anyone see the 2015 report generated by the Maryland State Teachers' Union on cell towers on school grounds?  

   MSEA:  Maryland Public School Cell Towers by Parents' Coalition of Montgomery County, Maryland on Scribd

WBAL: Starr at MSEA Forum in Annapolis Today

Joshua Starr, "THE NEEDS IN MONTGOMERY COUNTY ARE SIMILAR TO EVERY OTHER JURISDICTION IN THE STATE. WE ARE GROWING -- ABOUT 2500 KIDS A YEAR -- WE HAVE MORE KIDS WITH MORE NEEDS THAN EVER BEFORE. THE STANDARDS ARE HIGHER. THE MONEY TO INNOVATE AND INVEST ARE NOT ALWAYS THERE AND A FORUM LIKE THIS BRINGS PEOPLE TOGETHER FROM ALL DIFFERENT BACKGROUNDS AND IDEOLOGIES TO TALK ABOUT THE ISSUES WE ARE FACING."

 http://www.wbaltv.com/education/officials-talk-education-during-forum-in-annapolis/30242294

Listen: Building the Future of Public Education: 2014 Education Policy Forum #MSEAforum14

Click link for audio of this forum: 
 http://www.marylandeducators.org/building-future-public-education-2014-education-policy-forum

9:00 a.m. - 9:05 a.m.—Introduction
9:05 a.m. - 10:25 a.m.—School Funding

• Mary Gable, Assistant Superintendent for Academic Policy and Innovation, Maryland State Department of Education
• Verjeana Jacobs, Maryland Association of Boards of Education President
• Kevin Maxwell, Prince George’s County Public Schools CEO
• Betty Weller, MSEA President
  
  Moderator: Tim Tooten, WBAL-TV

10:30 a.m. - 11:50 a.m.—Legislative Issues Preview

• Delegate John Bohanan (D-St. Mary’s County)
• Delegate Anne Kaiser (D-Montgomery County)
• Senator Richard Madaleno (D-Montgomery County)
• Senator Paul Pinsky (D-Prince George’s County)
  
  Moderator: Len Lazarick, MarylandReporter.com

12:00 p.m. - 1:20 p.m.—Standards, Assessments, and Evaluations (Lunch)

• Linda Darling-Hammond, Charles E. Ducommun Professor of Education at Stanford University
• Morgan Polikoff, Assistant Professor of Education, University of Southern California
  
  Moderator: Liz Bowie, Baltimore Sun

 1:30 p.m. - 2:50 p.m.—The Role of Teachers

• Sean McComb, High School English Teacher in Baltimore County and 2014 National Teacher of the Year
• Jose Vilson, Middle School Math Educator in New York City and author of This Is Not a Test: A New Narrative on Race, Class, and the Future of Education
• Jody Zepp, High School Government and Psychology Teacher in Howard County and 2014-15 Maryland Teacher of the Year
  
  Moderator: Marc Steiner, WEAA 88.9

 2:55 p.m. - 4:15 p.m.—Connecting K-12 to Higher Ed and Business

• Brit Kirwan, Chancellor, University System of Maryland
• Martin Knott, Chair, Governor’s Workforce Investment Board
• Bernard Sadusky, Maryland Association of Community Colleges Executive Director
  
  Moderator: Jenna Johnson, Washington Post

 4:15 p.m. - 4:20 p.m.—Closing

Letter: School board members shouldn't owe allegiance to unions

I am impressed and somewhat alarmed at the media blitz financed by the MSEA and the HCEA promoting their candidates for the Howard County Board of Education. Given that it is the Board of Education who negotiates our teachers, salary, benefits and pensions (that will soon be correctly our obligation, not the state's, to fund), am I the only one who sees a fox guarding the henhouse issue here?
Given the next board may be making some very tough choices requiring that school funding be reduced so as to fund the obligations to the pension fund, I would prefer members with no particular allegiance...

The Baltimore Sun, Letter to the Editor: March 29, 2012 

Board & Starr to students: No cash? No class!

Educational extortion continues in MCPS.
The Maryland State Education Association (MSEA) video statement below from a MCPS teacher at Edison High School in Silver Spring says it all.


Curricular fees are alive and well in MCPS under the new superintendent. 
Students will be turned away from classes if they don't come up with the cash for the class.


If you don't pay up, you can't take the class.


The Maryland Constitution guarantees ALL children a free, public education. Curricular fees are illegal in Maryland.
But Montgomery County isn't in Maryland, right?


There has not been a single county or state elected official, Board of Education member, past superintendent (Jerry Weast) or current superintendent (Joshua Starr) that will stand up for the right of ALL Montgomery County children to a free public education.


And so, the practice of denying Montgomery County children access to a free public education if they don't fork over cash for classes continues. 


The charging of illegal curricular fees by Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) has no bearing on funding from the state of Maryland. MCPS has been charging students to attend classes in violation of the Maryland Constitution for years.  


MCPS curricular fees are not authorized by Maryland law, are not accounted for in the MCPS Operating Budget, and are often collected as cash payments without receipts. 


Pay up, or drop the class.  
This is how we close the achievement gap in MCPS!